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Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania

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The 20th Century Society of Western Pennsylvania

Links to:
Coal Miners Memorial Jamison No. 1 Mine (Luxor Mine), Luxor, Hempfield Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA

Coal Mines of Westmoreland Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Coal Mines of Fayette Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Coal Mines of Indiana Co., PA MAIN INDEX
Jamison Coal & Coke Company
Township Map of Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania
Map of R.R. Transportation System Westmoreland Co.
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Jamison No. 1 Mine &
Coke Works
(Luxor Mine & Coke Works),

Luxor,
Hempfield Township,
Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

A Tribute to the Coal Miners which mined the Bituminous Coal seams at Luxor, Hempfield Twp., Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Compiled & Edited by
Raymond A. Washlaski

Raymond A. Washlaski, Historian, Editor,
Ryan P. Washlaski, Technical Editor,

Updated Sept. 27, 2009

Jamison No. 1 Mine & Coke Works (Luxor Mine)
(ca.1892-1940+), off of US Rt 119, on T 850 north of PA SR1028, northeast of Greensburg, on the New Alexandria Branch, Luxor spur, of the Pennsylvania R.R., Luxor, Hempfield Twp.
Owners: (ca.1892-1922) Jamison Coal & Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
                                       Company Store: Jamison Supply Company
              (ca.1922-1930) Leased by Keystone Coal & Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
              (ca.1930-1940) Jamison Coal & Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
              (ca.1940-present) Sekora Coal Company, Luxor, PA

DESCRIPTION:
The Luxor mining complex is located on a tributary of Little Crabtree Creek and is now owned by Sekora Coal Company.  It features remains of the Luxor Coke Works, as well as several extant mine buildings.  Five of the original bee-hive bank coke ovens remain at the site, the rest of the coke works has been covered over, or stripped mined out. In addition, this complex retains its drift mine entry, which is still open, mine rails, mine cars, and a ca.1930's coal loader.  A second mine entrance, north of the drift entry, contains a brick arched portal.  The former coal washing plant, built ca.1907, is a common-bond red-brick building; its roof has been demolished and the building rests on a rubble stone foundation.  The machine shop building is a reinforced concrete building, now used as a garage, ca.1994.  The old tipple retains only its rubble stone piers.  A new tipple has been more recently constructed by the Sekora Coal Company.  This mine site is one of the most intact coal and coke works in central Westmoreland County.

In the nearby coal patch town of Luxor, about forty coal company-built houses and a school building remain.  The company store, now demolished, once stood where the new Luxor Post Office is now located.  The company houses are of wood-frame and clapboard construction;  they are double houses two-and-a-half stores in height with gable roofs and two brick chimneys.  They contain rubble stone, tile and concrete block foundations, two-over-two-light double-hung windows, and front and back porches,  modifications include the application of new siding materials over the original clapboard, enclosed porches, room additions, altered fenestration, and the conversion of double houses into single-family dwellings.

The school building is of red-brick, layed in stretcher bond, two stories in height, measuring 90ft. x 32ft..  It has an asphalt \gable roof, an ashlar foundation, nine bays, a central front door, and four-over-four-light double-hung windows with stone lintels.

HISTORY:
In 1892 Robert S. Jamison, a Greensburg businessman, who had served as general superintendent of the Mutual Mining and Manufacturing Company's mines in Westmoreland County, established the Jamison Coal & Coke Company.  His son John M.Jamison was appointed secretary and treasurer of the new coal mining company.  The Jamisons opened their first mine in Hempfield Township, north of Greensburg, on the New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The slope-entry mine, called Jamison No.1 Mine or Luxor Mine, exploited the 7 foot-thick Pittsburgh coal seam.  Thomas L. Jamison was appointed superintendent of the Luxor Mine.

By 1897 the Luxor Mine (Jamison No. 1 Mine) employed 179 miners, many of whom lived in the company-built houses in the coal patch town of Luxor, which contained the company-built houses, a company store, the Jamison Supply Company, and the slope-entry mine and coke works.  In 1897 the Luxor Mine produced over 83,000 tons of coal and its coke works, containing 120 bee-hive cokeovens, produced 35,000 tons of coke.

By 1900 the number of bee-hive coke ovens at the Luxor Coke Works (Jamison No. 1 Mine) had grown to 300 coke ovens.

In the fall of 1907, to supply water for all the Jamison operations bunched northeast of Greensburg, the coal firm acquired the Mellon farm and parts of the Sowash and McCarthy farms northeast of Georges Station and east of Greensburg.  The 150-acre tract was primarily for a 30-acre reservoir to replace and expand individual mine water supplies with piped water from the new facility.  The reservoirs built there by Jamison Coal & Coke were acquired by Westmoreland County in 1965 as a major part of what has been developed as Twin Lakes Park, the substantial recreation complex.

The condition of Jamison No. 1 Mine in 1909 was:  Coal dust is found in some parts of the No. 1 Mine, particularly at high and dry points on the roadways.  It is kept saturated by means of water cars, and is removed from the mine.

By 1910, the Jamison No. 1 Mine Coke Works contained 400 bee-hive coke ovens.  Jamison employed 375 miners at Luxor who in 1910 produced more than 307,000 tons of coal and over 158,000 tons of coke.  That year marked one of the few times when a Jamison did not serve as general mine superintendent.  The company employed Edward Soppitt in this position; however his tensure was short-lived.  By 1915 he had left Jamison Coal & Coke Company to lead the rival Latrobe-Connellsville Coal & Coke Company.

Luxor Mine Coke Works
Remains of the Luxor Mine Coke Works ca.1993
(Photo by Ken Rose, ca.1993, courtesy of H.A.B.S./H.A.E.R. & National Archives, Washington, D.C.)
Luxor Mine Tipple
Luxor Mine Tipple (in foreground), coal washing plant (to the right in the background) ca.1993
(Photo by Ken Rose, ca.1993, courtesy of H.A.B.S./H.A.E.R. & National Archives, Photo Division, Washington, D.C.)
Mine cars Luxor Mine
Luxor Mine, wooden coal buggys , used in the Luxor Mine, sit near the entrance to the Luxor Mine ca.1993
(Photo by Ken Rose, ca.1993, courtesy of H.A.B.S./H.A.E.R. & National Archives,  Photo Division, Washington, D.C.)

Coal Miners Memorial "Jamison No. 1 Mine (Luxor Mine),
Luxor, Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania "
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