This rare Harper’s Weekly illustration shows a mule team hauling loaded coal cars in Pennsylvania’s anthracite tunnels. Discover the vital role these animals played, the miles they trekked underground, and the grit of the miners who relied on them. Read the full story.
Discover how this neatly laid-out mining operation near Wilkes-Barre employed up to 1,000 workers, running multiple breakers and a record-length tunnel. Explore the ambitious growth fueling Pennsylvania’s Civil War era coal boom. Read the full story.
An illustration shows Pennsylvania mineworkers receiving their pay at a company store. Read the full story. The company store system kept workers and their families attached to the colliery and was often exploited to keep them trapped in a form of exploitation.
These young Pennsylvania mineworkers had a crucial job to fulfill in the underground labyrinths of the anthracite collieries.
On December 9, 1873, the Williamstown Tunnel in northern Dauphin County was completed as tunneling teams from both sides of Big Lick Mountain finally met. This engineering feat, begun in 1870, opened new coal reserves for the Summit Branch Railroad Company and transformed the Williamstown Colliery into one of the most productive anthracite mines in the region. Learn how this pivotal moment in Pennsylvania’s coal mining history unfolded. Read the full story.
A writer's visit to the Coal Region and his fascinating, but scathing opinions about what he found - Summer of 1873
An 1873 letter in the Boston Globe exhibits many signs of a Molly Maguire conspiracy theory in the Coal Region.