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| Millwood Shaft Mine No.
1 (ca. 1872-1920), Located on the narrow gauge Millwood Coal & Coke Company RR., approx. 3 miles west, from a siding on the Pennsylvania Railroad, from the Pennsylvania Railroad Main line at Millwood, Millwood Shaft / New Derry, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA Owners: (ca. 1872 ?-1901), Millwood Coal & Coke Company, Latrobe, PA (ca.1901- ? ), Latrobe-Connellsville Coal & Coke Company, Latrobe, PA Company Store: T. N. Buell Store (ca.1900-1907) (ca.1920- ? ), Barnett Coal Company, Latrobe, PA |
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| A portion of the ca.1902 15 min. Latrobe
Quad. map showing the Millwood Shaft Mine and the route of the Millwood Coal
& Coke Railroad, and the location of the Village of Millwood Shaft.
(Map courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.) |
| Millwood Coal and Coke Company, ca.1882
The chutes of this company are at Millwood Station, seven miles east of Latrobe. The mine is located back about three miles from the road, and is reached by a tram-road over which a small locomotive brings the coal. Mr. Albert Ford has charge, and has made many improvements during the year, among which was a change in the mining cars. Formerly the large cars that were run to the chutes were sent down the shaft and to the roms for loading. This he has changed by putting in the regular mine-wagons and dumping into the other cars at the top, enabling them to get the coal forward with more speed. New steel rails are also being laid on the tram-road. The underground works, in charge of Mr. John E. Morrison, are reached by a shaft two hundred feet deep. They have experienced considerable trouble with water and faults, causing heavy expense, but they have now got them in good shape, being dry throughout the workings. A large pump is placed near the bottom of the shaft which will throw three hundred gallons of water per minute. The very best of machinery has been erected, and everything is working smoothly. The works are kept running steadily the year round, and just at present are well supplied with orders, shipping coal to Philadelphia. They also supply the locomotives on the Pennsylvania Road, which requires a large amount of coal day and night. A number of comfortable houses have been built near the shaft for the accommodation of the employees. Several new blocks were built during the summer. About one hundred and twenty men are employed in and about the works, the miners receive forty cents per ton for run of mine, the coal ranging from five to six feet in thickness. This account of Millwood Mine in 1882 is from "History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania" ca.1882, by George Dallas Albert (Albert,1882:411-412) |
| Millwood Mine Condition in
1889 Condition of the Millwood Mine, as noted in the Report of the PA Dept. of Mines for 1889. The millwood mine is kept in very good condition. The Millwood Shaft is ventilated by a fan. The mine is working on the Pittsburgh Seam of coal. In 1889 Millwood Shaft Mine produced 36,700 tons of coal, the mine worked for 180 days, and employed 88 men, the mine used 100 kegs of black powder, and had 6 boilers for power, and had 8 horses or mules. In 1900 general conditions at the Millwood Shaft Mine had been fairly good during the year. The ventilation has been improved by the erection of a powerful ventilating fan of the Capell type; diameter of fan is 13 1/2 feet, with double inlet and is so constructed that the air current can be reversed. The Millwood Shaft Mine produced 114,917 tons of coal in 1900, the mine had 147 employees.
Millwood Mine Condition in 1909 During the 1910 coal miners strike, the water tanks of Millwood Shaft Mine of the Latrobe-Connellsville Coal & Coke Company were dynamited by unknown persons. In 1920 the Millwood Shaft Mine produced only 275 tons of coal, it employed 29 miners, and worked 124 days, the miners used 50 pounds of permissible explosives. |
| The following informationon the Millwood Mine, Millwood Shaft, Derry Township, Westmoreland County was furnished by Theodore E. Waldron, Sr. |
| Millwood Shaft Mine |
| by Theodore E. Waldron, Sr. |
| Millwood Mine, at Millwood Shaft, was operated
by the Barnett Coal Company and was located about 3 miles northwest of Millwood
Station on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Today Millwood
Station is called the Village of Millwood, Derry Township, the railroad station
has long since pasted into oblivion, just as the Pennsylvania Railroad
has.
