| BRADDOCK AND THE COAL INDUSTRY BY S. R. McCLURE, ESQ. The mining of coal, while for a time a chief industry of Braddock, shows at the present time little evidence of having been a principal factor in the upbuilding of the community. As compared with the large mines of the present day, the mines at Braddock were small. This was necessarily the case from the fact that the land is cut up into comparatively small sections by deep ravines, and each hill was mined by itself. The history of Braddock is somewhat related to the mines about Port Perry, but is principally concerned with the mines in the two hills included in the Borough of North Braddock, these two hills being separated by the Sixth Street ravine, or, as it is called in North Braddock, East Sixth Street. Historians have written of Braddock in the early days before the advent of the white man among these hills, of Queen Aliquippa and other legendary characters, of Washington's visit to this district while on his famous journey from Virginia to Fort Duquesne and Lake Erie, of his stopping at Frazier's Cabin and his visit to the mythical Tonnaluka's Cave, and of the later day when Braddock's Field was marked by a few farm houses and well kept farms, while Port Perry was a thrifty village, and much mor e has been said of Braddock and the steel trade and the place of Braddock in the beginning of Carnegie's operations in the building of the most wonderful system of iron works the world has ever known. But little has been said of that intermediate period which marks the beginning of the coal mining industry at Braddock; the days when a visitor to Braddock might see nothing of the now familiar sights, but in the early morning hours the coal miners, with their lamps on their caps, wending their way to the pits on the hillsides. The old coal miners of the Braddock district included many industrious, thrifty and pi osperous men. Conspicuous among these are the late Benjamin S. Brazuell (owner of the Braznell Block), who, beginning in the Braddock district as a coal digger, became an operator, at one time a member of the firm of A. A. Corey & Company, and later engaged in larger operations in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and Alexander Dempster (owner of the Dempster Block), well known in this district as a coal and real estate operator. A catalogue of the successful coal miners of the Braddock District would be a long list and would include many of our respected citizens. The earliest coal mining in the district was in the hill east and north of Port Perry, on a tract of land then known as the Miller farm, long owned by Colonel W.L. Miller. These mines were opened about 1835 to 1840. It was here that J.B. Corey, later one of the principal operators in the Braddock district, got his first experience in coal mines and from there he began his career as a coal shipper. This was before the time of railroads in this district and the coal was floated down the river in what were called "joe boats". These boats were fifty to sixty feet in length and about sixteen feet in width and were loaded two or three feet deep with one to three thousand bushels of coal. By 1840 the boats were increased in size to seventy-five feet in length and by 1850 they had grown to one hundred seventy feet in length by twenty-five feet in width and were loaded seven feet deep and a pair of the boats would contain as much as seventy thousand bushels of coal. These boats were floated to all points down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, much of the coal going to New Orleans. The business, was hazardous, boats being often wrecked, the market being sometimes overstocked, and the sale of the coal at a profitable price being uncertain. At the time of the secession of the southern states, Mr. Corey was connected with a firm which included Judge Thomas Mellon. The firm had made heavy shipments of coal to New Orleans. The coal of the northern men was at that time confiscated with the result that this company was apparently ruined, having lost all its invested capital and it would require Fifty Thousand Dollars additional to pay its debts. The New Orleans agent of the firm, however, was pressed into the Rebel service and directed to look after the coal. He managed to so place the coal that when orders were issued for a boat of the confiscated coal, the coal of other companies was taken out to fill the order. This continued until Commodore Farragut and General Butler came with the Union forces and drove out the Rebel Army and not only was the coal saved, but coal had greatly advanced in price so that the firm instead of being Fifty Thousand Dollars in debt was Two Hundred Thousand Dollars to the good. The first coal operations in Braddock are difficult to define. From the time of the earliest settlers there were various pits, as they were called, opened into the edge of the coal veins for the purpose of getting fuel for the settlers. Early in the history of the district, George Bell and J. W. Buchanan, who bought a large tract of land covering the eastern portions of Braddock and North Braddock, undertoook coal mining but made little progress. Mr. Bell attempted to open a pit in the upper Sixth Street ravine, but a dispute arose between him and Isaac Mills (the owner of the large Mills farm, which included the westerly part of Braddock and North Braddock) as to the location of the boundary line between their farms. This dispute lasted many years in the courts and ultimately the administrators of the estates of both these men sold the right to mine the coal to J. B. Corey & Company, who operated in the hill west of Sixth Street. The earliest operations were in the hill on the east side of the Sixth Street ravine. It is said that the pits first opened were those below the Braddock Cemetery. Thomas Fauset, an early land owner in this district, hauled coal from the mine to the river and floated it to Pittsburgh, about 1843. There were tracks constructed down the Sixth Street hollow for the operators on both sides of the ravine. In getting the coal out of the mines on the east side of the ravine dogs were used for a time. The use of dogs