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| Orient Mine & Coke Works
(ca.1900- ? ), Located on the New Salem - Republic Road, along Dunlap Creek, in the Cardale vicinity, Orient, Redstone Twp., Fayette Co., PA [Orient Coke Works contained 480 coke ovens ca.1916, located in the Klondike Region of the Connellsville Coke Region, of Fayette Co, PA] Owners: (ca.1900- ? ), Orient Coke Company, Uniontown, PA (ca.1916- ? ), Orient Coke Company, Uniontown, PA (ca.1919- ? ), Orient Coke Company, Uniontown, PA (ca.1920- ? ), American Coke Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA |
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| A portion of the U.S.G.S. 15 min. Masontown,
PA quad map ca.1935, showing the town of Orient and the surrounding mining
towns. (Map courtesy of the U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.) |
| DESCRIPTION: Orient Mine & Coke Works All that remains of the physical plant of the Orient Mine is the tipple foundations, and a huge slate dump or boney dump. The former Orient Mine buildings included a shop, hoist house, bath house and powerhouse, all of which were located along Dunlap Creek, just west of the coal patch town of Orient. West of the Orient Mine site, ca.1990, and just south of Cardale, stands a single battery of double block bee-hive coke ovens. The long abandoned coke ovens are accessible by walking across the school yard of the former Catholic School, "Madonna of Czechoslovakia." About seven bee-hive ovens may be seen and they were in a moderately to severely deteriorated condition, ca.1990. About a one-quarter mile to the east, along Dunlap Creek, the community of Orient contains about a dozen residences, ca.1990, dating from the early 1900's. These wood-frame double family coal company houses were built for the miners by the Orient Coke Company, and to house the employees working at the Orient Mine & Coke Works. In addition to the double-family coal company houses several two-story wood frame single family managers' residences remain in place. |
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| A row of existing bee-hive coke ovens
from the Orient Coke Works, ca.1990. (Photo by Jet Lowe, ca.1990, courtesy of the Historic American Building Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
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| A close up view of existing
bee-hive coke ovens from the Orient Coke Works, ca.1990. (Photo by Jet Lowe, ca.1990, courtesy of the Historic American Building Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
| HISTORY: Orient Mine & Coke Works The Orient Coal & Coke Works was built by the Orient Coke Company and placed in operation sometime between 1900 and 1904. The mine operated as early as ca.1903, and employed eight workers. By ca.1905 approximately 400 bee-hive coke ovens had been built. This number was increased to 480 bee-hive coke ovens by ca.1908. The Orient Coke Works and Orient Mine was served by the Monongahela Valley Railroad. In ca.1912 the Orient Coke Company had 451 employees, ninety-seven of whom were engaged in coke production. The Orient Coke Works produced 268,708 tons of coke in that year. The Orient Coke Works was probably abandoned in the early 1920's. (History and description of the Orient Mine & Coke Works, adapted, with additional data, 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.) |
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| Two of West Penn Railways large (58 feet
long) orange center entrance interurban trolley's meet on the passing siding
at Orient, Fayette Co., PA. The Weat Penn Trolley system was the main
mode of travel between the cities and the various coal
patches. (Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
| Carl Pincheck Recalls living in the coal
patch towns
Carl Pincheck lived most of his life in Cardale, PA, and worked at the Orient Mine. He belonged to the Madonna of Czestochowa Catholic Church in the village of Cardale. He was interviewed by the Catholic Accent, Greensburg, PA in 2001. Carl Pincheck, 95, a Polish immigrant and lifelong parishioner at Madonna of Czestochowa Catholic Church in Cardale, deep in rural west central Fayette County, recalls working in the mines as if were yesterday. They were hard times, he says, but good times. One of 10 childen, his father and brothers all worked at the former Orient Mine, not far from the house he's lived in his whole life. The church, which is within walking distance of the house, was where the family spent much of its time. "We always knew to go to church on Sunday. No one ever argued about it, we just always went," says Pincheck. He remembers crossing the streetcar tracks to get to church and standing on a hillside for Sunday Mass because it was too crowed to get a seat inside. "No one said a word, though. We all listened outside." Cardale was home and even with the demise of the coal mining industry, still is. Like his brothers and sisters, Pincheck was baptized, received his first holy Communion, was confirmed and married at the Cardale parish, as were his two daughters. His wife, Mary recently died shortly after their 70th wedding anniversary. When his dad died in 1914, Pincheck's mother was left to raise the family with nothing. "We had no money and no food, but the good lord was good to us," says Pincheck. He clearly recalls the day his mother told him to hold a burlap sack. They were headed to nearby Fairbank to "go begging." They knocked on the door of a woman his mother knew who fed the children their breakfast and fill the sack with food for the week. "After that, Mom told us we would never go begging again. It really bothered her," he says. They Never had to. Pincheck's oldest brother, Joe, got a job in the mine and they had money coming in. Eventually he and his other brothers entered the mines. Pincheck recalls his mother telling the family that she felt good about how things were going, that the three girls were helping with housework and her sons had jobs in the mine. She died the next day. When the coal mine closed, the family bought their house for $600 in 1939. They had been paying $6.00 a month rent. (Article and interview courtesy of The Catholic Accent, Greensburg, PA, March 8, 2001.) |
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| West Penn Railways interurban trolley near
Orient, PA, ca.1949. The trolley system was showing its age in this picture.
One of the mine bony dumps on this route can be seen on the left.
(Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA & Evelyn A. Hovanec's book, "Common Lives of Uncommon Strength:") |
| "Coal Miners
Memorial, Orient Mine & Coke Works, Orient, Redstone 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 227 pages. 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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