David Watkeys was pulled unconscious from the Williamstown Tunnel on May 25, 1904. He survived to tell his story.
Interview with a survivor of the 1904 Williamstown Colliery Disaster
The Williamstown Colliery Disaster of 1904
10 miners were killed when toxic gas from a locomotive filled Williamstown Tunnel on May 25, 1904
Video: A short history of Williamstown Tunnel in northern Dauphin County
Our first Facebook Live video gives a short history of Williamstown Tunnel at the southwestern border of the Coal Region
“A first-class breaker” – Photographs of Williamstown Colliery in the 1860s
Isaac Kunkel photographed the Williamstown Colliery in 1860s and documented the birth of a new town.
“A Shocking Mining Accident” in Williamstown, Pennsylvania | April 1872
"The excitement is great," reported the Lykens Register in April 1872. Williamstown Colliery had just experienced its deadliest accident to date.
Anthracite coal and the Civil War fueled the birth of Williamstown in the 1860s
A report from the Summit Branch Railroad Company in 1865 details the growth of a new community at the northern tip of Dauphin County.
“Abandoned as Unprofitable” – Williamstown Colliery Closes Forever
In January 1942, workers began dismantling the once thriving Williamstown mining operation.
“This is a thriving little village” – Williamstown in 1871
A visitor from Pottsville describes a rapidly expanding community in upper Dauphin County in 1871.
A coal town is born – Williamstown, Pennsylvania in 1864
As the Civil War raged, the village of Williamstown began growing on the slopes of Big Lick Mountain in upper Dauphin County.