In June 1859, the coal miners of Wiconisco Township put down their tools over eight cents a car. It's the earliest documented strike from these collieries — and it didn't end well for the men who walked out. Read the story.
In April 1862, Salmon P. Chase boarded a special train to tour the coal mines of Wiconisco Township with the recently disgraced Simon Cameron. Washington took notice. Within a year, the mines they visited together would be at the center of a corruption scandal involving Cameron and Henry Thomas. Read the full story.
This 1862 illustration captures the coal mines at Bear Gap during the Civil War, showing how industry, railroads, and labor shaped northern Dauphin County at a pivotal moment. For me, it brings a familiar landscape back to life as it once was. Read the full story.
Founded in 1851, the Short Mountain Coal Company grew rapidly during the Civil War in association with the Pennsylvania Railroad.
In May 1927, Henry Keiser described the Coal Region towns where he grew up as they looked in the 1850s.
On February 7, 1862, a roof collapsed inside the Short Mountain Colliery killing a respected miner and wounding several others.
A photograph taken shortly after the Civil War shows mining operations in Wiconisco Township in Dauphin County in the 1860s.
Gilliard Dock served as superintendent at several Pennsylvania coal mines between 1865 and 1870. His journal tells the story.