Bobtown, PA

Shannopin Mine - Bobtown, PA

After creating a coal fiefdom in southeastern Washington County with their sprawling Vesta coal mines, Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation purchased coal reserves farther up the Monongahela River in Greene County and opened the Shannopin mine in 1926. Shannopin Coal Company operated as a subsidiary of the Vesta Shannopin Coal Division of J&L Steel. A trolley track had to be constructed to haul the coal over four miles from the mine portal to a tipple on the Monongahela River, where the coal could be shipped by barge to coke plants in Pittsburgh and Aliquippa. On the hill overlooking the mine, the company built a town that would be known as Bobtown, which was one of the last coal company towns built in Pennsylvania. The company sold these houses in 1947. In the 1950s, the mine, which would eventually reach all the way under Interstate 79, became so large that it became necessary to build another shaft for the miners. LTV corporation, which had purchased J&L Steel in 1968, sold off many of their coal properties in the 1980s, including Shannopin mine. The new company, Shannopin Mining Co. operated the mine from 1980 until 1993, making it one of the last of the legendary Pennylvania coal towns to still have its original coal mine.

Image courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth Bird's eye view of Bobtown with the coal company town on the left and the ruins of the coal mine on the right.
Nov. 2002 image by author The superintendent's office at the Bobtown mine of Shannopin Coal Co.
Nov. 2002 image by author The boiler house at the Bobtown mine.
Nov. 2002 image by author On the left is the bathhouse at Bobtown, on the right is the lamphouse.
Nov. 2002 image by author Signs inside the lamphouse.
Nov. 2002 image by author Inside the bathhouse could still be found the baskets hanging from the ceiling that held the miners' clothes.
Nov. 2002 image by author The miners' shower in the Bobtown bathhouse.
Nov. 2002 image by author The supply shed at Bobtown was collapsing.
Nov. 2002 image by author Trolley wire hangers for the electric locomotive system that hauled coal from the mine to the tipple. This was known as the Shannopin Mine Railroad.
Apr. 2004 image by author The locomotive brought the coal cars down to this preparation plant on the banks of the Monongahela River. This is how it looked as viewed from Albert Gallatin's pioneer estate. Plant has since been demolished.
Image from the John Barranger Collection The same river tipple when it was active in the mid-20th Century.
Nov. 2002 image by author The Bobtown mining camp / patch town on the hill above the mine.
Nov. 2002 image by author Another section of the Bobtown patch.
Nov. 2002 image by author This was the Bobtown company store. This was operated under the name "Pittsburgh Mercantile Company," which was a retail subsidiary of J&L Steel.
2010 image courtesy of Sam Baker Sam sent in this photo, about which he writes, "I found a semi-sealed portal behind the lamphouse with stone steps coming from the patch to it."
2010 image by Sam Baker Sam also photographed this portal near Bobtown, and he wrote, "The portals used to be 12 foot but the AMD precipitate has built up to the current levels. The portals did not acess the J&L Steel/Shannopin mine." Another portal is about 20 feet away.

The following photos were contributed by Tom Strong:


Shannopin bath house


Inside the bath house (hanging basket system, see ad below)


Probably front of lamp house


Ransacked lamp house interior


Overhead crane


Electrical details


Artificial respiration detail


Mine office lintel


Mine trip trestle

While visiting the Bobtown / Shannopin Mine I picked up a stray piece of paper titled "Status of Shannopin Mine July 1, 1988." It reads:

Productivity: Near 600 tons/shift since March 1988. Travel to and from work places averaging 80 minutes. When 5 Face mines out in May 1989 this average will jump to 100 minutes. To maintain productivity and in fact increase it, the portal must be moved to Steele Shaft as soon as possible but no later than April 1, 1989.

Ventilation: Adequate for the next two years. When Mains West gets to junction of north-south Mains and and starts developing south, new shafts will be required. They will be needed for ventilation and another portal. There is property available now to put these shafts in. We should buy it now because the owner wants to sell. Steele Shaft's two fan housings are deteriorating rapidly and are in jeopardy of collapsing in the next 12-18 months. Need contractor to repair and paint them. Same applies to No. 2 fan but time for it is less.

Conveyor Belts: 36" wide portion of mother belt taxed heavily and sometimes overtaxed. There are six bid belt mechanics, two bid belt cleaners, and a foreman assigned daily to the conveyor system. Need in next three months - 11,000 feet of 36" belting for E and H flights and power center for next segment of Mains West belt we are installing.

Track Haulage: Except for the first 1500 feet in the pit mouth, which is 90 pound rail on wooden ties, the remaining rails are 60 pound about 90% which are on ironclad ties. Moving equipment, supplies, and mantrips over this haulage leaves it very crooked. Made a very big improvement at 5 Face Mains West junction by taking down a low stretch of roof during 1988 regular vacation period. Track generally dirty. State inspector has ordered the Mine Foreman to clean the track. The track is being cleaned when the L600 is operable. It's down at this writing. Much to do yet. Can really only clean track when absenteeism is light.

Mine Drainage: There is no easy solution to this problem. It is totally independent of the Duquesne Light Co. water. We are talking about two principal bodies of water. One is building in the southwest corner of the property and soon will join the second body of water. The second boyd of water is centered at 13 Butt, 6 Flat. We have no place to get rid of these waters in the Steele Shaft area. However some day down the road we will have to find a suitable place to control all the water since it most likely will be pumped forever. More study is needed.

Due to Duquesne Light Company's water over most of our coal between 7 Face and A and B entires we have to make drastic adjustments to our projections. There is somewhere between 100 million and 500 million gallons of water in Duquesne Light Company mine. Some 4 million tons of coal will be lost if this water is not systematically removed. Because it will take 1/2 to one year to drain the water we must begin immediately. This entails a large sump, large pump, and 3 1/2 miles of pipeline to get the water out of the mine.

Mains West entries must continue to develop west to open up the mine. The west reserves should be developed and retreated before the coal in the center of the property is mined because this will (a) provide a sump for our mine water, (b) ensure we mine it before Robena water becomes a threat, and (c) if mined in the reverse order the Mains will be all there is to mine to finish the mine out.

Manpower: The UMW members of the work force are good to very good as a group. They are loading coal well and there are few labor problems. Morale is high and should remain hight. We have a very good group of salaried employees dedicated and loyal to Shannopin. However their morale is considerably lower than the UMW employees because they have not had a pay raise in 4 years.