Somerset County Pennsylvania Coal Mine History and Pictures
Somerset coal in Pennsylvania has been mined for the last 200 years, and for some of the residents now living there, perhaps this short history of coal mining in the county will be an interesting item worth reading. This brief history of “Somerset County Coal” up to 1937 was apparently written—in letter-form—by F. W. Cunningham, Mine Inspector, Somerset, Pennsylvania, and given to Guy N. Hartman, Superintendent Somerset County Schools by F. W. Cunningham, according to a letter dated June 21, 1940. The material—which Larry Brian Radka purchased on Ebay and who has added various annotated old coal-mining pictures for your enjoyment—reads as follows:
[A closeup view of the Somerset County coal section of the 1903 "Coal Lands" map presented above]
SOMERSET COUNTY COAL
Somerset County contains one of the largest resources of low volatile steam coal in the State. The first large production of coal came from the Pittsburgh bed, in the southern part of the county. In the last thirty years, the upper Kittanning has become very important in the northern part of the county.
[This was apparently Somerset Coal Company's Elk Lick No. 1 Mine around 1902, see the NOTE below]
There are fourteen coal beds of minable thickness in the county. The Allegheny group coals are the most important, as the Pittsburgh bed has practically been mine out. All of the coals are highly valued for generating steam. They are generally soft and friable, but stand transportation better than coals of the same type from other localities.
The coal in some townships is yet practically virgin, and represents an enormous source of good coal for future use.
Somerset County contains nine coal beds that are now of economic interest. However, fourteen beds were mined during the World War.
The original coal deposit in Somerset County was 6,091,800,000 short tons, while the recoverable coal was estimated to be 3,986,900,000 short tones of which 257,000,000 tons have been mined out or lost. The county stands 5th in original deposits and 4th in recoverable coal.
Reminiscence of Henry Young, in 1869, show that coal was mined in Somerset County on the Countryman farm near Berlin in Brothers Valley township in 1809, and was brought to Somerset for black-smith purposes for Fred Huff, who was later Captain in the War of 1812; the blacksmith shop was situated at the rear of the Somerset House.
In 1881, there were a few mines on the Berlin branch of the B & O railroad, employing from 20 to 30 men, and the remainder of the mines were near Myersdale and not working very steady. The Shaw mine, operated by Cumberland and Elk Lick Coal Co. was the largest mine in the region. The keystone mine was a pretty extensive mine employing 80 men. There were a total of 17 mines in the County that were working under the law at least a portion of the time during the year.
[Nineteenth-century miners getting ready to set coal mine timbers]
In 1885, there were only 15 mines that came under the law, that is, employing 10 men or more. In 1891, the only mines reported by the Mine Inspector were those on the Berlin branch and those in or near Myersdale, except one in the Ursina branch railroad at Humbert. The Mine Inspector in his report for 1891 remarked that the system of ventilation in the mines for Somerset County is “Natural” and a very poor system it is, only one fan operating at mines in the County.
In 1895, only three mines were in operation on the B & O railroad between Rockwood and Johnstown, namely Kebs, Bethel, and Ingleside mines.
In 1900—between 1895 and 1900—the production was 3,037,168 tons, or an average of 337,474 tons per year, employing an average of 758 miners.
In the decade 1891 to 1900, the production was 12,717,727 tons, or an average of 1,413,081 tons per year, employing 1976 miners.
n the decade 1901 to 1910, the production was 62,580,756 tons or an average of 6,953,417 tons per year, employing about 9,000 miners.
From 1910 to 1927 inclusive, the production run was from about 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 tons per year. The banner year for the County was in 1927, when the production was 10,751,486 tons. Since 1927, the coal production decreased as follows:
1928—9,687,895 net tons
1929—9,379,221 “ “
1930—8,266,262 “ “
1931—7,295,406 “ “
1932—5,466,744 “ “
1933—5,413,779 “ “
1934—5,865,938 “ “
1935—5,670,167 “ “
1936—5,149,671 “ “
Somerset County stands 6th in production for the State, there being 26 counties producing coal.
During the last several years, the Berlin-Myersdale region has dropped from about 3,000,000 tons to about 125,000 tons per year, due to a large extent from mines being exhausted, and a few abandoned until a more favorable market for the coal from this section of the county [appears].
The mines in the northern section of the county have also greatly reduced their production and introduced machinery to produce and handle the output from the mines at many operations.
[For more information and photographs of the worst mining disaster in U. S. history, click this image]
The number of fatal accidents in and about the mines have been greatly reduced [due to] more attention being given to prevention; and the mines are kept in much better condition than they were back 10 to 20 years ago.
[Several of the above pictures were extracted from this 1903 sales brochure]
This informative letter containing some RARE HISTORY was signed: “Respectively submitted” by “F. W. Cunningham, Mine Inspector, Somerset, Pa.” His postscript reads: “Some of the above statements were taken from State records and others from records in my office.”
NOTE: Larry Brian Radka’s research indicates Somerset Coal Company owned three Elk Lick mines, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, which were located along the B & O Railroad, in the coal fields southwest of Myersdale, Pennsylvania, near the Maryland state line. Elk Lick No. 1, and its coke ovens, are apparently illustrated above. This was a pick and shovel drift mine that fired 270 bee-hive ovens with coal mined from the eight-foot-thick Pittsburgh coal vein, which provided good quality coking coal. No. 3 was a pick and shovel incline mine that extracted its coal from the five-foot-thick Redstone coal vein. This Somerset Coal Company, which was one of the coal companies advertised in the sales brochure above, was organized in early 1902, and was absorbed by the Consolidation Coal Company in early 1903.
This page was last modified on Friday, August 20, 2010