Berwind White Coal Company's Eureka No. 37 coal mine and coal company village were constructed circa 1899. This was one of the most productive mines in the Windber Coalfield, and it produced coal until 1962. At one point No. 37 produced over 1/3 of the coal from Berwind White's Eureka No. 30 to 40 mines.
Apr. 2015 image by G.S.
All that remains of No. 37's "upper" drift portal is the top of the cut stone lintel.
Apr. 2015 image by G.S.
However, the partially exposed "lower" drift portal of No. 37 mine is more interesting.
Dec. 2021 image by author
Eureka No. 37 as seen through the trees from the other side of the valley.
Apr. 2018 image by author
In this view one can see the tipple ruins, part of the huge slate dump, and a little bit of the coal company town behind the trees in the background.
Apr. 2018 image by author
A closer view of the Eureka No. 37 tipple ruins.
Apr. 2018 image by author
From another angle.
Apr. 2018 image by author
Retaining wall built out of railroad ties.
Apr. 2018 image by author
The Eureka No. 37 slate dump is one of the largest in Western Pennsylvania ad is probably ripe for remining.
Apr. 2018 image by author
Someone is monitoring this slate dump.
Apr. 2018 image by author
Mine ruins abound at the site.
Apr. 2018 image by author
Stone walls from some kind of mine building - a lamp house or blacksmith shop or something.
Apr. 2018 image by author
I'm not sure what part of the mine this served.
Apr. 2018 image by author
My guess is that was a dynamite or powder storage building. If I had been a few years earlier I could have also seen the remains of the now-demolished bath house.
Apr. 2018 image by author
Maybe an electric borehole?
Apr. 2018 image by author
Yet more coal mine ruins.
Apr. 2018 image by author
These stairs accomodated miners walking down from the company town to the mine's drift portal and colliery.
Apr. 2018 image by author
The HAER study claimed that this was a company store. A man on site, who probably works for the company that is using it now, said it was the coal mine office. (He also let me park there.)
Apr. 2018 image by author
The duplex coal company houses are typical for Berwind White Coal Co. and this region.
Apr. 2018 image by author
One thing that is different about these company houses on the back row of Eureka No. 37 is the alternating gable and hipped roofs.
Apr. 2018 image by author
Company town back yards.
Apr. 2018 image by author
By 1910 the Eureka No. 37 mine had progressed underground far enough that a new fan shaft was necessary. This structure, now enveloped in the suburbs of Johnstown, is left over from that shaft, named Shank Shaft. It is now being used as a township garage.
Sources:
Fitzsimons, Gray, editor. Blair County and Cambria County, Pennsylvania; An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. 1990.
