This coal mine and coke works, along with nearby Continental No. 1 and No. 2, was opened by Continental Coke Company in 1901. Originally this firm was affiliated with National Steel Co. (probably National Tube in Mckeesport, Pa. and not the midwestern steel company). The surface and mineral properties were purchased from H.C. Frick personally, as well as another tract from local industrial baron J.V. Thompson in 1899. Maybe Frick thought that he would let them develop it, then he would later purchase the already-developed property. Which is exactly what happened in 1903, when Continental Coke was acquired by H.C. Frick Coke Company on March 28, 1903. By this time Frick Coke was the coal mining arm of the new U.S. Steel Corp.
Frick Coke added new houses and improved existing houses at No. 3 in the 1910s. Sources vary between 1924 and 1928 as to when No. 3 closed down. The coke ovens were demolished in 1930. Leftover coal reserves were later leased to other coal companies. In the early 21st Century the author saw either an active strip mine or remining of the refuse pile at Continental No. 3.
Continental No. 3 is sometimes called Newcomer, Pennsylvania. However, the coke works of Newcomer Coke Company were adjacent to, but seperate from, Continental 3.
Mar. 2023 image by author
All that remains of the coal and coke works is this former "engine house."
Mar. 2023 image by author
Typical Western Pennsylvania coal patch town (coal company town).
2019 Google Street View image
The structure on the left was once the superintendent's house. In the background is the former company store.
Mar. 2023 image by author
The freight elevator shaft is visible on the side of the former company store, which was operated by Union Supply Company, the Frick Coke subsidiary that took care of the company stores at all of U.S. Steel's mining towns in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Continental No. 1 store, a few miles away, didn't close until 1959.
1990s image courtesy of Tom
This earlier photo of the company store depitcs it closer to the original design. A fellow named Tom sent it to me and wrote, "Continental # 3 and Newcomer are the same. The patch and the mine were built and opened in 1903. My great grandparents moved there in 1903 also. My great grandfather was killed there in a slate fall in 1908. Here is the first photo I have. It's a shot of the company store at Continental #3 which I mentioned previously was erected in 1903."
1990s image courtesy of Tom
Tom also sent this photo and added, "This photo is of the Union Supply Gas Station. I have no idea when it was built. But my grandfather owned and operated it for well over 20 years after his retirement in 1960. The house in the background of the same color is where they lived."
Sources:
"History of Continental No. 3 Mine." West Overton Village Digital Archive, accessed March 12, 2023.
Heald, Sarah, editor. Fayette County, Pennsylvania - An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. National Park Service, 1990.
Insurance Map Showing Surface Lines, Rights of Way, Buildings, Pipe Lines, Etc. at Continental No. 3 Mine of the United States Steel Company, 1951.
