The Company's Showplace

— 1845-1954 —

Mammoth OperationThe No. 8 first opened in 1845. During its peak in the first half of the 1900's, the colliery grew to a workforce of near 3,000 men. The mine consisted of 8 horizontal levels, the lowest being more that 1,200 feet below the surface and more than 130 feet below sea level. Each level was accessed by a cage, or elevator, which hauled miners and coal cars up and down the vertical shaft. A total of 1,425 mine cars and 24 miles of rails and haulage tunnels were underground. Thirty five eclectic mine locomotives operated in the mine and 5 steam locomotives were used on the surface. In 1972, a towering 208 foot steel and concrete breaker was constructed to replace an earlier wooden breaker destroyed by fire. The breaker was the centerpiece of the colliery, where the coal was cleaned and prepared for market. It was capable of processing more than 7,800 tons of raw material daily, producing 90 railroad cars of anthracite coal for market. No. 8 Colliery closed in 1954 following the decline of the coal industry and the rise of other sources of energy.
Visitors came by the thousandsThe No. 8 Colliery located here was the official showplace of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Beginning in the early 1930s, No. 8 Colliery opened a visitor's center and began offering public tours. Celebrities from around the world, including government leaders, sports legends, and movie, stage and radio stars, were among the thousands who toured the No. 8 Colliery for a rare look at how anthracite coal was mined and prepared. One of the many points of interest was a large petrified tree, hundreds of millions of years old, located 850 feet beneath the surface.
Remnants of a Bygone EraIn the distance can be seen the original No. 8 Mine entrance, brick wash shanty buildings, dynamite bunker and mounds of coal waste. In front of them stand the towering coal breaker which has since been demolished. Here in the Coaldale Miner's Memorial Park is the brick bus shelter once used by miners, large chunks of anthracite coal, unique rock formations, and a historic marker to famed labor leader, "Mother Jones".
(Inscription above the image at the bottom) See where the new Coaldale coal comes from: 1,227 feet below the surface.

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