|
|
|
|
(This Page Still Underconstruction)
| Star Mine (Peanut Mine)
(ca.1910-1923), Located along a tributary of Turtle Creek, .25 miles north of the old William Penn Highway, old US Rt 22, 1/2 mile east of Export Station, Franklin Twp. (presentday Export, Borough of Murrysville), Westmoreland Co., PA Owners: (ca.1910- ? ), Export Coal Company, Export, PA (ca.1923- ? ), Trafford Coal Company, Pittsburgh, PA |
 |
Location of the Star Mine Mine No.18 on the map. From the 15min. Topographic map of the Greensburg Quadrangle. (Courtesy of the Topographic and Geologic Atlas of Pennsylvania No. 37, Greensburg Quadrangle) |
 |
Star Mine (Peanut Mine) The tipple of the Star Mine of the Export Coal Company, on a spur off from the Turtle Creek Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad east of Export, Franklin Township, Westmoreland County, PA. (Photo courtesy of Helene Smith and Helene Smith's book "Export, A Patch of Tapestry out of Coal Country America." |
| DESCRIPTION: The Star Mine is typical of the region's small miing operations of the late nineteenth an early twentieth centuries. Also, as with virtually all such mining operations of this period in Westmoreland County, no mining structures survive. The Star Mine was located at the extreme eastern end of Export, along a tributary of Turtle Creek just south of the old William Penn Highway, and was the only slope mine in the Export Area. There are a few house near were the Star Mine was located, that may have been associated with the mine. A number of coal company houses still stand in Export, however, most of these were associated with the Export Mines of the Westmoreland Coal Company. |
| HISTORY: Located south of the old William Penn Highway, oa spur of the Turtle Creek Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Star Mine was opened by the Export Coal Company ca.1910. The Star Mine was opened just as the coal miners strike of 1910 was beginning in the Irwin gas coal basin. The company directors were J. F. Hepler of Pittsburgh, James S. Pates of Monongahela City, and Fred W. Scott of Duquesne. Each partner owned ten shares in the company, whose sales office was located in Pittsburgh. The mine was nicknamed the "Peanut Mine" due to its small size, and was the only slope-entry mine in Export, the other mines had drift entries. In it's first year the Export Coal Company employed just six pick miners at the Star Mine. These miners had just joined the United Mine Workers Union. The foreman had consulted the Union officers, who told him that they would not object to the miners diging coal during the strike, "provided none of it should be shipped." Conforming to these terms the workers mined and stored the coal for six months. But on the first of November when the operators asked the miners to load the coal into railroad cars, they went on strike. In 1910, 449 tons of coal were produced with eleven men employed. In 1912 the Export Coal Company was taken over by a Pittsburgh banking concern, newly organized that year. Other directors who operated the business were John J. McAlister in 1916 and W. J. Remaley the following year. The company had its office in what is now a private home on Jefferson Street, north of the tracks in Export. The Star Mine was located south of the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks in a swampy area that made the mine an undesirable place to work. In 1923 the Star Mine was operated by the Trafford Coal Company, of Export, that year it mined 6,000 tons of coal. Star Park, near the former Westmoreland Coal Company dam south of Export, was named for this mine. (History and description of the Star Mine, adapted with additional data 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. and Helene Smith's book "Export, A Patch of Tapestry out of Coal Country America.") |
| To Select another Index to Westmoreland County Coal Mines Click on the Larry cars for Index Page or on a Letter below |
 |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| Local History Sites | Reference Sources | "The Old Miners" Message Board | E-Mail Web Master |
| Sign the "Old Miner's" Guestbook | View the "Old Miner's" Guestbook |
| Copyright 2001, by Raymond A. Washlaski, Ryan P, Washlaski,
and The 20th Century Society of Western Pennsylvania Web Design by "Mercers, an Undertakers" Web Design Company |
