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Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania

Digital Coal Research Library
The 20th Century Society of Western Pennsylvania
Links to:
Coal Miners Memorial, Leith Mine & Coke Works,
Leith, South Union Twp., Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Coal Mines of Fayette Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Coal Mines of Allegheny Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Coal Mines of Indiana Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Coal Mines of Westmoreland Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Coal Mines of Washington Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Map of H.C.Frick Coke Co. Mines
Map of R.R. Transportation System Westmoreland Co.
Map of West Penn System Light Power Railway
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Leith Shaft Mine & Coke Works,
Leith,
South Uniontown,
South Union Twp.,
Fayette County,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

A Tribute to the Coal Miners that mined the
Bituminous Coal seams of the Leith Mine,
Fayette County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

by
Raymond A. Washlaski, Historian, Editor,
Ryan P. Washlaski, Technical Advisor,
Peter E. Starry, Jr. "The Old Miner."

Updated Dec. 3, 2005

Saturday, 03-Dec-2005 11:44:40 MST
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Leith Shaft Mine & Coke Works (ca.1880-1942),
Located on the Pennsylvania South West Railroad, and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Leith Station, South Uniontown, Leith, South Union Twp., Fayette Co., PA
[Leith Coke Works contained 284 coke ovens ca.1889.]
Owners: (ca.1880-1889), Chicago & Connellsville Coke Company,

                 (ca.1889-1942), H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA

Leith Mine Tipple and Power House
The Leith Mine tipple and power house was on e of the more modern and larder of the early coal and coke operations in the Uniontown area of Fayette County, Pennsylvania
(Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates', "In Other Years, Uniontown and Southern Fayette County.")

Leith Mine Tipple Workers, ca.1893
The Leith Mine tipple was the first steel tipple built in the Connellsville Coke Region of Fayyette County, Pennsylvania, by the H.C. Frick Coke Company.  The tipple was used to hoist the loaded mine cars up the mine shaft to the surface, and lower the miners and empties into the mine. 
(Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA, Ellen Whyel Carroll Collection. and Evelyn A. Hovanec's book, "Common Lives of Uncommon Strength:")

DESCRIPTION:
Leith, Coal Company Patch Town
Leith, A coal company patch town, is now considered a suburb of Uniontown, PA, the coal patch town of Leith was originally on the outskirts of Uniontown, along the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad lines.  Laid out in a linear plan, the town originally had about thirty wood-frame double houses, of which about twenty-five survive, ca.1990.  Each double-house was built with a gable roof, stone foundation, and two brick chimneys extending through the gable roof.  Many, though not all, retain these original chimneys.

In addition to the wood-frame houses, two large brick buildings were erected at Leith.  One of them, located to the north end of town, at the head of the original main road into town, served as the company store.  Now boarded up and unoccupied, this two-story building with a flat roof, contains little ornamention.  A projecting row of bricks forms a cornice for the parapet wall that extends along the main facade.  The building has another cornice extending the length of the main facade between the first and second floors.  A stone foundation supports the common-bond red-brick walls.

The other brick building served as the school house, and contains a large hipped roof, tall and narrow multipane widows, and a stone foundation.  The two-story building features an arched recessed entrance.  Now, ca.1990, serving as artists' studios, the building is located on the southernmost side of the town.

Leith Mine and Coke Works, Leith (South Uniontown), South Union Twp., Fayette Co., PA
The coal patch houses in Leith on the left, with the tipple and coke ovens on the right.
(Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates', "The Beehive Coke Years.")

HISTORY:
Leith Mine & Coke Works
Leith is a "Coal Patch" or coal company town which was built by the Chicago & Connellsville Coke Company to house the employees working at the Leith Shaft Mine & Coke Works.

The Leith Mine & Coke Works were placed in operation in the 1880's.  Housing for the workers and the managers was built over several years following the opening of the shaft mine.  The largest number of houses were constructed in 1880, when the company built two single houses and sixteen double houses.

