Andrico No. 2 Mine (ca.1910-1930's),
Located near Andrico Station on the New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, near the spring at Andrico, off of PA Rt. 981, about 2 miles north of New Alexandria, Andrico, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
[Andrico No. 2 Mine was also called New Alexandria No. 2 Mine.]
Owners: (ca.1910-1930's) New Alexandria Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
                               Company Store: New Alexandria Coal Company Store (ca.1911-1914)
                                                        New Alexandria Supply Company (ca.1914-1936)

Andrico No. 3 Mine (ca.1910-1930's),
Located on a spur from near Andrico Station, on the New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Andrico, over the hill from the New Alexandria Union Cemetery, north of New Alexandria, Andrico No.2, Derry Twp., Andrico, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
[The shanty town of Andrico No. 2 no longer exists, the town was torn down after the Andrico No. 3 Mine was closed.]
[Andrico No. 3 Mine was also called New Alexandria No. 3 Mine.]
Owners: (ca.1910-1930's) New Alexandria Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
                             Company Store: New Alexandria Coal Company Store (ca.1911-1914)
                                                      New Alexandria Supply Company (ca.1914-1936)

Andrico No. 4 Mine (ca.1914-1930's),
Located on the Slyezak Farm, Andrico, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
[Andrico No. 4 Mine was also called New Alexandria No. 4 Mine.]
Owners: (ca.1914-1930's) New Alexandria Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
                                   Company Store: New Alexandria Supply Company (ca.1914-1936)

Andrico No. 5 Mine (ca.1915-1930's),
Located near the Ackerman Farm, Andrico, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
[Andrico No. 5 Mine was also called New Alexandria No. 5 Mine (ca.1920)]
Owners: (ca.1915-1930's) New Alexandria Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
                                      Company Store: New Alexandria Supply Company (ca.1914-1936)

Andrico No. 6 Mine (ca.1915-1930's),
Located near the Elder Farm, Andrico, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
Owners: (ca.1915-1930's) New Alexandria Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
                                   Company Store: New Alexandria Supply Company (ca.1914-1936)

A demolished red-brick building with a stone foundation is located on the south side of the road.  A two story elevator shaft enclosure is all that remains.  This tall two-story building  served as the "New Alexandria Coal Company Store", the company store. Other foundations and stone walls were identified near this building.  A small frame building over looking the present road into Andrico was once Independent No. 1 School House, one of the school houses serving the town of Andrico, this building was moved to this site from its former location along the old Saltsburg Road below the Alex Laughlin farm and converted into a single family house, when the U.S. Corps of Engineers, Loyalhanna Dam flood control project was constructed, in the 1950's.

In 1930 T. Pollard Latta, formerly of Irwin Gas Coal Company, was head of the New Alexandria Coke Company.  The New Alexandria Coke Company boasted of being the producers of the celebrated Greensburg Steam and Domestic Coal used in homes, factories and mills.  Their General Offices were in the Turney Building in Greensburg, PA and the mines were located at Andrico, in Derry Township.

The Ad at the right, for the "New Alexandria Coke Company" appeared in the 1915 New Alexandria High School Year Book.
(AD courtesy of the coal mining collections of Harry T. Bortz,  Railroad & Mining Historian, New Alexandria, PA)

By 1910 the New Alexandria Coke Company opened two more drift mines in the vicinity of Andrico.  That year the Andrico No. 1 Mine, which was the original Andrico Mine employed eighty-seven persons and produced 81,000 tons of coal.  The Andrico No. 2 Mine employed 121 persons and, in its first year of operation produced nearly 75,000 tons of coal. In 1910, also the first year of its operation, Andrico No. 3 Mine produced about 74,000 tons of coal, employing sixty-five men and boys.

A new town Andrico No. 2, containing a number of shanties (small one story miner's houses), also was built on the hillside overlooking Loyalhanna Creek just north of the New Alexandria Cemetery to house the workers at Andrico No. 3 Mine. This town was completely torn down after the Andrico No.3 Mine closed. All traces of the site have been removed during more recent strip mining of the area.

The company generated its own electricity at 250 volts to run the motors, trolleys and cutting machines and provide electricity for the lighting and water for the 52 company houses and a large Company Store. The Company Store was managed by John Brown.

Three electric locomotives were used to haul coal from these mines; however, the locomotives were supplemented by mules.  Most of the mining was done with pick and shovel, although the company employed a single electrically powered punching machine to extract the coal.  All of the mines were served by the New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania R.R.

