Founded in 1851, the Short Mountain Coal Company grew rapidly during the Civil War in association with the Pennsylvania Railroad.
A 1919 history of the Short Mountain Coal Company – Wiconisco Township
Henry Keiser’s ‘reminisicences’ of Lykens and Wiconisco before the Civil War
In May 1927, Henry Keiser described the Coal Region towns where he grew up as they looked in the 1850s.
Baseball game settled score between colliery engineers in Williams Valley
In July 1906, engineers from rival coal mines played for bragging rights in northern Dauphin County.
A New York Times correspondent’s 1874 visit to Wiconisco Township
A dispatch to the New York Times from August 1874 details life and work in the thriving Dauphin County mining community.
“We want a vigorous prosecution of the war” – Chaplain calls for hard war against Confederacy in 1863
"I pronounce this rebellion wicked," thundered John Chandler Gregg in a speech given in Wiconisco, Pennsylvania.
“This community sustains a great loss” – A fatal mine disaster in Wiconisco Township during the Civil War
On February 7, 1862, a roof collapsed inside the Short Mountain Colliery killing a respected miner and wounding several others.
“A vivid flash of light” – An 1867 lightning strike electrocuted Wiconisco miners 1,000 feet below ground
In June 1867, a thunderstorm passed through Wiconisco, Pennsylvania and electrocuted miners deep within one of the town's coal mines.
“Overhauling is going on vigorously” – An 1860s photograph reveals work at coal breaker in Wiconisco
A photograph taken shortly after the Civil War shows mining operations in Wiconisco Township in Dauphin County in the 1860s.
“Strike among the coal miners”- Labor unrest in Wiconisco Township during the Civil War
In the spring of 1863, a series of strikes among miners stopped all work in the anthracite coal mines of Wiconisco Township.
“A frightful scene” – A Wiconisco boy’s narrow escape from death in a mine accident in 1859
A young boy faced death in the mines of the Lykens Valley Coal Company in March 1859. And against all odds, he came out victorious.
