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 

CSX action in Brownsville

Down on Second St. at the newish crossing, I caught a CSX train taking off.

Food Box: Scott's Pizza

Google street view, (C) Google and all that.

Located just outside of Brier Hill, PA (between Brownsville and Uniontown), on the North side of U.S. Route 40 (don't take the turnpike extension 43 or you'll miss it) across the street from LaFayette cemetery, on the other side of the road from where Show's used to be (if you remember that, you've lived around here a while!), Scott's Pizza is a really excellent place to get lunch. 

This is the kind of place that gets a lot of regulars (of which I am one), and that alone should be a good indicator of the quality of the food.  After all, people might stop once only to discover that the food is horrible and never return, but people keep coming back, that alone speaks volumes. 

What we have here is a rather small roadside pizza shop/Italian food place.  No alcohol is served here (I only mention that because a LOT of small pizza joints are also 6 pack shops, this one is not).  The pizza here is good, certainly won't be the best you've ever had in your life, but it's decent pizza.  Their subs are also very good.  Those are available daily, however I usually get one of their specials.  On Mondays, for example, they usually have Spaghetti and Meatballs, which is VERY good, quite filling (as pasta often is) and it comes with a salad and fresh bread on the side.  Another really good special they sometimes have is their turkey dinner.  It's like a little slice of thanksgiving in a lunch sized portion.  Their little yelllow sign out front (not pictured) will list their special each day. 

So if you're in the area and hungry, stop in, you won't be disappointed.  The parking lot is way larger than it needs to be, and I don't see why it wouldn't accommodate even large trucks, though I don't recall ever seeing many trucks parked there, might be hard to get in and out of with a big rig.  Frequent guests include ambulance drivers/EMT's, police (local and state) and of course employees of nearby businesses. 

Screw Flanders.

Fredericktown Ferry

Just a few more recent photos of old `Fred'.  Thing still runs, lots of traffic is now those who live in Washington or Greene county, but work at SCI Fayette.  I think it's about 2 bucks a car now.

 LAND HO!

The Monongahela river, in all its glory.

Glad we have life boats, you never know.

Yarr!  Etc.

State Gamelands #238

Interesting little family cemetery on this gamelands.  I was brought here not long ago by... you guess it... geocaching.  Seems like as good a place to die as any.

 Yeah, this was earlier this year for sure.

Another stone

Damaged stone

OMG THE RAPTURE.  Wait no, it's just the sun.

Centralia in the snow

My friend and I always wondered what the mine fire in Centralia would look like in the snow, so earlier this year we went and found out.  It looks a little something like this:

Smallest church in America?

Many boast the claim.  This one is in Georgia.  It's small alright.

 The property is actually deeded to Jesus Christ

Seats about a dozen

 Stained glass and all

 Well maintained

 The pulpit

 A quilt, I guess

 OMG THE RAPTURE!  Er wait, no just sunlight.

Looks even smaller outside.

 But it has a bell tower

No doubt this statue represents some religious figure.

Pittsburgh Childrens' Museum

It's a great place to visit if you've got a kid or two.

 It would appear to be howdie doody time.

And they've got slides.

See?

 They're all twisty and whatnot.

And some ancient artifacts on exhibit.

Puppets or something.

What is this I don't even

I know what this is I even.  It's a net.

Smallest church in 48 states?

That's what this Preston County, West Virginia church bills itself as.  I've seen another church claiming to be the smallest in America in Georgia a year and a half ago.  Both seemed of similar size to me.  Anyway, here's this one.

 Smallest mail drop in the USA as well.  Weird hours.

 Postcards.

Ahhh stuff and things

Well landscaped.

Plague.  er wait, not Plaque.

Wishing well

If wishes were fishes, they'd die of copper poisoning.

Inside.

Also inside.

Also also inside.

Also also also inside

Also al.. er no wait, outside again.  And dude, there's my car.

Nice lawn