McIntyre No. 2 Mine
(Jacksonville No. 2 Mine)
(Kent No. 2 Mine) (ca.1910 - Jan., 1963),
Located on the Jacksonville Branch of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad, on Neal Run, McIntyre, Young Twp., Indiana Co., PA
[Name changed from McIntyre No. 2 Mine (Jacksonville No. 2 Mine) to Kent No. 2 Mine after 1931.]
Owners: (ca.1910-    ?   ), Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company
              (ca.1931-   ?   ), Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company,
              (ca.1931-   ?   ), Helvetia Coal Mining Company, Indiana, PA
                                       [A subsidary of Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company.]
              (ca.1931-1963), Kent Coal Mining Company, Indiana, PA
                                       [A subsidary of Helvetia Coal Mining Company.]

Kent No. 2A Mine (ca.1952 - May, 1959),
Located on the Jacksonville Branch of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad, McIntyre, Young Twp., Indiana Co., PA
[A new mine opened in ca.1952.]
[Kent No. 2A Mine was a small mine near McIntyre, the coal was trucked to the Kent No. 1 & No. 2 Mine cleaning plant.]
Owners: (ca.1952-     ?   ), Rocherster & Pittsburgh Coal Company,
              (ca.1952-    ?   ), Helvetia Coal Mining Company, Indiana, PA
                                        [A subsidary of Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company.]
              (ca.1952- 1959), Kent Coal Mining Company, Indiana, PA
                                        [A subsidary of Helvetia Coal Mining Company.]

Several types of houses are present, but three plans are most common. The typical double family house or semi-detached house are two stories in height with paired entries at the center, a full-length shed porch across the front, and a small central shed porch centered on the rear.  The houses rest on concrete block foundations and are topped with sid-gable metal roofs.  Several double houses have the short end of the house oriented towards the street, with the entries at either side of the one-story full-legth shed front porch.  These houses are topped by front-gable roofs with brick flues at either side.

The typical single family house is a small two-story structure of five or six rooms, with a one-story shed porch across the front, front-gable roof with a central brick flue, and enclosed one-story shed section.

Huge piles of boney coal wastes loomed over the surrounding landscape ca.1993. The abutments for several railroad bridges and the abandoned railroad right-a-way, that serviced the mines, can still be seen.  

The Indiana Evening Gazette announced in November, 1909 that the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company, under it's subsidary "Jefferson & Clearfield Coal & Iron Company," had purchased 4,100 acres of land north of Jacksonville in Young Township, which "meant small fortunes for Indiana County landowners."  More land was purchased later from the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation and added to the original territory.  The new coal lands required potential transportation and by January of 1910 the Indiana Evening Gazette revealed the the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad had made plans to build the "Jacksonville Spur" to reach the property.

In ca.1910 the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company established the coal company patch town of McIntyre in Young Twp., Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and awarded the contract for the construction of fifty company houses to the Hyde-Murphy Company of Ridgeway, Pennsylvania.  The new post office was named "McIntyre" after H. Barclay McIntire, a Jacksnoville merchant and coal speculator who had controlled leases on much of the land in the area.

In July, 1910, the railroad plans had become a reality, and the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad was busily securing options on land from the "Ridge Branch" of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pitssburgh Railroad at Parkwood to Jacksonville, so that track could be laid.  Meanwhile, in anticipation of the coal miners and their families who would come to the area, to work in the new mines, the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company began construction of a new coal patch town at a site three miles above Jacksonville. Events progressed rapidly, and in August, 1910, the newspaper announced in a headline: "A New Town Has Sprung Up!"  As well as the miners houses built by the coal company, several old houses were moved to the location by train from Soldier and other deserted mining villages in Jeffferson County.  Work was started the same month on the company store and other buildings needed by the mining operation.  The railroad spur progressed as planned; track was laid to the tipple which had been erected earlier in the summer.  People who lived in the Jacksonville area eagerly awaited the opening of the mines, and were not disappointed in their hopes that the vicinity was destined to become "a great coal center."

September, 1910, saw a building boom in full swing at Jacksonville, and the "Jacksonville Railroad Spur line" was completed to Jacksonville.  More houses were built with the company's customary speed; contracts had been awarded to a number of builders so that the work "could be rushed as rapidly as possible."

