At the Lykens Valley Slope in Wiconisco, PA | 1860s

Posted on by Jake Wynn

This 1860s photograph captures the industrial heart of coal mining in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, at a moment when anthracite production was reshaping the landscape and communities of the Williams Valley.

Taken at the Lykens Valley Colliery in Bear Gap, Wiconisco Township, the image looks toward the top of the Lykens Valley Slope, one of the key access points into the deep underground workings of the mine. From here, coal, tools, machinery, and men were hauled up from below and sent into the long chain of processing and transport that fueled homes, factories, and railroads across the region.

1860s photograph of the Lykens Valley Colliery in Bear Gap, Pennsylvania, showcasing coal production machinery, loaded mine cars, and workers at the coal processing site.
Photograph from the collections of the Williamstown Historical Society

The scene shows the daily mechanics of 19th-century coal production. Loaded mine cars, guided by mules and young boys, moved from the slope to the breaker, where coal was sorted and prepared for shipment. Behind them stood the hoisting machinery that made this system possible – a steam engine-driven operation that connected underground labor to surface industry.

The Lykens Valley Colliery was part of a tightly integrated industrial network that defined life in Wiconisco Township during the Civil War era and later was operated by subsidiaries of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as part of the Short Mountain Colliery.

Together, these images document not just infrastructure, but people – workers, children, and onlookers.

An 1860s photograph of the Lykens Valley Colliery in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, showing coal mining operations. Loaded mine cars, guided by mules and young boys, are seen on tracks leading to the breaker. Workers and onlookers are present near the hoisting machinery and a storage building.
The photographer stood near the site of the Lykens Valley Colliery’s breaker, looking north towards the Lykens Valley Slope on the east side of Bear Gap. This area was where loaded mine cars were led by mules from the top of the Lykens Valley Slope to the breaker for processing. The building behind the mules and mine cars was at the head of the Lykens Valley Slope. Here, hoisting machinery lifted mine cars, men, machinery, tools, etc. from the depths of the mine and lowered them back down.
Nineteenth-century photograph of coal mining operations at the Lykens Valley Colliery, showing loaded mine cars pulled by horses and workers on the tracks near processing buildings.
These mules were often led by young boys, some as young as 10 or 11 years of age.
A blurred black and white photograph depicting three figures near a coal mining site in the 1860s, with a building in the background.
Spectators stand by to be photographed as well. They are likely workers or management at the Lykens Valley Colliery, which later was operated by subsidiaries of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 19th century.
A detailed engraving of the Lykens Valley Colliery in Bear Gap, Pennsylvania, showing buildings, smokestacks, and surrounding hills, illustrating the industrial landscape of 19th-century coal mining.
The engine house at the Lykens Valley Slope as it appeared in an 1862 illustration of the mines at Wiconisco Township published on a Dauphin County map. (From the Library of Congress)
Map of the Lykens Valley region in Pennsylvania, highlighting coal mining areas and infrastructure within Wiconisco Township.
This detail from an 1862 Dauphin County map shows Wiconisco Township and the mines at Bear Gap. The building at the top of the Lykens Valley Slope, where the machinery to hoist coal, men, and machinery was located.

Read more about the mines at Bear Gap

“This community sustains a great loss” – A fatal mine disaster in Wiconisco Township during the Civil War

One Spark: The 1877 Lykens Mine Fire

Life of a Coal Mine Superintendent – The Diary of Gilliard Dock, 1867

A History of Short Mountain Colliery

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