The Shamokin, Pennsylvania Glen Burn Colliery

The Glen Burn Colliery is an anthracite (hard) coal mine located in Shamokin Pennsylvania, though it is no longer active. Most or all of the buildings have been torn down, but of course the mine shafts still exists. I believe it was either the largest or second largest deep coal mine in the U.S., having had several “drifts”, or tunnels, of which we explored 2 (only one is pictured here). Though i don’t recall for sure, i believe this would be the West Drift.

We stayed on the main haulage level – the level from which all other levels propagate – during our exploration. Main haulage runs from Shamokin to Trevorton, a distance of about 6 miles, and is nearly perfectly level and very easily traveled (i know of a couple people who drove 4-wheelers through it). We penetrated probably about a mile and a half of that distance, the majority which was very stable and safe as it was dug through solid rock. Only when we veered off of this level into some of the smaller horizontal side passages did things become less stable.

The stories conflict even among those that worked here as to how many levels there are, but there are several levels below main haulage on the Shamokin side and several above on the Trevorton side. The lower levels are flooded almost up to the main haulage level. It’s difficult to describe the very eerie feeling i had being underground in a mine and looking into the utter blackness of the water which filled the lower levels.

If the story is true, a rather large dinosaur fossil was found in the lower levels and Penn State University was involved in the study and preservation of it. I was also told by someone who worked here in the latter years that there are rooms which were hidden from the mining inspectors, one of which was described to be so large you could turn a tractor-trailer around in it without backing up.

We entered the mine several times in 1997 from the west side of the colliery where there is, or was at the time, a passage which passes under route 125 which is the road from Shamokin to Trevorton. During our last trip, which was probably in 97 or 98, the tunnel under the roadway had collapsed. At the time there appeared to be a possible, though very small opening through the debris. Entering it would have been extremely dangerous however. There are many other entrances to the Glen Burn mine, though i cannot provide any details as we did not explorer them.

The Glen Burn Colliery in its prime	One of the mining crews. I believe the ‘Burn’ was in operation 24 hours at one point.	This structure, the ‘dinky house’ sits atop the slag heap at the Glen Burn. Buggies of waste (high ash coal and rock) were hauled up to this point and then dumped to form the largest man-made mountain in the world.	In the background we can can see the rail tracks leading up the mountain to the dinky house.
Inside the west drift main haulage tunnel.	Not widely known, the Glen Burn was apparently a fallout shelter during the cold war. These are tins of crackers, but there were also mounds of toilet paper and medicine for diarrhea.	These are steel containers lined with plastic that were to be filled with water. Strangely, it appears that they were never filled.	This is water spilling down from the west drift main haulage to the levels below.
Mineral formations very similar to this are often found in naturally formed caves, though they can take millions of years to grow. These formations have taken only decades to form.	This is a hoist inside the mine used to pull buggies loaded with coal and rock up from the lower levels.	Some old electrical equipment.	Leftover dynamite from the last crew to work in the mine. The nitroglycerin appeared to be leaking out of it, possibly making it very unstable. The thought that my camera flash might cause it to explode actually crossed my mind.

The Buck Slope Coal Mine

Another deep anthracite coal mine not far from the Glen Burn is Buck Slope, located near Upper Excelsior Pennsylvania. Apparently, like many small coal towns of the day, Excelsior used to be a rather hopping place, complete with a movie theater. Today it is virtually abandoned.

This is one of the more unstable mines i had the “pleasure” to explore and i highly doubt it accessible today. It had some interesting features however which i didn’t expect to find in a coal mine, such as near white rock in one area. It also had a stream running in it which was navigable with an inflatable boat (don’t ask), though i don’t believe i personally ever went down deep enough to see it.

This near white rock was an interesting feature of this mine. We thought it may be limestone, but it was difficult to determine for sure.	Mules were used inside the mine to haul out the coal and rock. They were kept underground and, from what i was told, may never have seen the light of day in some cases. This is the entrance to the mule stable. There was also a small ‘hospital’ of sorts and a lunch room which we ever found.	This is the interior of the mule stable showing the stalls. In the background is cribbing that was used to support the collapsing ceiling.
Another view of the interior of the mule stable.	This is a feed trough for the mules, now filled with coal and rock dust.	This may be an escape-way; a tunnel which parallels the main shaft and is used in an emergency if the main tunnel should become impassible for some reason. The ceiling here was very smooth and bluish in color.

Saint Nicholas Coal Breaker, Mahanoy City, Pa

The Saint Nick breaker was used for processing anthracite coal mined nearby. Today it sits abandoned and is easily accessible by those with a desire to explore.

Overview of the Saint Nicholas coal breaker	The sun on her face, she still shines	Large gear
The machine shop	Main conveyor used for moving material into the plant for processing	Changing room were employees changed their duds