Morea Colliery - Morea, Pennsylvania
Dodson Coal Co. opened Morea Colliery in 1888 and shipped the first coal in 1889. The railroad was extended from neighboring New Boston. Production was large from the Buck Mountain, Seven Foot, Skidmore, and thrice-split Mammoth veins. In the summer of 1900, Dodson idled the Morea mines while they renovated the breaker. In addition to underground coal production, Dodson began stripping operations circa 1905. In 1912, Dodson built an underground hospital similar to the one that can still be seen at the Lansford No. 9 mine. After many years of good anthracite coal production, Dodson Coal Co. turned Morea Colliery over to Mill Creek Coal Co. in 1918. After Mill Creek added Morea to their portfolio of mines, the made many improvments. For at time in the 1920s, Madeira Hill Coal Co. ran Morea. Morea Colliery continued to prosper and employed 500 miners at the bottom of the Great Depression in 1932. Morea Coal Co. became the new owner (and also of neighboring New Boston) in 1937. Even after so many years of mining, Morea Colliery produced great volumes of coal into the 1940s. In 1940, Morea-New Boston Coal Corp. became the operator. Morea Colliery's own production declined after World War 2 and the breaker began to process coal for other companies. In 1949, Morea Mining Company was a new operator of Morea Colliery. Under this firm, underground production finally ended, some stripping took place, and the breaker continued to clean coal for a variety of other companies. Weston Coal Co. stripped coal at Morea from 1953 to 1956. Peca Coal Co. bought or leased the Morea breaker in the early 1960s. Then Morea Colliery closed for good. The breaker was still standing in the '70s, and even the skeletal structure was reported to be in existence as late as 1988.
