Crucible mine, or: How did your slate dump get on our side of the river?

Well it's not the only time it's happened.  La Belle's staggering slate dump was actually the waste from J&L Steel's Vesta #4 and #5 mines.  In La Belle's case, however, the entire prep plant was on the Fayette County side of the river.  A conveyor belt across the Monongahela river carried the green coal to the plant, which was built around 1950 and I'm told at the time was the largest such prep plant in the world.  Another conveyor led from the plant to the behemoth of a dump.

Crucible was also a captive mine (of the Crucible Steel Company) however they never had a prep plant on this side, just the dump.  And they didn't have a conveyor belt to bring it over, they had a skip, or as they call it on a mine map an "Aerial Tramway", basically like a ski lift but for buckets of mine waste.  The mine opened in the early 1910s but they must have dumped on their own side for awhile.

It wasn't there in 1939.

It was in 1959.  Probably nearing the end of the mine's life, it shut down by the early 1960s.

So what's left today?  Well I haven't been to the other side but the dump is still there.

 While not the biggest slate dump around in area, these "twin peaks" sure are tall!  Also note the bottom has largely turned to "red dog", a byproduct once used to cover rural roads, today that's the job of gravel.  There aren't many "red dog" roads left, probably due to environmental concerns.

No idea how the overhead skip worked but this must be what's left of it, there's no other reason cables like this would be just hanging out on the top of this pile.  Presumably they had bulldozers or something on this side to even the pile out from time to time.

Update: Sarah's coal

Well it turns out the book was half right, if this map is to be believed.

On an actual mine map mentioning Sarah it would appear that Frick's Maxwell mine mined out the coal, though the nearby Hustead Seamans may have mined some of it, depending on the area of the original Sarah mine.

The town that never was

Ever heard of Sarah, Pennsylvania?  No?  Well even most of the locals never have, save for old timers.  It was built.  A "patch town" as we call them, also known as "company town" or "coal camp".  Whatever you call them they're commonplace in these parts.  This one, however, was short lived.  So short in fact that I don't believe anyone ever actually LIVED there, despite the town being complete.

On page 30 of the book "The Monongahela Railway:  Its history and operation 1903-1993" (side note: if you have any interest in this railroad go buy that book yesterday) gives some insight into what can only be described as a veritable orgasm of poor planning:

One terribly expensive undertaking that turned sour was the construction, in 1909, of the Rush Run Branch to Sarah.  The developer indicated a great quantity of coal would be shipped and proceeded to build the patch (company houses) and all the rest of the buildings associated with a shaft mine.  The railroad built the 4.2 mile branch, which included an arch over Rush Run above Mile Post 4 on the River Division and numerous cuts and fills.  The four trains that ran on this branch unloaded the ballast to complete the track.  It was determined that the coal did not belong to the developer and was never mined at Sarah.  The branch was never opened and was ultimately retired and removed.  Hustead Seamans Company at East Millsboro subsequently mined the coal and probably turned it into coke for the steel industry.

Rush Run Branch interchange with mainline, February 3, 1909.

The town of Sarah, June 14, 1909

June 25, 1939 aerial photo, as you can see there's not much left.

Things I've ascertained from older locals (so don't take this as gospel):  The wood from the torn down patch houses was used to build a big barn for a farm, and that Sarah was the name of someone's wife, either the mine developer's, a railroad official or some other big whig.

As to the claim that the coal was subsequently mined by Hustead Semans out of East Millsboro it's certainly possible, though it's very near the back end of the Maxwell mine (a Frick operation) and also in the vicinity of the huge Isabella mine.  Furthermore it's near the slate dump for the Crucible mine, which was across the river and I'm still trying to piece that one together.

La Belle Coke Works

Opened:  ca. 1910 (best guess, this is when the patch town was constructed)
Closed:  end of WWII, though the coke works were closed earlier
Owned by:  Not sure.

Mine Map

13 June 1939 aerial photo

The coke works were clearly out of operation by this date, as you can see vegetation beginning to reclaim them.  North is the Monongahela river, South is the patch town.

What's left today?

Nothing.  When I was a kid there was the tipple, which we referred to as the "old fort", the remains of several coke ovens (only one was not collapsed) and one old mine shaft was still there.  You couldn't get very far back as it was caved in/blasted in but cool air would always rush out of it.  It's all gone now, as is the prep plant J&L Steel built along the river in 1950 for the Vestaburg mines across the river, which at the time was the largest in the world.

Morning Glory

Morning glory, my favorite flower

They know how to take over.

Skullduggery!

In the alley behind our house, we find this

It used to house the brain of a white tailed deer, I assume.

 It's got teeth

and horns 

probably dangerous

yep, haunted.

Greater Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival

Just a friendly reminder, you won't want to miss this. 

AUGUST 20-21, 27-28
SEPTEMBER 3-4-5, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25 - 2011
Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day Only!
10:30am - 6:30pm
Rain or Shine / No Pets
FREE PARKING

http://www.pgh-renfest.com/General%20Information.html