Crossing: (Satellite, this is my guess as to where the haul road was.)
It appears to be moving from the State Game Lands #117 area to Hillman State Park area.
I wonder why it is moving sideways.
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| The Fort Vance Historical Society posted More of the photos found while we are sorting thru the former Burgettstown Enterprise building...We all have experienced a traffic jam, especially during concert season but, there is no way of getting around this. This 1946 photo shows Harmon Creek Coal is moving a piece of "large equipment ". This photo shows a good comparison of the large cars of the day. They look like little miniatures and notice the wooden guardrails! Can you even imagine the State crew working with wooden post and stringing the metal roping? Tony Sam Pascarella: I think it was named the Angelina, it was owned by sravaggi coal, we used to sneak into the woods at night and watch it work, it was out behind star lake then they moved it up to Eldersville, it operated 24 hours 7 days a week, you cold park 10 cars in the bucket, I heard after the coal boom they sold it and moved it to Ohio, where it is today rusted in the woods, they made millions with that shovel. Chris Kramer: Harmon Creek Coal shovel moving across 22 - now Steubenville Pike- at Haul Road in Hanover Township (I've seen this one before). Harmon Creek Coal was owned by the Hillmans and most of what they strip mined was then donated to the state- UNRECLAIMED - and is now Hillman State Park. [Below, I reference sources that claim the land was reclaimed.] Estelle Jane: My dad is 93 and said they were probably moving this across what was Route 22 at the time to continue stripping coal. Robert Friday shared James Stine: This is the second and last Marion 5321 stripping shovel built. As it arrived in parts in early 1937 near Burgettstown, PA., it was assembled and went to work. The machine, weighing in at around 829 ton with almost a 94 ft boom, a 54 ft dipper stick and a 12.5 yd dipper, was later upgraded to a 15 yard dipper. According to an article in 1964, she had a 16 yard dipper. The shovel worked from early 1937 until at least 1964. I am not certain when it was parked (Quit Working). If you remember anything about this shovel, I would really appreciate your comments. |
Harmon Creek Coal Mine was just one of several in the area.
The Fort Vance Historical Society posted two images with the comment: "Fort Vance received the post card and the photo years apart. It definitely looks like the same piece of equipment. The first photo is a post card and the second was a photo titled Francis Mine 1930. They look like they were taken the same day wagon and miners. The second photo shows the difference over the years of mining. In 1920, among the mines contributing to making Burgettstown the largest coal station in the world were: Atlasburg mine of the Carnegie Coal Company with the average pay of $25,000; Burgettstown Coal Company with a pay ear $20,000; The Harmon Creek Coal Company with Stripping proposition of working day and nigh with a pay over $35,000; the Pittsburgh and Erie company with a pay over $20,000; the Bertha Mine with a pay upwards of $20,000; Francis Mine pay of $15,000;the Pittsburgh and Eastern Coal with three mines at Cherry Valley with a pay of $25,000; Verner Coal and Coke company with two mines , one at Cedar Grove and a pay over $15,000; plus all of the other smaller operations. The big shovels of these companies were kept in operation day and night. Years earlier, American ZInc had entire train loads of incoming freight loads of ore for the plant. Local economy increase so much that the Washington National Bank (located in the former location of the Burgettston Hardware) built a new home for their business next door (last known as Citizen's Bank). Passenger business from the Burgettstown railroad station totaled more than $145,00 business during 1919. That did not include passenger tickets that purchased tickets into and out of from other offices. Know we know how all the slate dumps were created. Years ago, we had relatives from California visit. They couldn't figure out what or why there were slate dumps everywhere!"
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| Paul M Lipke commented on the above post This is “Angeline”. |
What is now Hillman State Park "was the largest bituminous coal strip mine in Pennsylvania with more than 15 million tons of coal removed by 1968." This article says Harmon Creek Coal Corp. began practicing land reclamation in 1937, long before any laws requiring it were passed. They stockpiled topsoil, contoured the land, added fertilizer and planted cover crops. In fact, they had a nursery that provided 30,000 tree seedlings per year. By the late 1960s, they had planted over two million trees. But the state did have to fix water drainage problems. The Lyle Covered Bridge was built in 1887, and it is 38' long (11.6m). [StateParks]
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| Street View, Sep 2019 |
Hillman was the president of the coal company. Here is another article about their reclamation efforts.
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