I arose at the Comfort Inn in Bethel and went down to the lobby for breakfast then after a good meal, put in the corrections for my stories and uploaded them. I checked out and drove west on Interstate 78 to Exit 13 where I filled the car with petrol then proceeded north on Pennsylvania 501 over the Endless Hills to Interstate 81, which I took north to Exit 124 at Frackville. I then drove Pennsylvania 61 to Ashland and followed the signs to the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine.
A Brief HistoryBy 1828, bustling coal towns in Pennsylvania were filled with opportunists. Prospectors scarred the mountains with trail shafts and mine pits. When these filled with 30 or 40 feet of water, they dug new ones. Soon they discovered they could dig much further by tunneling straight into the mountains from a ravine or the foot of a hill. This became known as horizontal mining. The original Pioneer Colliery was operated in Mahanoy Mountain at Ashland in the late 19th century and gave the name to the Pioneer Tunnel.
The Pioneer Tunnel was owned and operated the Philadelphia and Reading and Iron Company from 1911 to 1931. This mine echoed the grunts of gritty-faced miners, the crunch of pick against coal and the screech of overloaded iron wheels. Water dripped from the dank, heavy timbering overhead to mix with the sweat of straining mules. Oil torches, and later carbide lamps, flickered in the darkness, pointing bright fingers to the glistening rocks. And when the day was over, scores of tired, dirty eyes came out and squinted in the fading light.
Electricity sparked the Anthracite Industry of the mine and huge motors pumped the water away. A trip into the mine today you will ride 1,800 feet into Mahonoy Mountain darkness on a mine motor to see the will glistening seams of coal like the miners saw back in their day. A mine guide will give you a complete tour of the Pioneer Coal Mine. Outside there is a steam train ride pulled by a 0-4-0 steam lokie that is only 23 feet long, 8 feet wide with 33 inch drivers. This type of engine was used in the strip mining that occurred in this area of Pennsylvania.
My Private TourI parked the car, went into the Business Office and met the staff. The man in charge of the Coal Mine then offered me a private tour which I readily accepted and was given a jacket to wear before we started.
The opening to the Pioneer Coal Mine.
The mine engine which pushes the train into the mine.
An information board explaining the Pioneer Coal Mine.
Looking into the mine.
We went in.
Two views into the tunnel.
This is as far as the train takes you and from here, one is escorted deeper underground.
The mine train.
One of the side tunnels.
Looking up a vent.
Looking up a chute.
A petrified tree.
There are fossils here.
Coal cart.
A fault line.
View of a tunnel. The supports do not hold up the mine but are a warning feature. If they start to crack, then a cave-in will occur, so if you hearing a cracking sound, you get out before the cave-in happens.
A telephone is the most important safety feature in a coal mine.
Diagrams of the Pioneer Coal Mine along with my guide.
Mules were used to haul the coal out of the mine.
This is what a coal miner would look like doing his job.
A few tools of coal mining.
Two views of a coal miner.
The tunnel.
Looking up a coal chute.
Emergency ladders up to the surface.
Another tunnel.
More tools of the trade.
I could never picture myself working in a coal mine.
The Wishing Well.
Young boys would help with loading the car.
The cars did not have brakes so a piece of wood was placed into the spokes of the wheel to stop the car's motion.
The Wishing Well and a tunnel.
More tools of the coaling trade. We now started our exit.
The trip from deep inside the Pioneer Coal Mine to the outside world.
My guide returned me to where we started.
A look back at the Pioneer Coal Mine.
One last picture looking into the mine. I thanked my guide for his excellent private tour then I waited for my train ride here.