Barnett, the operator of Millwood Shaft Mine lived in Latrobe, he got his start in the coal business by operating a country bank mine on the farm of Frank Bergman about a mile west of Millwood, when the coal bank was worked out, Barnett decided to start the Millwood Shaft Mine. The endeavor must have been expensive even for the early 1900's. Barnett bought the mineral rights to the coal, and had a shaft sunk to the Pittsburgh Coal Seam, built a tipple, a hoist house and boiler house. He also erected a mule stable, blacksmith shop, lamp house and a mine car repair shop. Then he built a railroad spur from Millwood Station, about two miles long, to the mine to transport the coal to the Pennsylvania Railroad. In addition, he built a number of houses near the mine for his employees, a company store and a boarding house. Employees who worked for the Barnett Coal Company had to live in the patch, and rent houses from the company. The company store was a gold mine for the company. The miners and their families had to patronize the company store, although its prices were much higher than the stores in Derry or Latrobe. The store sold groceries, meat, produce and dry goods, such as: working clothes and boot, other clothes, cloth to make dresses and shirts. The coal company operated the company store with little or no risk. If a miner's wife went to the store, she had to sign a promissory note for her purchases. If her husband had not earned enough to pay for the notes, she got no credit. Also, change from the note was made in company script, which could be spent only at the coal company store. |
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| The picture on the left was found in the
Archives of the Latrobe Historical Society, Latrobe, PA and was tentatively
identified as being the Company Store at Millwood Shaft Mine. (Courtesy of the Archives of the Latrobe Area Historical Society, Latrobe, PA) |
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| The picture on the left was found in the Archives of the
Latrobe Historical Society, Latrobe, PA and was tentatively identified as
being the power house and tipple at Millwood Shaft Mine. (Courtesy of the archives of the Latrobe Area Historical Society, Latrobe, PA) |
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| The picture on the left was found in the Archives of the
Latrobe Historical Society, Latrobe, PA and was tentatively identified as
being Millwood Shaft Mine. (Courtesy of the archives of the Latrobe Area Historical Society, Latrobe, PA) |
Millwood Coal & Coke Company Railroad A narrow gauge railroad served the Millwood Shaft Mine, which was located in a valley approx. three miles west of Millwood Station (Village of Millwood), on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The narrow-gauge railroad was called the Millwood Coal & Coke Railroad (M.C.& C. RR). Built ca.1872, to serve the Millwood Shaft Mine. In ca.1906 the Millwood Shaft Mine was purchased by the Latrobe-Connellsville Coal & Coke Company, and the railroad became know as the Latrobe-Connellsville Coal & Coke Railroad (L-C C.& C. RR). The railroad was abandoned around ca.1919. A portion of this railroad was rebuilt as standard gauge to serve the later Segar Mine, in the Village of Segar. (Map and info. courtesy of the collections of railroad historian, John King, Belpre, OH) |
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The map at left shows the Millwood Coal & Coke Railroad
route from the Pennsylvania Mainline, at Millwood Station, to the Millwood
Shaft Mine.
(Map courtesy of the collections of railroad historian, John King, Belpre, OH.) |
Millwood Coal & Coke Railroad Roster Engine No. Type Manufacture Date manufactured Name or spec. Gauge Engine #1 0-6-0 T BLW 3066 12-1872 Named " Millwood" 36" Enghine #2 BLW 3575 04-1874 Engine #2 (2nd) 0-8-0 T BLW 11903 05-1891 15 x 18 38" Engine #1 (2nd) 0-8-0 T BLW 21758 03-1903 15 x 18 38" 0-4-0 T HKP 3608 09-1906 9 x 14" 38"
(Note: EBT Roster by William S. Young, 1971. The East Broadtop
Railroad, EBT #2, BLW 3251 is linked by Baldwin records to Millwood Coal
& Coke Railroad Engine #1.) Latrobe-Connellsville Coal & Coke Railroad Roster Engine 2-6-0 BLW 33216 02-1909 16 x 20" ("Esther") 40" Electric Mine Locomotives, 150 h.p. BLW 43234 04-1916 Electric Mine Locomotives, 150 h.p. BLW 49743 09-1918 (Locomotive data courtesy of the collections of Railroad Historian, John King, Belpre, OH) |
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| Latrobe-Connellsville Coal Company Engine
#33216 , Named "Esther". This engine was built by the Baldwin
Locomotive Company of Philadelphia, PA. The engine was used at the
Millwood Shaft Mine, Millwood Shaft, Derry Twp. This engine, a 2-6-0
, 40 inch gauge, was the largest engine owned by the Latrobe-Connellsville
Coal & Coke Company. The engine was built in 1909. (Photo, builders data and information courtesy of John King, Railroad Historian, Belpre, OH) |
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| Coal Miners Memorial
Millwood Shaft Mine, Millwood Shaft / New Derry, Derry Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania |
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