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| Eleanora Mines (Eleanor P.O.),
McCalmont Twp., Jefferson Co., PA [A coal company patch town in McCalmont Twp., Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.] [Eleanora was named after Eleanora Iselin, wife of Adrian Iselin who owned the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company.] [The Eleanora Shaft Mine was opened in ca.1894 and closed in ca.1919. Eleanora was a small town but there was a trolley that stopped there and there were businesses and churches. For the most part Eleanora was a coal company patch town existing because of the mine. When the mines closed, the town disappeared. Almost nothing remains ca.2006.] See: Eleanora No. 1 Mine (Eleanora Shaft Mine), Eleanora, McCalmont Twp., Jefferson Co., PA Eleanora No. 2 Mine, Eleanora, McCalmont Twp., Jefferson Co., PA Eleanora No. 3 Mine, Eleanora, McCalmont Twp., Jefferson Co., PA
Eleanor P.O. (Eleanora Mines),
McCalmont Twp., Jefferson Co., PA
Eleanora No. 1 Mine
Eleanora No. 2 Mine (ca.1890-
? ),
Eleanora No. 3 Mine & Coke Works
(ca.1901- ? ),
Bulldog Mine (ca.1923-1930),
Located at one of the original mine shafts at Eleanora Mines, Eleanora, Jefferson
Co., PA |
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| The top map is a portion of the U.S.G.S. 15
min. DuBois quad map ca.1924ed. The bottom map is a portion of the U.S.G.S.
15min. Punxsutawney quad map ca.1906ed. The two maps combined show
the Eleanora Branch of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad.
Eleanora and Big Run were also served by the Jefferson County Electric
Railway system. (Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. |
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| Sketch map of the Adrian Mines & the
Eleanora Mines ca.1896. (Courtesy of "Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company, The First One Hundred Years" by Eileen Mountjoy Cooper, ca.1982.) |
| HISTORY: In December, 1889, the Board of Directors of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company completed transactions securing the purchase of still more coal lands. This entailed "the purchase of certain lands, coal rights, and coal situated in Jefferson County, known as 'Eleanora Property.' " The purchase price totalled $350.000 in Company bonds. The minng town of Eleanora, named in honor of the wife of Adrian Iselin, came into existance in December, 1887, but work at the location proceeded slowly until the company's purchase of the lands from the Iselin family. Construction of miners' houses and support buildings for the new community began in February, 1888, and by the next year were completed. In December, 1889, yet, another string of coke ovens appeared on the landscape of Jefferson County, this time at Eleanora, named in honor of the wife of Adrian Iselin, Sr. Construction of the 80 houses for the new community began in February, 1888, and by the end of the next year, they were fully occupied. Within months, the ovens at the Eleanora were producing 100,000 tons of coke annually. This tonnage, combined with that of Walston Coke Works and Adrian Coke Works, found a ready market in the developing iron and steel industry along the Great Lakes. Coke from Jefferson Country was particularly suited to foundry use, and markets for it extended as far west as the Mississippi River. Still more shipments traveled, by rails, as far as Chicago. |
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| An overview of Eleanora, PA founded ca.1887,
showing the various styles of housing built by the Rochester & Pittsburgh
Coal & Iron Company in the town. The large building center right
probably is the company store. The railroad tracks of the Buffalo,
Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad can be seen center left. Nothing
of this town remains ca.2008. (Courtesy of "Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company, The First One Hundred Years" by Eileen Mountjoy Cooper, ca.1982.) |
| The Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal &
Iron Company made its first shipment from the Eleanora Mine in December,
1889. In ca.1890 the inspector of Mines noted in his annual report
for the State of Pennsylvania that the Eleanora No. 1 Mine, although a new
one, "was in first-class condition as to draining and ventilation." The
plan adopted for this mine, with separate and fresh air for each heading
or section of work, was "the only true and proper method of ventilating mines,"
The inspector concluded in his report that "until this plan is universally
adopted, ventilation and drainage will not be what they should by in regard
to healthfulness for men,"
Eleanora Mine output for the first full year of production was listed at 143,607 tons of coal. By ca.1894 Eleanora No. 1 Mine and Eleanora No. 2 Mine were being mined by mining machines of the Ingersoll-Sergeant compressed air type. To furnish the air to operate the machines, teo Norwalk Compressors were installed by Heyl & Patterson Company of Pittsburgh, PA. These cutting machines eliminated a great deal of pick work in under cutting the coal. Mules, of cource, were still used to transport the empty mine cars fromthe slope to the face, and to return the loaded mine cars to the slope and then they were pulled to the tipple. |
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| The tipple of Eleanora No. 2 Mine and power house to the
right. Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad cars loaded with
coal are awaiting shipment. (Photo courtesy of the Jefferson County Historical Society, Brookville, PA.) |
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| Miners and outside workers with loaded mine cars outside
the Eleanora Mine. (Photo courtesy of the Jefferson County Historical Society, Brookville, PA.) |
| By ca.1898, Eleanora Mines also had bee-hive
coke ovens and produced 100,164 tons of coke that year. For the period
ended December 31, 1898, Eleanora Mines produced 232,123 tons of coal, and
the total number of men and boys employed had grown to 902. Two years
later the minng town of Eleanora contained approximately 89 miners houses,
and an independent town named Desire developed nearby in Henderson Twp. to
house the population overflow from the main community.
A disaster occurred at the Eleanora Shaft Mine, April 27, 1905, an explosion in which 13 miners were killed.
From the Inspector of Mnes of Pennsylvania Report for 1906.
In ca.1906 the Eleanora Mines produced 476,026 tons of coal
and 55, 394 tons of coke and employed 657 men and boys and 29 horses and
mules. |
| from "The DuBois Courier," DuBois, PA, Aug. 15,
1930
43 Year-Old Eleanora Mine To Be Abandoned At Once Notwithstanding the fact that there is sufficient coal remaining to maintain operations for 20 or 30 years, the plant of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company at Eleanora is to be abandoned. Orders have been given for the withdrawal of pumps and equipment for the dismanting of the houses remaining in the town, and for the tearing up of the railroad running into the plant from Big Run. Ira S, Smith, who has been operating the "Bulldog" mine at Eleanora since the shutting down of the larger operation, has said his interest in the plant, to the parent coal company, and work there will becessarily be suspended. About fifty men had employment with Mr. Smith. The larger operation of the company has not worked for about seven years. It closed during the dispute over the payment of tje Jacksonville scale and had never run since. In this sence the present orders will have little direst effect now, for the flow of money from that source ended long ago. It is only as it affects the future employment in that region that it is threatening. Eleanora was first opened in 1887 and was for many years one of the largest mines in this part of the state. It gave employment at one time to over 1,000 men. Many of the houses there were owned by the company, but there were also many privately built. It brought properity to the farmers roundabout also. It was the largest of the three mining towns of that section --Wishaw, Desire and Eleanora, the first to be established and the last to be abandoned.
There has been a persistent rumor that an opening is to be
made at the lower end of Big Run by which the coal is to be removed.
Development may confirm this belief. It is stated that it would
be much less expensive to take coal out through a new shaft. |
| from the "Looking Back" column of the "DuBois
Courier-Express," DuBois, Pa, Friday, June 8, 2007.
Thursday, June 6, 1907 Today, only a very few houses remain at the site of Eleanora. |
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| The bee-hive coke oven battery at Eleanora Mines with
the town of Eleanora in the background. (Photo courtesy of the Jefferson County Historical Society, Brookville, PA.) |
| Coal Miners
Memorial Eleanora Mines & Coke Works, Eleanora, McCalmont Twp., Jefferson Co., PA |
| 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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