Mt. Carmel Shaft / Alaska Shaft / Alaska Colliery
Not to be confused with the small Alaska anthracite mine near Tamaqua, this mine in Mt. Carmel Township, Northumberland County was opened by Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. in 1873. It would remain under this ownership for the life of the mine into the mid 20th century. It was known at first as Mt. Carmel Shaft. The train station was called Alaska Station (Mt. Carmel Junction in later years). The mine's name was officially changed to Alaska Colliery in 1887-88.
The mine was being developed in 1873 and '74. A small amount of coal was produced by 1875 and major shipments began in 1876. In 1880, 500 workers were employed above and below ground at Alaska. It would become one of Philadelphia & Reading's biggest producers in the area. In 1906, Alaska Colliery began disposing of their culm in abandoned underground works. This conservation of surface area is understandable as the colliery was almost surrounded by a ring of railroad tracks. The name Alaska Colliery disappeared from Pennsylvania state mine records in 1916 only to reappear a few years later (circa 1920). Perhaps the colliery was being reworked and modernized at the time. At any rate, Alaska kept churing out anthracite coal through the Great Depression and World War II before closing down in 1954.
At some point, a company housing devlopment was built - the Alaska "patch." Since it wasn't large enough to accomodate all of the workers, we can assume that some workers lived in the nearby town of Locust Gap. Reading Anthrcite began removing the houses in the 1950s in advance of impending strip mining. By the 1960s, Alaska as a village was no more.