By late fall, 1910, not quite a year after the Indiana Evening Gazette had announced the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company's major acquisitions in the Jacksonville area the paper printed this story:

The coal company store in the coal patch town of McIntyre, which supplied just about all the needs of the miners and their families, was operated by the Jefferson Supply Company, another subsidary supply company of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company.

The company store was also another way for the coal company to earn more on their investment in the mines, and also a way of keeping almost total control over the miners that worked in the mines.  

Sometime along the way, the Jacksonville No. 1 Mine and Jacksonville No. 2 Mine of the "Jacksonville Field" had become know as McIntyre No. 1 Mine and Mcintyre No. 2 Mine.

By 1916 coal production at the McIntyre Mines was over 406,000 tons of coal. The Jacksonville Mines and coal patch town of McIntyre were being served by the Jacksonville Branch of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad.

By 1928, the coal patch town of McIntyre had grown to fifty-five double family houses and seventeen single family houses.  Other town structures included a doctor's office, school, Catholic Church, and dance hall.  The Mine included the mine offices, a repair shop, a barn and two tipples, plus other necessary buildings for its operation.

By 1928 the daily output of the mines had dropped to about 1,600 tons.

In 1930, only about thirty men were still employed at the mines; total production for the year stood at approximately 400,000 tons.

In 1931 McIntyre Mines came under the control of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company subsidary Helvetia Coal Mining Company of Indiana, PA .  They were then operated under the Kent Coal Mining Company, a subsidary of the Helvetia Coal Mining Company.  This shift in the operating companies of the mines was probably done for tax purposes. With the Kent Coal Mining Company taking over the Jacksonville Mines, McIntyre No. 1 Mine and McIntyre No. 2 Mine were renamed Kent No. 1 Mine and Kent No. 2 Mine.

The both of the Kent Mines at McIntyre, Indiana Co., PA were inundated by the 1936 flood waters, but were drained and reopened.

On June 30, 1941 an explosion rocked the Kent No. 2 Mine killing seven miners. The explosion was caused by gas and coal dust in the mine. This caused the area to become more aware of safety in the mines.

Kent No. 1 Mine was closed and abandoned in ca.1952, and Kent No. 2 Mine was closed and abandoned in ca.1963.

A small branch mine Kent No. 2A Mine, was opened in ca.1952, operated nearby during the 1950's.  Coal from the Kent No. 2A Mine was trucked to the Kent No. 1 and Kent No. 2 Mines cleaning plant.  Kent No. 2A Mine closed in May 1959, and the works were abandoned.

(History and description of the McIntyre Mines, adapted with additional data added from, "Indiana County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1993,"  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 "Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company. The First Hundred Years," by Eileen Mountjoy Cooper, 1982, Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company, Indiana, PA.)

An explosion near the face of No. 44 room on 36 north off 7 right at about 9:30 a.m. resulted in the death of 7 men;  6 were killed outright, and 1 died the following day.  Sixteen othere were injured, 3 of them seriously burned.  At the time 275 men were in the mine, 41 working in the affected section.

Word of the explosion was telephoned to the surface and to officials in the mine.  Eight men were unconscious from burns and afterdamp, were rescused and removed to fresh air.  Help from outside arrived during the morning, and ventilation was restored in the section.  Gas masks were used where needed. All bodies were removed by 5 p.m.

The fireboss had found gas in rooms 42 and 44 and had put up a danger sign at the entrance to 3 north section.  The mine foreman and section foreman went into the active places in the section and finding them free of gas, removed the danger sign and sent the men in to work.  Rooms 42 and 44 were finished, and equipment was being taken out.  A mining machine in room 44 was out oif order and could not be moved.  A mechanic and two helpers went in to find the trouble and an arc from a set of test lights ignited the gas.

McIntyre, PA Kent Coal Mine Explosion, Jun 1941

14 ARE TRAPPED IN M'INTYRE MINE

Twenty Are Rescued From Kent No. Two Others, Unreached, Said Three Miles From Opening

Twenty men were more or less seriously burned and otherwise injured in a dust explosion in Kent Mine No. 2 mine of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company at McIntyre, about 10:30 a. m. today. It is feared some of them will die.

Officials of the company estimated that at least 14 others were trapped about three miles from the opening and their fate has not yet been learned, but many are feared to be dead.

14 of the 20 burned and injured were brought to the Indiana Hospital. The others were treated at the mine mouth by a corps of physicians and nurses.

