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| Footedale Mine & Coke Works
(ca.1900- ? ), Located one mile east of New Salem, on a road to Route 21 at Balsinger, at Footedale, German Twp., Fayette Co., PA [Footedale Mine was named for C. H. Foote, vice-president of the Illinois Steel Company.] [Footedale Coke Works contained 400 coke ovens.] [Footedale was also spelled Footdale in some references.] Owners: (ca.1900-1901), Eureka Fuel Company, Uniontown, PA [A subsidiary of Illinois Steel Company.] (ca.1901- ? ), Southwest Connellsville Coke Company, Scottdale, PA (ca.1903- ? ), H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA (ca.1919- ? ), H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA (ca.1920- ? ), H. C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA |
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| A portion of a ca.1935 Pennsylvania, Fayette
County, Masontown, PA 15 min. Quad. topographical map of the Footedale Area
of Fayette County, showing the Footedale Mine & Coke Works, plus the
settlement around the mine, as well as the Monongahela Railroad Branch line
that served the Footedale Mine & Coke Works and the other Mines &
Coke Works. The West Penn Railway line also served the area with trolley
service. (Map courtesy of the U.S.Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.) |
| HISTORY: Footedale Mine & Coke Works Work on the Footedale Mine & Coke Works was commenced in January, 1900, by the Eureka Fuel Company, a subsidiary of Illinois Steel Company. The Footedale plant was similar in all essential features to the Leckrone Coal & Coke plant of the Eureka Fuel Company. The Footedale Coke Works contained 400 bee-hive coke ovens, divided into two lines of 160 double block ovens and 80 bank ovens. There are two drift mines and a slope mine driven to connect with the shaft at the Buffington Plant of Eureka Fuel Company. There is one hoist and a 1,000 ton bin at Footedale, all the coal from the three mines being brought to one point at the foot of the incline. In addition to the electric plant, an air compressor and hoisting engine are installed for the development of the slope mine. It was not the intention to take the coal supply for the coke ovens from the slope entry, but to provide by means of the slope entry an additional outlet from the shaft workings and a traveling way for taking the stock to and from the mine, thus avoiding the use of stables at the shaft bottom. In the patch town of Footedale there are 90 double family blocks of residences and 20 single family houses, and three houses of the better class provided for the miners and their families. Around ca.1901 the Southwest Connellsville Coke Company operated the Footedale Mine & Coke Works. Sometime around 1903 the H.C. Frick Coke Company acquired the Footedale Mine and Coke Works from Eureka Fuel Company. By ca.1928, the Footedale Mine was consolidated underground with the Buffington Mine and all coal mined was shipped underground to the Filbert Mine, were a large underground rotary mine car dumper was developed. The rotary mine car dumper had a capacity of thirty-two mine cars and served not only the Filbert Mine, but also the mines at Lambert, Footedale, Buffington and Ralph. Coal was transported via the underground connected mine tunnels from these mines to the rotary mine car dumper, where it was deposited on a conveyor belt, and carried nearly 2.9 miles on the Palmer Conveyor Belt System to the Palmer Coal Dock, located on the Monongahela River, were it was loaded on river barges and shipped via barge down river to the Clairton Coke Works, in Clairton, PA. This system of transporting the coal remained in place until June, 1957, when U. S, Steel closed the mines and the Palmer Coal Dock. |
| (History and description of Footedale, adapted from "Fayette County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1990," 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. and "Report of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Internal Affairs of Pennsylvania, 1900.") |
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| Footedale Mine Tipple and Power House. An undated
photo of the Footedale Mine Tipple and power house. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
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| Footedale Mine Undated photo of the H.C. Frick Coke Company's Footedale Mine. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Management Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
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| Undated photo of the miners and workers and what appears
to be the blacksmith shop at the Footedale Mine. (Photo courtesy of the Clark Dearth Funeral Home, New Salem, PA) |
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| Footedale Mine Stables The drivers with their horses and mules at the outside Footedale Mine stables. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Management Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
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| Footedale Mine Horse in a pasture near the coal company
houses. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Management Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
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| The Footedale Coal Company Patch houses. The Footedale
Mines and Coke Works have been closed and were abandoned when this picture
was taken. Footedale is near New Salem, Fayette County,
Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of the Clark Dearth Funeral Home, New Salem, PA) |
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| West Penn Trolley crossing the valley near Footedale, German Township, Fayette Co., PA |
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| Undated photo of a United Mine Workers of America Union
gathering at Footedale, Fayette Co., PA around the turn of the
century. (Photo courtesy of the Clark Dearth Funeral Home, New Salem, PA) |
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| The Footedale Coal Company Patch houses as they appeared
in ca.1940's. The Footedale Mines and Coke Works have been closed and
were abandoned when this picture was taken. Footedale is near New Salem,
Fayette County, Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of the Clark Dearth Funeral Home, New Salem, PA) |
| "Coal Miners
Memorial, Footedale Mines & Coke Works, Footedale, German Twp., Fayette County, Pennsylvania" |
| > Support the Coal & Coke Heritage
Center, a non-profit research center and museum. Want to know more about the women who lived in the coal patch towns? You need this book. One of the few studies done on the women of the coal & coke era. Common lives of Uncommon Strength: The Women of the Coal & Coke Era of Southwestern Pennsylvania 1880-1970 Complied, written and edited by: Evelyn A. Hovanec, PhD Voices of the women tell unique stores of the coal and coke era, plus vintage photographs, documents, maps, and newspaper articles. Hardcover $35.00 Soft cover $25.00 Add $5.00 shipping / handling. Send Check or money order to: Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus P.O. Box 519, Uniontown, PA 15401 |
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