(History and description of the Andrisco Mines, with additional data and pictures adapted from "Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1994,"  America's Industrial Heitage Project, National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, U.S. Department of the Interior, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

The New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad was extended from the New Alexandria Railroad station across a concrete viaduct to the north shore of the Loyalhanna Creek, and a bridge over the creek to serve the town of Andrico and the Andrico Mines.

New Alexandria Coke Company Andrico Tipple No. 1 was on the Alex Laughlin farm north of the Saltsburg Road;

New Alexandria Coke Company Andrico Tipple No. 2 was located above the spring at Andrico where the coal for the miners and their families was also mined;

New Alexandria Coke Company Andrico Tipple No. 3 was located north of the New Alexandria Cemetery;

New Aleandria Coke Company Andrico Tipple No. 4 was located at the Slezak Farm;

New Alexandria Coke Company Andrico Tipple No. 5 was located near the Ackerman Farm; and

New Alexandria Coke Company Andrico Tipple No. 6 was located near the Elder farm.

In ca.1918 Andrico Tipple No. 2 caught fire, and a large barn that stood close by burned down.  Mr. Simpson, who was barn boss, took the horses and mules to Ray Rush's barn where they were housed. Dynamite that was stored in a small building beside the tipple was carried out as the Tipple Burned.  This fire could have been a disaster but by a miracle no one was injured.

Mr. Clark was superintendent of the New Alexandria Coke Company Mines.  Pit bosses were: Charles Brown, Peter Marron, Thompson Brown and George Williams. Harry Franklin Bortz and Andy Cimbalos were two of the miners at Andrico Mines.

The Andrico mines were inactive by the 1930's. The road with the stone pillars off PA Rt. 981 N, before you come to the Andrico Road, was once the railroad bed and there was an electric cable type car that brought coal from Andrico Tipple No. 1 to Andrico Tipple No. 4.  Coal was brought from Andrico Tipple No. 6 also by an electric cable type car and dumped at Andrico Tipple No. 5.  The concrete pillars that supported the cable car can still be seen along PA Rt. 981, just north of the Andrico Road.

There were three one room school houses serving Andrico.  The first was called the old Union School and was on the Hanna farm.  The second was called Independent No. 1 School and was on the Alex Laughlin Farm. The third was Independent No. 2 School and was located at Andrico. Later, grades 5,6,7, and 8 went to school in the large blacksmith shop where a large room was converted to a school room. In 1940 or 1941 the children who still lived in Andrico were sent to Simpsons School House No.16, Derry Twp..

Above the New Alexandria Cemetery, on the hill over looking the mine tipple was the patch town of Andrico No. 2, containing a number of shanties, the housing for the workers at Andrico Plane No. 3 Mine. This patch was located on the Lyons Farm, presently ca.1999 the Newhouse Farm.  After the Andrico Tipple No. 3 Mine shut down the houses in the Andrico No. 2 patch were torn down and all traces removed. The site above the cemetery was subsequently stripped mined and no trace of the town remains. The only remains of Andrico Tipple No. 3 are the railroad bed of the Pennsylvania Railroad spur serving the mine and some concrete and stone remains around the tipple area, the site of Andrico Tipple No. 3 is now located in the flood control area of the Loyalhanna Dam.  There are large pit holes in the wooded area west of the New Alexandria Cemetery these are the result of this mine caving in.
(Photo courtesy of Edna Kuhn & New Alexandria Bicentennial History Committee)

Drift Entry of Andrico No. 2 Mine, New Alexandria Coke Company, located below the town of Andrico.  With the mule driver and hand loaded coal buggy and the some of the miners, and a survey crew with the mine owner, R.H. Jamison, in the white overcoat.
(Photo courtesy of Etna Kuhn & New Alexandria Bicentennial History Committee)

Andrico No. 2 Mine Tipple, New Alexandria Coke Company located below the Town of Andrico.  Fifty-two company houses, the Company store and two schools were located in Andrico.
(Photo courtesy of Etna Kuhn & The New Alexandria Bicentennial History Committee)

Andrico Patch, of Andrico Mines, the New Alexndria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad coming up from New Alexandria Station on the Tub Mill Spur, is along the Tub Mill Creek creekbed.  The old McKowen farm is in the far background.  The large Company store is at the end of the row of houses.  The Railroad extended up the valley to the Wm. Hanna farm.
(Photo courtesy of Etna Kuhn & The New Alexandria Bicentennial History Committee)

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