First aid crews from the McIntyre community have entered the mine and similar crews have been summoned from Lucerne and Ernest. The First Aid crew of the Indiana Fire Department is also on the scene. Ambulances from the Robinson, Streams, Bell and Leydic Funeral Homes were rushed to McIntyre following word of the accident.

The explosion occurred at 7 right heading, three north. The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined. Andy Toth, a motorman, was a mile away when the explosion occurred and was almost blown off his feet by the blast of air.

The fourteen burned and injured and workers in other parts of the mine had to walk out in total darkness.

R. E. Penfield, chief clerk of the production department, said the men in the mine had not been determined but none was reported dead.

Penfield said that blast shook loose very little debris and that none of the passageways was blocked. He added:

“The fans are working and air is flowing through the mine.”

The U. S. Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh dispatched a rescue truck and seven men to the scene.

The blast occurred near the area where a cave-in trapped five men last New Year's Eve. They were rescued 18 hours later after they had written farewell notes to their families.

Fourteen Hospitalized.

Heath S. Clark, president of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company, announced the following names of those who have been hospitalized here:

David Craig, Aultman, PA.

Clifford Geyer, Clarksburg, PA.

John Shorzak, McIntyre, PA.

Peter Sgro, Indiana, PA.

Tony Sgro, brother of above, Indiana, PA.

Len Surra, Korsey, Elk County, PA.

Bruno Lorenzi, McIntyre, PA.

James Maice, Blairsville, PA.

Stanley Gryesak, McIntyre, PA.

Mickey Bercic, Homer City, PA.

Alex Sherb, Coal Run, PA.

Leon Stuchell, Blairsville, PA.

Joe Babich, McIntyre, PA.

[from the "Indiana Evening Gazette," Indiana, PA, June 30, 1941.]

M'INTYRE MINE DEATH TOLL NOW 7

GAS NOW BELIEVED CAUSE OF FATAL EXPLOSION IN KENT NO. 2 MINE

County, State and Mine Officials Begin Investigation of Lethal Blast – Families Arranging Funerals for the Victims.

The toll of victims in Indiana County's worst mining disaster in over a quarter of a century mounted to seven with the death of John Chorzak, 21, of Iselin, in the Indiana Hospital at 9:35 this morning. Six bodies were removed from the ill-fated mine shaft near McIntyre late yesterday afternoon.

Sixteen others who were working in the heading of the Kent No. 2 mine of the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company when it was rocked by an explosion yesterday morning are still hospitalized, while eighteen who were removed from the shaft were permitted to return to their homes after minor treatment. George Clipper, 26, of Clune, who is suffering from severe burns of the hands and face, is the only one who remains in a serious condition today.

Rescue crews worked feverishly for nearly eight hours yesterday to remove the 41 men trapped in the large heading. The explosion, which shook the mine at 9:15 (EDT) is believed to have been caused by gas, but mine inspectors and county authorities were pressing an investigation today to determine the cause of the blast.

The dead are:

John Chorzak, 21, Iselin, conveyor mover.

Elmer McGee, Aultman, assistant foreman.

George Stockdale, Clune, mechanic.

Joseph Debzyk, 31, Aultman, conveyor mover.

Albert Dech, 20, Aultman, conveyor mover.

William Clark, 52, Aultman, machanic.

Andy Yanes, 54, Aultman, supply man.

In addition to the 17 miners who have been hospitalized, three company officials who were assisting in the rescue work were confined overnight as a precautionary measure. They are CHARLES RAMSELL, 44, of McIntyre, foreman of the mine, who inhaled smoke; LAWRENCE J. REDDING, of Indiana, superintendent of the McIntyre mine, and FRED VINTON, director of personnel.

Other hospital patients are:

DAVID CRAIG, 54, Aultman, burns of the face.

GEORGE BABICH, 19, McIntyre, inhalation of smoke.

CLIFFORD GEYER, 29, Saltsburg, probable fracture of the skull and burns of both arms.

TONY SGRO,52, contusions of the head and face.

PETER SGRO, 20, son of Tony, also of Indiana, inhalation of smoke.

LEN SURRA, 19, McIntyre, burns of the right hand.

BRUNO LORENZI, 23, McIntyre, burns of the right arm and shoulder.

JAMES MAICE, 29, Iselin, lacerations and contusions of the head.

STANLEY GRYESAK, 29, McIntyre, possible fracture of the right leg and brush burns of the head.

LELAND STUCHELL, 24, Blairsville, brush burns of the right arm and inhalation of smoke.

