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| Southwest No. 2 Mine (Drift Entry
Mine) (ca.1873-1923), Located on the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad (later the Scottdale Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad), PA Rt. 31, 2.8 mi. west of Mt. Pleasant, at the Village of Tarrs, East Huntingdon Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA Owners: (ca.1873-1886), D. L. Dillinger & Bro. Company, (ca.1886 ?-1892), Southwest Coal & Coke Company, Mt. Pleasant, PA (ca.1892-1903), Southwest Connellsville Coal & Coke Company, Mt. Pleasant, PA (ca.1903-1923), H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA
Southwest No. 3 Mine & Coke Works
Southwest No. 4 Mine (ca.1889-
? ), |
| DESCRIPTION: The town of Tarrs retained about thirty coal company built houses ca.1990, situated in a long double row straddling PA Route 31. These dwellings include two-story wood-frame double houses and a handful of single-family houses. The double houses appear to date from the 1890's and contain gable roofs, central brick chimneys, and rubble stone foundations. Some of the house retain much of their historic appearamce, including the six-over-six-ligfht double-hung sash windows. |
| HISTORY: Approximately 1873, the D. L. Dillinger & Brother Company developed a coal mine near the town of Tarrs, in East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County. The Tarrs Mine, a shaft entry mine, was served by the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad. D. L. Dilllinger & Bro. Company was acquired in 1886 by the Southwest Coal & Coke Company, of Mount Pleasant. The Southwest Coal & Coke Company was dominated by the Ramsay family, with Morris Ramsay serving as General Superintendent and William S. Ramsay serving as the mining boss at the company's No. 1 Mine, the Morewood Mines, at Morewood near Mt. Pleasant. Southwest Coal & Coke Company expanded during the 1880's and became one of the county's largest coal & coke producers. The shaft mine near Tarrs was named Southwest No. 3 Mine, and was operated in conjunction with the nearby Southwst No. 2 Mine, a drift mine. In 1886 Southwest No. 2 & No. 3 Mines employed 125 miners who produced over 87,000 tons of coal. The Southwest Coke Works operating in conjunction with Mine No. 2 & Mine No. 3 had 135 bee-hive coke ovens and empployed thirty-two coke workers, who produced over 56,000 tons of coke. In 1889 there were three Southwest Mines operating near Tarrs, Southwest No. 2, No. 3 & No. 4 Mines. By 1890 the shaft and drift mines near Tarrs were combined and simply called Southwest No. 3 Mine & Coke Works. That year witnessed the production of nearly 210,000 tons of coal, which was less than half the amount produced at the Southwest No. 1 "A" & "B" Mines, which produced over 540,000 tons of coal, which was second in the county to the production at the H.C. Frick Coke Company's Standard Mines, near Mt. Pleasant. In 1900 the Southwest No. 3 Coke Works had 180 bee-hive coke ovens, producing nearly 140,000 tons of coke. A total of 187 miners were employed at the Southwest No. 3 Mine & Coke Works, the Superintendent was Morris Ramsay. In 1892 the Southwest Coal & Coke Company was reorganized as the Southwest Connellsville Coal & Coke Company. By 1900 the Southwest No. 3 Mine produced over 259,000 tons of coal and its coke works produced over 146,000 tons of coke from 252 bee-hive coke ovens. Superintendent of the Southwest No. 3 Mine was John M. Whitlaw, he oversaw 89 miners and 86 coke workers. Throughout 1901 and 1902 the Southwest Connellsville Coal & Coke Company rivaled the H.C. Frick Coke Company as one of the region's major coke producers. This situation came to an end in April of 1903, when the H.C. Frick Coke Company bought out the Southwest Connellsville Coal & Coke Company and acquired all their coal properties. By 1910 the population of Tarrs numbered about 500 persons with 134 men and boys employed at the Southwest No. 3 Mine and coke works. In the 1910's coal production ranged from as much as 124,000 tons to as little as 13,400 tons. Coke production also fluctuated from as much as 157,000 tons to as little as 8,000 tons. The H.C. Frick Coke Company closed the Southwest No. 3 Mine and Coke Works in ca.1923. |
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| The Coke Works crew at the Tarrs Mine (Southwest No. 3
Mine), ca.1910, standing in front of what looks like the boiler house for
the mine. The long iron rods the men are holding are coke oven leveling
tools. Grover C. Ramsey, a coke oven leveler, is the first man on the
left in the second row, he lived in Tarrs, PA. (Photo courtesy of Woody Ramsey.) |
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| Brothers Grover C. Ramsey and Bernard W. Ramsey, miners
& coke workers ca.1900, at the Southwest Mines at Tarrs, PA (Photo courtesy of David Ramsey.) |
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Mines of Westmoreland County, PA Contact: Ray Washlaski, Editor Copyright 2002, All rights reserved, by Raymond A. Washlaski, Ryan P. Washlaski & The 20th Century Society of Western Pennsylvania. Web site Design by "Mercers, an Undertakers" Web Design Company |
