Montour Mine No. 4

Montour Mine No. 4. . In 1953 a sloped shaft was dug into the hillside and a conveyor system brought coal out of the mine to a new tipple, loading directly into hopper cars. The mine was capable of loading over 20,000 car loads of coal each year.

This shaft opened in 1914 when the Montour Railroad was completed to serve the mine. A vertical shaft reached the coal seam 140 feet underground. Mine cars were hoisted to the top of the tipple, where coal was cleaned, sized, and loaded into railroad cars.

The original mine shaft opened in 1903, about a half-mile to the west. After 1914, the original shaft was used for men and supplies to access the mine, while this shaft was used for coal loading only. In 1980, a catastrophic flooding of the mine caused its closure.

Ca. 1920. The main line, currently the Montour Trail, is on the left. The Hoist Building behind the original tipple is still in existence. The tipple spanned from the main line over Brush Run on the right.

Inside the tipple in 1942. Mine cars are unloaded from "the cage” at the top of the hoist and unloaded by a rotary dumper for processing. John Collier, Jr. Photos

View from the Loaded Yard in 1957. The Head Shaft at right was later dismantled. The hoist house was converted to a power house and still remains. The structure beyond the hoist house was a tram that carried slate to a dump at the top of the hill on the opposite side of the valley. Photo courtesy Gene P. Schaeffer