in mines is well known to Welsh coal miners, but apparently few people of the present day know of their use in this valley, though the old men who are familiar with the coal mines of this district remember their use in various places throughout the valley. The miner wore over his shoulder, straps made in form somewhat after the manner of shoulder braces, with a hook at the back. From this a chain was attached to the small mine car and as the miner pulled his loaded car out of the mine, the dog, trained to harness, pulled by his side, or if the miner had two dogs, one pulled at each side. The dogs used in the mines were large strong dogs and were the property of the miners who used them in their work. The dogs fought among themselves, as dogs will do, and were somewhat feared by other residents of the community, but generally they were good workers and loyal to their masters. Later, mules were purchased by the operators to move the cars in the mine and these in turn were supplanted by steam power. Joseph Taylor, grandfather of John Taylor, of Jones Avenue, is remembered as one of the earliest mine superintendents of this district. The Robinson pit was opened at a point below the present location of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Thirteenth Street by John Robinson, more famous on account of the Robinson House, the old hotel of stage-coach days, which stood until a few years ago just above Braddock Avenue near Thirteenth Street. The Robinson pit employed only a few men. The cars were lowered by gravity to a point near the present location of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, from which point the men pushed them down to the river and loaded the coal on flats. There were other small pits in the east hill. Alexander Dempster for awhile conducted a mine for the local trade. The McCauley pit for the local trade was opened about the present location of Kellar & Milliken's brick works, under that part of the hill once known as Hillside Park. Another pit, known as the McKinney pit, was opened west of that, under the old earthwork forts which were constructed during the Civil War. The principal mine in this hill, however, was at the head of Robinson Street. It was first opened as a country pit, was operated at one time by John Giles, at another by Cheney & Baldwin, and vitas later operated extensively by General Felix Negley. When the Civil War broke out, General Negley left the mine to join the army and it was operated by a company in which Judge Thomas Mellon was interested. For use of the miners the operators erected about a dozen houses, the group being referred to collectively in the old days as "The Patch". These houses were constructed two stories high in front, with a one story kitchen at the rear. About half of these houses were situated above the present location of Bessemer Station. One of them is still standing above Bell Avenue. The rest of them were located about Thirteenth Street. When these miners' houses were built, there were only about a dozen other houses in all within the present limits of North Braddock Borough. The daily output of the mine in its best days was two to three thousand bushels and was shipped to Pittsburgh by railroad; the Pennsylvania Railroad, a single track line having been constructed about 1850 from Pittsburgh as far east as Brinton. A track from the coal mine was constructed from the pit mouth down the hill along the present location of Robinson Street. Little was done in the hill west of Sixth Street until 1865, when J. B. Corey organized a company and bought out the rights of both parties involved in the disputed property line which had long been the subject of litigation between Isaac Mills and George Bell. The company included John Ealdridge, who for many years took an active part in its management and upon the dissolution of the company bought much of the land which the company had owned. This company, about 1865, opened three pits near the present location of Coalmont Street. A track was constructed down Sixth Street Hollow, and during the eighteen years through which the mining continued, coal was taken out of about two hundred fifty acres, including a large part of the Mills and Soles farms. When the market was good, from one hundred to one hundred fifty miners were employed and the output of the mine was from five thousand to eight thousand bushels daily. Mr. Corey prides himself on being the author of a sliding scale agreement under which the company made its contract with the miners in its employ and through the use of which strike troubles were greatly reduced. The work in this hill was completed by a new company organized by A. A. Corey and known as A. A. Corey & Co. Dickson, Stewart & Company, who are known as coal operators in this valley, constructed the lime kilns on top of the east hill overlooking the Sixth Street ravine and had some coal mines about Swissvale, operated extensively under Oak Hill, near Turtle Creek, and opened the mines which were later owned and operated by the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Company about Turtle Creek and east and north of Braddock. ThE Duquesne mines, commonly called Mucklerat, north of Hannatown, were long operated by the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Company, until labor troubles became so continuous and so violent that the company was compelled to close the mine and abandon it. After it had been closed for some years, it was reopened by Mr. J. B. Corey, who entered into contract with the miners of that district under the sliding scale agreement that had been used by his company in North Braddock and the mine was then operated for several years without serious trouble. There has continued a little mining of coal in the hills of North Braddock, taking out remnants of coal here and there, and cleaning out the old mines, until the present time. The coal miners of the early days and their children, however, as the coal mines in this district were worked out, took up other lines of business or employment and the history of coal mining in Braddock was practically ended with the closing of the Corey mine about 1883. |