Lackawanna Mine Tour

2005 Mining History Association Field Trip

Lackawanna Mine Tour, Scranton, PA
June 17, 2005
Tour Hosts: Staff of the Lackawanna Mine Tour
And The Anthracite Heritage Museum

The Lackawanna Mine and the Anthracite Heritage Museum are located in McDade Park in Scranton. Visitors ride the man-car down the 1300 foot long No. 190 slope of the old Continental Mine and arrive at the gangway (haulage level). The gangway is driven in the dipping anthracite seam. Timbers and cribbing support the walls of the seam. The walking tour of the underground workings gives a good opportunity to see how the hard anthracite coal was drilled, blasted, shoveled, conveyed to the gangway, and loaded into cars for the trip up the slope to the tipple. Back on the surface, the nearby Anthracite Heritage Museum contains exhibits on the mining and textile industries, and on the lives of the immigrants who settled and worked in the Pennsylvania Anthracite Region.

PHOTO GALLERY

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The Lackawanna Mine tipple in McDade Park, Scranton.

MHAers ride the man-car down the 190 Slope into the Lackawanna Mine.

The gangway (haulage level) runs directly through the dipping coal seam. Timbers support the roof.

Looking up the seam into the mine workings, a simulated miner can be seen moving a section of a vibrating pan conveyor.

Child labor was common in the early anthracite mines. Boys typically tended ventilation doors and guided mules pulling loaded coal cars.

MHAers take a look at the final product in a loaded coal car in the gangway.

Back on the surface, the MHAers leave the man-trip and head to the Anthracite Heritage Museum.

There is nothing like a hearty lunch after a shift in the mine!

Photo Credits: Johnny Johnsson and Mike Kaas

References

Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour, (Accessed 4 January 2012).

Anthracite Heritage Museum, (Accessed 4 January 2012).

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