In 1976, Williamstown, PA, faced its 150th anniversary with mixed emotions, remembering both the prosperity of its coal-mining heyday and the struggles following the mine closures. Residents shared memories of a town once defined by coal, now left to rebuild its identity in a fading industry’s shadow. Read the Full Story.
By the Civil War’s end, the Summit Branch Railroad Company built these simple miners’ houses, transforming remote forest land into a bustling coal town called Williamstown. At its peak, thousands relied on the Williamstown Colliery for work. A few of these early homes still stand, silent witnesses to the region’s industrial heritage. Read the full story.
Charles E. King traded Pennsylvania’s coal veins for Europe’s battlefields in 1918. Discover how this Williamstown miner-turned-cook served with artillery forces before returning home to build a life shaped by wartime experiences. Read the full story.
Francis Reilly, 25, died after being struck in the head while working in the Bear Valley Shaft at the Williamstown Colliery in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania in 1889. Read the full story.
An aerial survey of Pennsylvania by airplane in 1938 shows us the mining operation just a few years before it closed forever.
Major Joseph Anthony was severely wounded during his Civil War service, but later took up a job leading mining operations in Dauphin County, PA.
Today, it doesn’t look like much. A forked path in the woods on State Game Lands in northern Dauphin County. Not much else. We are looking west, the trail on the left headed toward the village of Wiconisco and the right headed one mile to the long forgotten Big Lick Colliery. Behind us, the trail … Continue reading A walk to the long abandoned rail junction on Big Lick Mountain | Dauphin County, PA
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.
Budd served during the Civil War and later became a prominent citizen in Dauphin County's largest mining community.
In July 1906, engineers from rival coal mines played for bragging rights in northern Dauphin County.