Beaverdale, PA

Beaverdale and Reliance Shaft

Reliance Colliery near Mt. Carmel in Northumberland County was opened in 1866 or '67. Thomas Baumgardner and Co. operated Reliance on a lease from Mount Carmel Locust Mountain Coal Co. In 1873 Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Co. purchased the land and coal but kept Baumgardner & Co. on as the operator until 1878. From 1879 until 1953, Philadelphia & Reading owned and operated Reliance Colliery. After 1930, Reliance coal was sent to the nearby Locust Summit Central Breaker for cleaning and processing.

*March 2025 image by author* Remaining coal company houses next to where Philadelphia & Reading built a shaft down into the Reliance mines. This "patch" is known as Beaverdale. There was also a small row of company houses at the Reliance Breaker, which was some distance away (behind the modern school that is located there now).

*March 2025 image by author* The remaining Reliance pump house. A "cleaner plant," engine house (for the shaft), and bath house for the miners was also located here. For a time, water from Reliance Colliery was pumped to a water tank at Locust Summit Breaker two miles away. What may have happened is Reliance mines were allowed to flood in 1953-54 and that pool of water was used for cleaning coal at Locust Summit. In 1954, the first mention of the "Reliance Pump Station" is mentioned in Pennsylvania mine records.

*March 2025 image by author* This was an electric borehole down into the Reliance Colliery underground mines.

*Image courtesy of Tom Dempsy Sr* Picture of the Reliance Shaft when it was operational. The "patch" is to the left.

A sad report from 1884: "John Danko, slate-picker, seriously injured on February 26, 1884, in Reliance colliery breaker, by being crushed between counter-screen and frame, receiving injuries from which he died shortly after. Deceased was employed picking slate at counter-screen; feeling cold, he got a piece of sheet-iron to cover a hole which was on side of breaker near where he was sitting. In his efforts to cover the hole with the piece of sheet-iron, he fell in between the counter-screen and the frame, receiving injuries which caused his death in about three quarters of an hour after."