Mining Methods

In the Lackawanna Valley, anthracite coal was mined by drift mining, deep shaft mining, and strip mining, depending on how close the seams lay to the surface. Drift mining, the only technique used here until the 1840s, followed short level tunnels directly into exposed or near-surface seams, and one such drift opening lies beneath this spot. Deep shaft mining, first established locally in 1843, used vertical shafts to reach deeply buried seams and then extended horizontally along them, becoming the primary mining technique in the area. Strip mining removed soil and rock overburden from seams close to the surface with draglines or large stripping shovels; although practiced as early as 1919, it did not become economically important until World War II, and by 1959 it accounted for half of the anthracite mined from the valley. In this part of the valley, which is about 5 miles wide, anthracite occurred in relatively level, undulating seams, as many as eight in number, typically ranging from 2 to 12 feet thick.

Pennsylvania · United States