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Monday, December 17, 2012

Rolling Mill Mine - Westmont Hill

This is indeed a very rare shot of the old Rolling Mill Mine taken from a picture postcard from the early 1900's. This is the mine on the hillside right across from the Point Stadium. There was a mine disaster a short time after this picture was taken and there are still coal miners bodies they left buried inside the mountain. At the Turn of the Century - the Rolling Mill Mine was the largest coal mine in the world. It started at the Point and worked it's way the whole way back to where Pickin Chicken is. The old shafts in Stackhouse and Morrellville were part of this mine before everything was broken up and sold to others.

There were actually two coal mines located on this hillside. An early one from the 1850's that Cambria Iron set up - they actually hauled the coal underground thru an old tunnel underneath the Conemaugh River. The coal never saw the light of day until it hit the mill.

Note the choice of the small ElectricTrain to haul the coal out. Johnstown was at one time on the cutting edge of technology. This is an area I have spent years exploring and I always find something different each time. One of the shafts is still open - and if you are skinny enough- you can get in. Something should actually be done with the shaft - in case some knucklehead gets the bright idea of heading in to explore.
I have some other pictures from the mine disaster that I will be posting soon.

3 comments:

Geoscienceteacher said...

Great old photo. This is indeed a rare photo, I have seen very few pictures of the Rolling Mill Mine! Several of the old concrete foundations and mine openings are still present on the hillside today; makes me want to do some further exploring (not in the mine!)and documentation of what remains of the mine structures. Thanks for posting this.

Anonymous said...

Tribune-Democrat front page article: Monday, April 29th, 2013. The article details the work being done to seal the open shaft to this mine that is located in Stackhouse Park. Very interesting information. Having lived in J-town all my life I've known that there were numerous old mines crisscrossing beneath us. What I was unaware of was this particular mine tragedy.

Unknown said...

All the miners and rescuers bodies were recovered after the explosion. The mine resumed operation 4 days later not closing until 1931 being renamed bethlehem mine #71. The coal haulage mentioned was through the elk run shaft down into rosedale #6 where it crossed under the river to link up with the hoisting shaft at the rosedale coke plant. Rosedale #5 and #6 became bethlehem 72 which closed in 1960. All three mines from 2 levels fed that shaft. During the time of the explosion the coal was hauled to rolling mill mines's tipple which the point stadium now sits on its foundation.