Vestaburg, PA

Vesta No. 5 Mine & Labelle Prep Plant - Vestaburg, Pennsylvania

Image courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth Aerial view of the Vestaburg coal company town on one side of the Monongahela River and the remains of the Labelle Preparation Plant on the other side of the river, with the conveyor crossing the river between the two.
Mar. 2003 image by author Vesta Coal Company's preparation plant in Luzerne Township, Fayette County, with the Vestaburg patch in the background, across the Monongahela River in Washington County. Part of the plant has been demolished. Much of what remains is actually the blending bins. The trans-river conveyor that brought the coal from Washington County is at the far left.
Mar. 2003 image by author In 1950 J&L Steel built the Labelle Prep Plant on the Fayette County side of the Monongahela River to process coal from their Vesta Mines on the Washington County side of the river. After the Vesta No. 4 and 5 mine were mined out in the 1970s, the Labelle Prep Plant continued in operation under different managements, such as A.T. Massey. In the mid-1990s the Pennylvania D.E.P. acquired 50% of the stock of Labelle Processing. The site was last used by Canestrale Contracting to get rid of fly ash by using it to stabilize the giant refuse pile.
June 2004 image by author Rusty barges sitting in the river in front of the plant. The Fredericktown ferry provided access to the plant for employees living on the Washington side of the river.
June 2004 image by author The headhouse of the refuse conveyor at the top of the hill. The slate dump is on the Fayette County side of the river.
June 2004 image by author There are several types of housing in the Vestaburg patch, including these duplexes.
June 2004 image by author This style of house is the most numerous in the coal mining village.
June 2004 image by author Another kind of company house at Vestaburg is this four room variety.
June 2004 image by author Also, these one story company-built cottages are the smallest type of residential structure in Vestaburg.
Sep. 2004 image by author A resident of Vestaburg identified this building as the company store. It would have operated under the "Pittsburgh Mercantile Company" banner, as Pennsylvania state law did not allow the coal company to operate the store directly. Rather, the company would have to set up a retail subsidiary.
Apr. 2009 image by author About this building Matt writes, " The building, which is now home to Rudy Fabricating & Machine, was in fact the Vesta 5 machine shop. The reasons I know this is because 1. my uncle owns the facility, 2. He worked there as well as my grandfather who is still alive, and 3. my grandfather's old classrooms and tool room is still in the upstairs of the building. When my uncle, Bob Rudy acquired the facility about 9 or 10 years ago, I still worked for him and learned the entire history of the facility. At one point, there was a second building the same size next to it, but it has been gone for years. There was also a motorbarn up on the hill behind the building as well as a mine entrance. The second building was the locomotive shop for mine car and mine locomotive repairs among other things. The remaining building is absolutely massive, built around 1902, 90'x210' with a full basement, three overhead cranes, and a poured concrete roof! At one time, it was the largest shop of its kind in the world, which proportions it to the rest of the Vesta Coal system back then." Thanks Matt.
Apr. 2009 image by author In 2009 the remaining structures from the Labelle prep plant were being demolished. Visible at the end of the conveyor is the crusher station. The trans-river conveyor was supposed to come down three weeks after I took this photo. The Vestaburg patch in the background will remain, of course.
July 2002 image by author At the time of this photo, it had been about 20 years since a barge load of coal left this plant to float down the Monongahela River to J&L Steel's coke plant in the Hazlewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh for the last time.
Apr. 2009 image by author
June 2004 image by author
Image courtesy of Eli Zlokas Eli wrote in to tell me that he found this jersey from the Vestaburg company baseball team.
Image courtesy of Eli Zlokas
The back of the baseball jersey.

The following pictures were taken by Tom Strong:


Remains of the prep plant being demolished.


Conveyor bridge over Mon River.


Piers of conveyor bridge.


Where the conveyor comes out of the old Vesta No. 5 mine. Note cables from conveyor bridge anchored into the mountain side.


Quonset hut used as a shop building.