The other side of the mountain

Tue Jun 7 07:10:44 EDT 2016

Jim,

Your questions joggled my memory. Last fall I scanned the Coaldale Branch
revaluation survey of October 1916 for a project I was thinking about
before I got wrapped up in the Buchanan Branch book.

Scan 0075 shows the Coaldale Branch (P35) in relation to the main line P.
The West Portal was located at Survey Station 859+07.9. Note the smokestack
to the right. Pages are read from the bottom up.

Scan 0036 shows switch (survey station 0+00 for P35) for the Coaldale
Branch located at main line survey station 859+19 or 11 feet from the west
portal. The switch for the first siding on the Coaldale Branch is located
at Survey station 1+53.5 or 153.5 feet from station 0+00.

Scan 0037 shows the coal company water tanks and the siding rejoining the
branch line at survey station 8+30.5

Scan 0038 shows the switch leading into the coke ovens at 8+55 and a
cross-over

Scan 0039 shows multiple cross-overs and the tipple located at station
18+09.5

Scan 0040 shows you the continuation of the branch line on the other side
of the tipple

Scan 0041 shows you the last switch and the end of the branch at station
35+90 making the branch line 3,590 feet long. The last switch allows for a
221-foot tail track, but there are multiple switches that would allow cars
to be pushed under the tipple from a number of locations.

Since coke production was shut down at Coaldale in 1914 the track
configuration may have been different  from the 1916 survey.

Alex Schust

Moderator:
http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20160607.scan0036.jpg
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*From:* NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] *On
Behalf Of *NW Mailing List
*Sent:* Monday, June 06, 2016 9:58 AM
*To:* NW Mailing List
*Subject:* Re: The other side of the mountain

Alex, thanks for the info.  The map confirms the location of the coke
ovens.  I am assuming that the mine/tipple was located at the end of the
spur, which was usual situation.  My remaining question(s) is about that
location (end of the spur) with respect to the West portal of the New
Elkhorn tunnel.  The Society's document HS-D10246 shows, I believe, a
fairly significant falling grade for the spur, but on the copy I have, I
can't make out the numbers.  I'm just wondering if it got down to the level
of the new tunnel.  The plan also seems to show a tram line running above
the coke ovens and around the hill almost to the end of the spur.  Again, I
have only a low-res copy of the drawing, but I don't see any indication of
the mine facilities unless it is the three small rectangles located at
about the point where the end of the spur crosses what appears to be a
creek based on the close spacing and chevron character of the contour
lines.  Did this creek have a name?  I assume it was a tributary of Elkhorn
creek which originated near the West portal of the old tunnel.  This layout
would seem a little strange to me as in most cases I have looked at, the
spur would run substantially past the tipple as storage track from which
cars could be gravity loaded.  Then again, in the ones that I have looked
at, the spur ran up-grade to the tipple.  Perhaps operations were different
in cases where the grade was opposite.  Could someone with access to a
better copy of HS-D10246 check to see if there is any information about the
tipple/facilities location.  Thanks again for the help.

Jim Cochran

On Mon, Jun 6, 2016 at 7:03 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

Jim,

The Coaldale map shows you the mine spur in relation to the tunnel. The N&W
map provides you an indication of the spur and the location of the coke
ovens. The post card view provides you a view of the main line and the
Coaldale Spur as well as the relative location of the tipple.

Mines and mining communities were normally built and mining coal before the
railroad spur was built in the 1890 – 1910 time period.

Alex Schust

 Moderator:
 http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20160606.Coaldale_tunnel.jpg

  <http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20160606.Coaldale_tunnel.jpg>
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<http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20160605.Coaldale_Mine.jpg>

*From:* NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] *On
Behalf Of *NW Mailing List
*Sent:* Sunday, June 05, 2016 7:18 AM
*To:* NW Mailing List
*Subject:* The other side of the mountain

The initial building of mine facilities and the railroad on the East side
of Flat Top Mountain has been fairly well chronicled by Shust and Cooper
among others due to these being some of the first installations in the
opening of the Billion Dollar Coal Field (Alex and Mason please chime in
with corrections where I go astray and elaborations/additions where you may
have them). John Cooper opened his operation at the head of Mill Creek and
the N&W built a branch to service him in 1884. Cooper appears to have been
working both sides of the creek with his appropriately named West
(Sterling) and East mines both loading through a single tipple that
straddled the creek. A picture of this facility appears on page 14 of
“Bluestone” by Shust, Cooper, Bowen and French. When the N&W decided to
push the Elkhorn Extension through the mountain at the end of the Mill
Creek branch, John Cooper was compelled to relocated his processing/loading
facility. He opened the West Fork mine and tipple and brought the product
of his other mines here and it appears that this arrangement remained
stable for a good number of years.

The details of what was transpiring on the West or Coaldale side of Flat
Top Mountain during this period are fewer and less clear. It is my
understanding that even before the old Elkhorn Tunnel was completed,
multiple coal mining facilities were put into operation by Crozier, among
others. I suppose they piled their product up waiting for the railroad. In
“Bluestone” Shust, et al. Say John Cooper drove a haulway in parallel to
the N&W's tunnel and built a tipple for the Coaldale mine at it's West
opening. The N&W built a spur off the mainline at the West poral of the old
Elkhorn tunnel that went around the West face of the mountian and I assume
extended this tipple, but to me at least, the exact location of this
facility is unclear. The few pictures I have seen of the beginning of this
mine spur show no evidence of the mining operation but they are all taken
quite close to the railroad tunnel. I understand that the banks of Coaldale
coke ovens started a bit beyond this point and continued to the tipple/mine
location which is said to be nearly on the McDowell/Mercer County line.
Some of the things that I would like to know about the history of this
location are, first, where exactly the Coaldale tipple/mines were located
relative to the West portal of the NEW Elkhorn tunnel. Second, where is the
new Elkhon tunnel located relative to Cooper's mine haulway mentioned above
(could it be that portions of this haulway were incorporated into the new
tunnel?). Third, how close to the mine was the tipple located and what
haulage method was used.

I ran across the attached picture of the tipple the other day. It is not of
the best quality and I cannot make out any railroad or tram tracks. To me
it appears that might be constructed to allow mine cars to enter from both
ends and dump in the middle. Hopefully, omeone with more savvy about these
early operations can shed some light on exactly what we are looking at.
Thanks in advance for any help/additional information on these early
operations that transformed the N&W into what we all know and love.

Jim Cochran

Moderator:
 http://nwhs.org/mailinglist/2016/20160605.Coaldale_Mine.jpg
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