The Leith Mine, a shaft mine was some 280 feet deep, possessed 1,542 acres of assigned Pittsburgh Coal.  The coal seam was 7.4 inches thick and daily coal production capability was 2000 tons.

In addition the Chicago & Connellsville Coke Company initially erected 106 bee-hive coke ovens, as early as 1881. The coke works was expanded to 178 bee-hive coke ovens by 1883.  Coke producted at the Leith Coke Works in the 1880's was sold and shipped via the railroads to the Joliet Steel Company, in Illinois.

In 1889 the H.C. Frick Coke Company, of Scottdale, PA, acquired the Leith Mine & Coke Works property from the Chicago & Connellsville Coke Company and began operating the mine and coke works.

From the Report of the Inspectors of Mines for Pennsylvania, 1889.
Leith Shaft.  Located on the P.S.A. R.R., Leith Station, Pa.  Owners, H.C. Frick Coke Company.  Shaft opening.  Double entries and is ventilated by a 20-foot Guibal fan.  Ventilation is good and other conditions are satisfactory.  This mine is a hard one to manage, owing to the soft bottom in one section and tender roof in others.  I had always inderstood that this mine was a perfect gas magazine, but since I have become mine inspector I have heard but little relative to its gaseous qualities, and during my several visits and inspections failed to find any beyond a faint indication.  Either the mine is better ventilated  than formerly or else the old feeders have become exhausted.  Rope haulage is used here and proves to be a great advantage, for the soft bottom made mule haulage expensive and inadequate for the required output.  Part of the workings in this mine have been temporarily abandoned until some good plan can be discovered to obviate the difficulty with the very tender roof, which falls even in the headings and crushes heavy timbers.  44,100 cubic feet per minute was the last air measurement I took at this mine.
(Reports Inspectors of Mine,1890:363.)

By the turn of the century the Leith Mine & Coke Works employed 321 workers, 116 of whom were engaged in the production of coke.  Leith Coke Works produced nearly 120,000 tons of coke in 1903, very likely one of the greatest output during its years of operation.

From the Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania, 1905.
Leith.  -- This mine is fully up to the requirements of the mine law in every particular. Forty-five permanent stoppings, most of which are along "A" and "E" new air courses, have been constructed.  Slate has been removed from No. 16, but "C" flat and the heading put in condition for an air way to the field of coal to the right of "C" and "D" falts.  The efficiency of the air course to the main butt section has also been very much improved by having slate and falls cleaned and stored from the heading.  Pump room near the shaft bottom is being repaired by substituting the old timbers at the top and along the sides of steel "I" beams.
 (Report of the Dept. of Mines,1905:258)

A photo from an early postcard showing the Leith Mine tipple and coke works.
(Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA)

In 1919 the Leith Mine produced 189,964 tons of coal, and the Leith Coke Works produced 115,158 tons of coke.  The Leith Coke Works had 304 coke ovens, with 198 in production for 253 days.  The Leith Mine was operated 258 days in 1919.  The Leith Mine & Coke Works employed 239 employees, and had 2 non-fatal accidents in 1919.

In 1920 the Leith Mine produced 197,254 tons of coal and 120,146 tons of coke.  The Leith Coke Works contained 304 bee-hive coke ovens, with 196 of them in production in 1920.  The Leith Mine operated 291 days, and the coke works operated 288 days.  The Leith Mine & Coke Works employed 220 employees in 1920, and had 2 non-fatal accidents in 1920.

By 1928 the Leith Coke Works has two batteries of block bee-hive coke ovens, with a total of 308 coke ovens in place, and produced 750 tons of coke per day.

The Leith Mine & Coke Works were probably closed and the works abandoned in the mid-1930's the mine was probably reopened during World War II, and closed for good ca.1942.

(History and description of Leith, 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.)

"Coal Miners Memorial, Leith Mine & Coke Works,
Leith (South Uniontown), South Union 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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