As we’ve previously documented here at Wynning History, photographer Sheldon Dick came to the Coal Region in 1938 to photograph the people and places that made up the cultural landscape in this struggling industrial area.

Dick centered his efforts for the Farm Security Administration project around the Schuylkill County community of Shenandoah.

Read our story about Sheldon Dick’s 1938 photographs of Filipek’s Bar

At some point during his visit to Shenandoah, the photographer brought his camera to the Maple Hill Colliery on a scarred hillside just few miles east of town. In a series of images, displayed below, the viewer can experience what this colliery looked like during the Great Depression and in the years directly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The photographs come from the Library of Congress collection and are labeled with Sheldon Dick’s original captions.

The Maple Hill Colliery was located adjacent to the famous St. Nicholas Breaker between Shenandoah and Mahanoy City. Some of the homes visible in this image are still situated atop Maple Hill overlooking the site of the Maple Hill mine.

These are far from the only places in the Coal Region captured by Dick’s camera in 1938. We’ll be sharing more of these photographs in future posts.

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Featured Image: A shaft at the Maple Hill Colliery near Shenandoah (Library of Congress)

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