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| Bradenville Mine & Coke Works (Duquesne Mine & Coke Works) (ca.1914-1951), Located on the Mainline of the Pennsylvania R.R., PA Rt. 982, .2 mile N. of Junction with SR1020, Bradenville, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA [In 1918 the mine had three entries, slope, drift and shaft entries.] [Mine was formerly called Duquesne Mine.] [Mine was idle in 1929.] [Mine reopened in 1940's.] Owners: (ca.1914-1951?), Bradenville Coal & Coke Company, Latrobe, PA Company Store: (ca.1915-1930) Kiskiminetas Supply Company |
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| Derry No. 1 Mine Company Store Brandenville Company Store for Derry No. 1 Mine, of Saxman Coal & Coke Company, later Latrobe-Connellsville Coal & Coke Company. George Steward, Store Manager; Paul Stewart, son of store manager; Blanche Marcom and Teenie Soful, the cashiers; George Lewis and Tom Daniels, clerks; George Hill, wagon driver; George Hill and Ralph Hill, sons of the George Hill on wagon. (Photo identified by Robert L. Jenkins, of Falls Church, Virginia. Photo courtesy of "The Latrobe Independent," Latrobe, PA , July, 1995) |
| DYNAMITE HILL, Bradenville, Derry
Township In an interview with the Derry Area Historical Society, an old resident of Bradenville, Robert L. Jenkins, of Falls Church, VA was asked, "Why did they call one section of Bradenville "Dynamite Hill"? His answer was a story of a tragedy that happened in Bradenville March 5, 1904, as was related to him by his older brothers and in later years by the residents of Bradenville who experienced it. The Pennsylvania Railroad engineers were planning the right-of-way for the railroad from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia in 1850. When they reached Bradenville, just east of of the town they encountered a large hill. Instead of trying to go through the hill, they ran the tracks out around the lower side of the hill. In 1904, the PRR decided to cut straight through the hill, which as about 80 or 90 feet high at the highest point. A contractor from Pittsburgh, the Kerbaugh Construction Co. was hired to do the job. A camp to house the workers was built near the PRR site. In doing the work, they had to drill the rock and use explosives to blast it loose. A powder house was constructed about a quarter of a mile from the operation to store the explosives. It was still cold weather and the company had a stove in the powder house to keep the dynamite from freezing, and a watchman to look after the fire. For some unknown reason, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon on March 5th, the powder house blew up. I was just about three years old at the time, and we lived on the farm just east of the Loyalhanna railroad bridge (later owned by the Uschock family). This story was told to me by my older brothers. My brothers said that as soon as they heard the explosion, they ran from Loyalhanna to Bradenville and as they ran, they could see and hear the powder caps being blown up into the air and exploding on at a time. In later years as a teenager growing up in Bradenville, I could verify that fact, for we often played in the field where the powder house stood and the field was still strewn with the old rusty powder caps. As this section of Bradenville was develpoed and houses were built, it was called "Dynamite Hill." The explosion blew out all the windows and damaged most of the houses in Bradenville, and many in Latrobe and surrounding communities. No loss of life was reported. Many suffered cuts from flying glass. I knew two men who lost the sight of their eyes. One was blind in both eyes, and one lost the sight of one eye. And it was said that no one ever saw or heard anything of the man who was looking after the powder house. Some seemed to think that he let the fire get out of hand and fled the scene; others believed he was blown up in the explosion. It was also said that a carload of dynamite was standing on the PRR siding at the Bradenville station, to be unloaded for the powder house. (Story courtesy of Robert L. Jenkins, Falls Church, Virginia and "The Independent", Latrobe, PA Nov. 9,1995) |
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