LOGANS FERRY, PENNSYLVANIA (SPRINGDALE MINE)

Allegheny-Pittsburgh Coal Co. opened the Springdale mine in 1919. It supplied coal to the West Penn Power Company power plant at Springdale, Pa. on the other side of the river. Coal was taken from the coal mine on the New Kensington side of the Allegheny River through tunnels under the river to a preparation plant on the other side of the river. The coal was then processed and fed into the power plant next door. The Springdale mine produced coal until 1968, after which the power plant had to find other sources of coal.

Circa 1921 Coal Age image Shown here is the brand new coal company-built town of Logans Ferry, PA. This may have been the last coal patch town to be built in Allegheny County, Pa. It was constructed in 1920-21 by the Allegheny-Pittsburgh Coal Company to house the workers of their Springdale Mine. Logans Ferry was (is) one of the nicest coal towns in Pennsylvania. The single-family homes were of different designs, with cellars, nice lawns, and electric lights. Even the streets of Logans Ferry were lighted.
Circa 1921 Coal Age image Very old picture of Allegheny-Pittsburgh Coal Company's Springdale preparation plant.
2017 image by author This is the power plant at Springdale that the coal mine used to feed. Around 2000 it switched from coal to natural gas.
2017 image by author Former coal company town of Logan's Ferry, now known as Logan's Ferry Heights.
2017 image by author Logan's Ferry houses, built by the coal company, are now privately owned.
2017 image by author These were very nice houses by coal town standards. A few, such as this one, were even of masonry construction.
2017 image by author The Beatles once sang a song that started out, "Let me take you down, cause I'm going to - Logan's Ferry ..."
2017 image by author This building at the bottom of the hill may have been part of the original mine complex.
2017 image by author By 1953 the mine had progressed far enough away from Logan's Ferry that a new shaft was installed at Milligantown. This building was the bath house for Milligantown Shaft.
2017 image by author A rusty iron conduit that was once a power borehole down into Springdale mine, with the Milligantown Shaft bath house in the background.