Lansford, PA & Panther Valley

Lehigh Coal & Navigation's Empire in the Panther Valley

I can hardly do justice to the legendary history of anthracite coal mining between Tamaqua and Jim Thorpe (formerly Mauch Chunk) in this short space. Anthracite mining in this region dates all the way back to 1792. Most of the mines and land became property of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company.

Image courtesy of Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA Miners of Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company eating lunch in the "dinner hole" in a mine near Coaldale.
1970s image by Christopher Matt The abandoned Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company offices in Lansford a few years before burning.
April 2025 image by author Former coal company houses in Lansford.
April 2025 image by author Lehigh Coal & Navigation also built this development next to Lansford for management. The neighborhood is known as Edgemont, and the homes are of a noticably higher quality than the workers' housing.
April 2025 image by author Even larger boss's homes in Edgemont.
April 2025 image by author Also in Edgemont, LC&N constructed this clubhouse for their visitors. It was known as the Old Company Club, and functioned in this capacity until the mid-20th century. It was later reopened as a nursing home named Edgemont Lodge. At the time of this photo, it was abandoned.
April 2025 image by author The former Lehigh Coal & Navigation foundry. The other structures in the background of the picture were also the company's industrial storage buildings.
April 2025 image by author Other former repair shops at Lansford.
April 2025 image by author Detail of one of the former Lansford industrial buildings.
April 2025 image by author Part of the Lehigh No. 9 mine at Lansford has been preserved as a tourist coal mine. The visitor center and museum are in the former bath house. Too bad the No. 9 breaker was not preserved.
April 2025 image by author A gangway inside the No. 9 mine.
April 2025 image by author Farther up Panther Creek can be found the Andrewsville "patch", where the miners of Lehigh No. 6 lived. There was once another "patch town" on the mountain above named Jamestown for the No. 4 colliery. It had been demolished by the 1940s.
April 2025 image by author Coaldale, Pennsylvania.
April 2025 image by author Former shops of Lehigh Coal & Navigation's No. 8 mine at Coaldale.
April 2025 image by author Shown here is the Bull Run "patch" for the workers of Lehigh No. 10.
April 2025 image by author Military honor roll at Bull Run. This is a common feature of Pennsylvania coal towns.
March 2026 image by author This street of coal company housing at the edge of Tamaqua may have once housed the families of the miners of Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company's Tamaqua Colliery. There was also a Greenwood Colliery that dated back to the mid 1800s.

Greenwood was operated by various people and companies, most notably Thomas Oliver / Oliver & Co. from 1888 to 1892; and Beddalls Brothers & Co. from 1893 until February 17, 1910. Lehigh Coal & Navigation reopened Greenwood in 1911.

March 2026 image by author Former supply house from Tamaqua Colliery, also known as No. 14, which opened in 1906.
March 2026 image by author This was once the site of Lehigh No. 14 water shaft. Some of these structures may date to the early 1960s when the Fauzio Brothers rebuilt Greenwood Colliery. The breaker was updated by Powell Construction circa 1999 and is the main breaker in the area in the 21st century. In a blast from the past, the owner has even brought back the Lehigh Coal & Navigation company name.
March 2026 image by author An old electric substation from Tamaqua Colliery.
March 2026 image by author Detail of galvanized steel door at the substation.