MICKEY BERCIC, 20, Homer City, inhalation of smoke.

THOMAS MAYDOK, 46, McIntyre, shock.

ALEX SHERBON, 34, Clune, severe burns of the head and back.

JOHN LEVIER, 38, Hawthorne, Clarion County, inhalation of smoke.

ALBERT WYSOTSKI, 33, Windburne, Clearfield County, shock.

Although preliminary reports indicated that coal dust had brought the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company its first major disaster since 1913, President HEATH CLARK stated today that the investigation would probably reveal gas as the cause of the blast which shook the ill-fated heading. Doctors, treating the injured men, were unable to find any traces of coke in their skins, as is usually the case in coal dust explosions.

The six men whose bodies were removed yesterday were reported to have been working in two rooms which were hit by the full force of the blast. Rescuers said only one body showed any signs of being hurled in the air by the explosion.

Three of the bodies were very seriously burned, but they were all identifiable by relatives. Black damp, the inevitable aftermath of an explosion, may have caused the death of several of the men, but DR. EDWARD L. FLEMING, Indiana county coroner, indicated today that he will await the findings of the mine inspectors and the U. S. Bureau of Mines officials before scheduling an inquest.

Over three hundred men were working in the Kent No. 2 mine when the blast occurred, but all digging was suspended as a precautionary measure and the men removed while rescue work was being carried on. The impact of the explosion could be felt over a mile from the heading, and one worker, JOE PRIMAK, 24, described it as sounding “like a boxfull of dynamite going off under my ear.”

Friends and relatives gathered near the tipple shortly after the blast to watch the return of the men, while ambulances and rescue crews from surrounding communities arrived quickly on the scene. A group of volunteer women workers from McIntyre and the Indiana Red Cross Chapter served coffee and refreshments to the returning miners and rescue workers thruout[sic] the afternoon.

Over twenty men had been removed from the shaft, which was three miles from the entrance, before the first body was found late in the afternoon. In an effort to minimize hysteria in the anxious crowd waiting near the man-load officials in charge of the rescue work ordered the bodies to be removed at the drift-mouth a mile away and transferred from there to the ambulances which brought them to local morgues.

The crews has little difficulty in finding the location of the explosion, but the site of the heading, which is known as Section 3, North 7 right, and the black damp slowed down the rescue work. No cave-ins resulted from the blast, but the explosion blew out the battrices, the barriers which block off developed entries and the main group of rescue workers were forced to reconstruct them as they progressed.

Smaller squads of experienced mine rescue workers, equipped with gasmasks, penetrated the “dead air” section of the heading to bring out the bodies of the six victims.

Company officials said three of those who were found dead in the mine were employed as conveyor movers and were probably shoveling coal on the conveyor when the blast “let go.” Miners do not load cars in the rooms in that mine, but at the main headings after the coal has been conveyed over 1,000 feet.

In addition to the large rescue organization of the R. & P. from its mines in Aultman, Coal Run, Ernest, Iselin and Yatesboro, a truck and corps of engineers headed by J. J. FORBES, supervising engineer, was rushed to the scene from Pittsburgh. Two crews were sent by the Industrial Collieries Corporation from Johnstown, while others arrived from the Pennsylvania Electric Company at Seward, the Pennsylvania Coal & Coke Company at Barnesboro and Hastings, and the Northwest Mining Exchange at Seward.

The first aid truck of the Indiana Volunteer Fire Department was also on the scene. A battery of eight State Motor Policemen, the Indiana County Sheriff and his deputies together with about a dozen officers from Indiana County boroughs kept order and held the large crowds back while the rescue work was going on.

The 18 men in the heading who were uninjured by the blast or sent to their homes after receiving minor treatment were listed by the company as: Steve Cyga, Aultman; Peter Fedorick, Kent; Theodore Fedorick, Kent, his father; Frank Fulton, Rimersburg; John Gentile, McIntyre; Charles Hilliard, Coy Junction; Francis Kato, Iselin; Daryl Laurerre, Rimersburg; Joe Pavolka, Homer City; Salvatore Virone, Jennette; Joe Kovalic, Blairsville; Joe Marazik, Kent; Joe Louisa, McIntyre; Ren Louisa, his son; Charles Lucas, McIntyre; Walter Swalga, Iselin; Dave Getty, Aultman; and Todd Getty, Aultman, his son.

[from the "Indiana Evening Gazette," Indiana, PA, July 1, 1941.]

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