Shafton Mine (ca.1850's-1886?),
Located on the Pennsylvania Railroad Mainline, at Broad St. (PA Rt.993) and Bridge St., Shafton, .25 miles N. of Irwin Borough, Shafton, Penn Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
[Location of the mine was later a foundry site.]
Owners: (ca.1850's-1880's), Shafton Coal Company, Irwin, PA
              (ca.1880's-1886), Westmoreland Coal Company, Irwin, PA

DESCRIPTION:
In 1857 the Shafton Coal Company constructed a colliery along the Pennsylvania Railroad Mainline, east of Irwin.  This colliery included one of the first shaft-entry mines in the region.  A foundry company redeveloped the mine site in the early 1900's, and with the exception of a much altered brick building, all of the structures associated with the Shafton Mine were demolished.  

The Shafton Coal Company also erected a number of company houses near its colliery in the Village of Shafton.  These dwellings were also apparently obliterated in the early 1900's.  A number of company-built houses survive that were possibly owned by the Irwin Foundry and Mine Car Company.  This includes a number of two-story frame dwellings and several wood-frame double houses.

HISTORY:
In 1857, Samuel Warden, William Hays, and Thomas Shaw, all of Irwin, established the Shafton Coal Company.  The company opened a shaft mine on the east side of Irwin to exploit the gas coal seam that was characteristic of the Pittsburgh Coal seam in the Irwin Basin.  By 1880 the Shafton Coal Company was producing nearly 20,000 tons of coal each year.  Operations at the Shafton Shaft Mine apparently ceased by 1886, and the property was then owned by the Westmoreland Coal Company.  According to the 1880 Pennsylvania State Bituminous Mine Inspector's Report, the Shafton Mine main shaft hoisting engine was removed and shipped to the nearby Westmoreland Shaft Mine [Biddle Mine] where it was used to power a ventilation fan. The remaining coal at the Shafton Mine was probably extracted through the Westmoreland Shaft Mine.

By 1930, the Irwin Foundry and Mine Car Company occupied the former Shafton Mine site and constructed at least one red-brick building where the Shafton Mine shaft and engine house had stood.  A subsequent owner of the property, the Huwood-Irwin Company, then expanded the foundry, constructing steel-frame buildings with metal siding on the site.

(History and description of the Shafton Mines, with additional data and pictures adapted from "Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1994,"  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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