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| Kyle Farm Mine & Coke Works (Kyle Mine) (ca.1859-1954), Located on the South West Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at the northern edge of Fairchance, Kyle, Georges Twp., Fayette Co., PA [Kyle Farm Coke Works contained 164 bee-hive coke ovens ca.1889.] [Kyle Farm Coke Works contained 306 bee-hive coke ovens ca.1910.] Owners: (ca.1859- ? ), F. H. Oliphant Company, (ca. ? ), Fairchance Iron Company, (ca. ? ), Fairchance Furnace Company, (ca.1880's-1889), Bliss & Marshall Company, Fairchance, PA (ca.1889- 1954), H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA |
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| A portion of the U.S.G.S. Masontown, PA 15min. quad map
showing Fairchance and th elocation of the Kyle Farm Mine & Coke
Works. (Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington D.C.) |
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| Kyle Farm Coke Works Coke loading machine, loading the railroad cars at the H.C. Frick Coke Company's Kyle Farm Coke Works. The coke machine would screen the coke as it was loaded into the railroad cars, dumping the coke ash on the dock, from which it was hauled to the ash dump of the coke works. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
| HISTORY: From the Reports of the Inspectors of Mines, 1889: Kyle Farm Mine. Located on the P. S. W. R. R., near Fairchance, Pa. Owners, formerly Bliss & Marshall, but now the H.C. Frick Coke Company. Drift openings, natural ventilation and mostly double headings. At my last visit my anemometer gave no result where before I found a strong current but this is a common occurrence at mines depending on natural forces for ventilation. At some portions of the days it tears along like a hurricane and then again becomes stagnant. Other conditions were satisfactory but I shall endeavor to have the new owners make some other provision for ventilation, and I have not the slightest doubt that they will do so. (Pennsylvania Inspectors of Mines,1890:362, Harrisburg, PA)
From the "Report of the Department of Mine of Pennsylvania,
1906": The electric power for the plant is brought from York Run Mine to the substation in which is installed one 5 panel General Electric switchboard, each 200 kilowatt rotary converter and three 200 kilowatt transformers, each of the Bullock Electric Company's type. The yard tracks along the bank coke ovens were lowered from six two to four feet and relaid with 85 pound iron. One 23 ton tandem electric mine locomotive, composed of two 10 ton separable units, of the General Electric Company, hauls the coal from the landings on E and G flats and the New Slope section to the landing at the bottom of the chain hoist. The company graded 5,900 feet of heading and laid 8,400 feet of motor road with 40 pound rail and new ties, surfaced and retied 2,500 feet of motor road; eliminated the pumping station near York Run Mine by constructing a natural water course consisiting of a tunnel 110 feet long and a 24 inch terra cotta drain 400 feet long. Natural drainage was secured for the wheel pit by constructing a drain of 14 inch tile for a distance of 500 feet with an average cut of 5 feet. The mine was equipped with 200 new pit wagons, 40 bushel capacity and three permanent overcasts were built.
From the "Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania,
1917":
From The Daily Courier, Tuesday, May 23, 1922, Connellsville, PA
Kyle Works was located on the northern edge of Fairchance
and not far from the cattle pens in the 1920s. Kyle Farm was the focal point
for many of the H.C. Frick Coke Company captive mines in this area of Fayette
County. Adjoining the Kyle Farm Mine and Coke Yard, H. C. Frick Coke Company
also owned a twenty acre meadow with large stables and other buildings, for
the purpose of receiving work horses to be broken-in and trained for mine
work and in turn, distributed to many of the H.C.Frick Coke Company Mines.
The horses were brought in on the railroad by box cars, unloaded at the cattle
pens, then taken on foot to the Kyle Mine Company stables to be trained for
mine work. After their training they were then returned to the
pens and taken by rail to their destinations at one of the many coal
plants. |
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| A new herd of horses and mules arrive at
the Kyle Farm stables of the H.C. Frick Coke Company. This farm was
one of several that served as distribution centers for assigning the animals
to the various Frick workings. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
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| The stables and farm building were the newly
arrived horses and mules were kept and turned out to pasture at the Kyle
Farm. New animals were first broken to harness then trained inside
the mine to pull the mine cars. This was done by a man leading the
horse or mule for several days until the animal learned the routine in the
mine. From then on the animals could be driven by the mule driver and
put to work pulling the mine cars. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
| "Coal Miners Memorial,
Kyle Farm Mine & Coke Works, Fairchance, Georges 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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