Alaska Colliery
| Alaska Colliery | |
|---|---|
 Alaska Colliery, circa 1910. | |
 Interactive map of Alaska Colliery | |
| 40°47′01″N 76°26′17″W / 40.783474°N 76.43807°W | |
| Location | Alaska, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania |
| History | |
| Built | 1873–1874 |
| Demolished | mid-20th century |
| Site notes | |
| Owner | Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company (1874–1956); Reading Anthracite Company (1956–c.1960s) |
The Alaska Colliery was an anthracite mining facility located in Alaska, Pennsylvania, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) northeast of Mount Carmel. Situated in the Western Middle Anthracite Field, the operation was a primary production site for the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company (P.&R. C.&I.). The company was organized in 1871 by Franklin B. Gowen to vertically integrate the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad's coal interests, eventually controlling over 40 percent of the region's anthracite reserves.[1] During its construction in 1874, a fire destroyed the engine, boiler, and shaft houses; the colliery subsequently suffered two further breaker fires, in 1886 and 1926. Deep mining operations ended on April 30, 1944, after which the facility transitioned to surface strip mining. The village of Alaska, a small community that had grown up around the colliery, was demolished by the Reading Anthracite Company beginning in 1958 to permit expansion of strip mining operations.[2]
Development and technical details (1873–1930)
[edit]The colliery was established in 1873 to extract coal from the Mammoth Vein. The shaft was bored to a depth of 270 feet using diamond drills, and upon completion the facility was projected to employ more workers than all other collieries in the Mount Carmel area combined.[3] Operations utilized vertical shafts and inclined slopes to access deep reserves. The No. 3 slope was driven 160 feet (49 m) into the bottom split of the Mammoth Vein to reach the basin of the seam.[4]
During the construction of the colliery, a fire on March 15, 1874 destroyed the engine house, boiler house, and shaft house of the Alaska Shaft while they were still in the course of erection.[5]
In June 1897, the Baldwin Locomotive Works supplied a compound compressed-air locomotive to the Alaska shaft for underground haulage.[6] By 1915, the P.&R. C.&I. had implemented mechanical loading and electric haulage to increase production efficiency.[7][8]
At its operational peak in 1920, the colliery employed 777 workers and produced approximately 300,000 tons of coal.[9]
Breaker fire of 1886
[edit]On June 5, 1886, the Alaska Breaker was completely destroyed by fire along with the adjoining saw-mill. The cause of the blaze was not conclusively determined; investigators theorized that either a hot roller shaft had ignited the wooden framework, or that an employee's lamp had been left in proximity to timber saturated with oil. The breaker had been valued at $100,000 and, when operating at full capacity, processed approximately 25,000 tons of coal per month, with 500 workers employed and a monthly payroll of $20,000. A number of workers present in the shaft directly beneath the breaker reached the surface only minutes before the burning structure collapsed into the mine workings below; all other employees were notified in time to evacuate without reported fatalities.[10]
Breaker fire of 1926
[edit]On April 19, 1926, the wooden breaker was destroyed by a fire originating in the conveyor line, resulting in $500,000 in damages.[11] The blaze put some 650 underground employees out of work. Company officials announced through the P.&R. C.&I. offices in Mount Carmel that a return to work was expected within the week, and that coal production at Alaska would be maintained through temporary facilities at other Reading properties in the district. Cleanup crews numbering over 200 were mobilized at the site the following day. The building carried no insurance. A locomotive spark was considered an unlikely cause, as weather conditions at the time of the fire were determined to have carried any sparks away from the structure.[12]
Operational transition and closure (1930–1960s)
[edit]High operating costs, primarily the mechanical pumping required to drain deep workings, reduced the site's profitability during the 1930s until deep mining ended on April 30, 1944, with the company citing the "prohibitive cost of dewatering" the deep slopes.[13]
In 1956, the Reading Anthracite Company converted the site to surface strip operations. This transition resulted in the demolition of original colliery structures and the removal of the village of Alaska. The village, also known as Mount Carmel Junction, was a small community of approximately 40 residents located about two miles southwest of Mount Carmel, whose houses dated back over a century. In June 1958, with the Reading Anthracite Company having already moved equipment onto the site to begin razing, most of the remaining families relocated elsewhere ahead of the expanding strip mining operation.[2]
Environmental legacy
[edit]The site remains a source of abandoned mine drainage within the Shamokin Creek watershed. Discharges from the former workings affect local water quality, and the area is a subject of ongoing remediation projects managed by the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR).[14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company Records". Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
- 1 2 "Tiny Village Falls Prey To Coal Industry". The Daily Item. June 11, 1958. p. 1. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Alaska Shaft". Northumberland County Democrat. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
- ↑ Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania. Dept. of Mines of Pennsylvania. 1905. p. 412.
- ↑ "Alaska Colliery Notes" (PDF). Engineering and Mining Journal. 17 (13). March 28, 1874. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
- ↑ Pennsylvania Bureau of Mines (1898). Report of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Internal Affairs of Pennsylvania. Wm. Stanley Ray, State Printer. p. 23.
- ↑ Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania, Part I — Anthracite, 1915. Dept. of Mines of Pennsylvania. 1916.
- ↑ "Mechanical loading at Alaska Colliery". Hagley Museum and Library. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
- ↑ Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania, Part I — Anthracite, 1920. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1921. p. 436.
- ↑ "A Big Breaker Burned". Public Press. June 5, 1886. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Alaska Breaker is Wiped Out by Fire". Mount Carmel Daily Advertiser. April 20, 1926. p. 2. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
- ↑ "All Alaska Workers Back in 4 to 6 Days, Officials Say". The Daily News. April 20, 1926. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
- ↑ Clark, George J. (April 13, 1944). "Alaska Colliery to Be Abandoned on April 30". The Mount Carmel Item. Mount Carmel, PA. p. 1. (Microfilm available at Pennsylvania State Archives, LCCN sn85054924)
- ↑ Cravotta, Charles A., III (2003). Effects of Abandoned Coal-Mine Drainage and Water Quality in the Shamokin, Pennsylvania, 1999–2001. U.S. Geological Survey.
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