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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 |
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| 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.") |
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| 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. |
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| 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. 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. |
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| 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)
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| 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" |
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