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| Jamison No. 2 Mine & Coke Works (Hannastown Mine) (ca.1899-1949), Located at Hannastown Station, (Hannastown), on the Hannastown spur of the New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 4 miles northeast of Greensburg, off of PA Rt. 119, Hannastown, Hempfield Twp ., Westmoreland Co., PA [Jamison No. 2 Mine was consolidated underground with Jamison No. 3 Mine in November 1920.] Owners: (ca.1899-1922) Jamison Coal & Coke Company, Greensburg, PA (ca.1922-1930) Leased by Keystone Coal & Coke Company, Greensburg, PA Company Store Hempfield Supply Company (ca.1930-1949) Jamison Coal & Coke Company, Greensburg, PA Company Store: Hannastown Supply Company #2 |
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| Jamison No. 2 Mine & Coke
Works The Jamison No. 2 Mine and Coke Works at Hannastown, with the burning slate dump [boney dump] in the background, a bank of bee-hive coke ovens, and the coal and coke loading tracks at the mine, date unknow. (Photo courtesy of the collections of Harry T. Bortz, Railroading Historian, New Alexandria, PA) |
| DESCRIPTION: All of the buildings related to the Jamison No. 2 Mine and Coke Works at Hannastown, with the exception of the extensively remodeled mule barn that now functions as the VFW Hall, have been demolished. The bee-hive coke oven battery were buried under refuse from the reclaimed mine slate dump in ca.1972. A part of the railroad grade and dinky grade that served the Hannastown Mine & Coke Works, and was later extended to the Forbes Road & Highland Mines is all that exists. The water reservoir dam can still be seen below the town, but the dam has been breached. The company store is no longer extant. Although remains of the mining operation are few, Hannastown features nearly eighty company-built houses. The houses consist of two-story wood fame buildings. Many are the standard two-story wood-frame double-houses found throught the region. The houses of the management are located west of the main part of town. |
| HISTORY: The Hannastown Mine, Jamison No. 2 Mine, was the second of the coal properties developed by the Jamison Coal & Coke Company of Greensburg, PA. Jamison opened this shaft-entry mine in 1899. The Pennsylvania Railroad's New Alexandria Branch served the mine, from a branch line running from Crabtree Junction to Hannastown. By 1903 Richard H. Jamison was superintendent at Hannastown Mine and the Company's other mine Jamison No. 1 Mine, at Luzor. These two mines produced over 304,000 tons of coal in 1903 and over half of this was coked at the Luxor Coke Works, which contained 300 bee-hive coke ovens. By ca.1910 the Jamison No. 2 Mine (Hannastown Mine) was the center of the Jamison Coal & Coke Company's mining and coking operations. Over 655,000 tons of coal were produced at the Jamison No. 2 Mine. And its coke works, containing 516 bee-hive coke ovens, produced more than 292,000 tons of coke. The 1910's witnessed the highwater mark of production at Hannastown Mine, the Jamison No. 2 Mine had as many as 635 employees during the World War I years. |
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Dinky Engine at Hannastown The Dinky Engine that served the coke works at Hannastown. (Photo courtesy of the collections of Harry T. Bortz, Railroading Historian, New Alexandria, PA) |
| During the 1911 coal strike the Jamison
Coal Company was anti union, in its effort to break and beat down the striking
coal miners and their bid to form a union, posted their coal company patch
towns with "No Trespassing" signs and brought in the dreaded "Coal
& Iron Police" to patrol their towns. Everything the miners did
on or near the coal company property, even collecting their personal U.S.
mail was considered a trespass offense. The miners were arrested and
hauled off to the coal company controlled county courts in Greensburg, and
were jailed or fined.
Jamison Coal Company also issued the following form letter to prospective strike-breakers: |
| MY DEAR SIR: We received your
letter and we inform you: There is no strike. These mines are not union mines. Here is no union. A good miner's house rent is $6 to $7.50 per month. It is paid for the coal, the following price per car: By the pick, 64 cents to 74 cents per car. By machine, 40 cents to 43 cents and 51 cents per car. We do pay transportation to nobody, but the freight on the furniture is paid. If you want business, then go to the Union Depot and stop off at Donohoe Station, and from there you can get a train on the Alexandria Branch, and you get off at Hannastown, Forbes Road or Crabtree. |
| The Jamison No. 2 Mine was partly electrified,
but also relied on mules and a rope haulage system for its haulage of coal
frominside the mine to the tipple. The boiler house contained twelve
water-tube boilers and had a capacity of 4,200 horsepower. The powerhouse
contained two generators that provided electricity at 250 volts DC.
In ca.1917 the Jamison No. 2 Mine was provided with 2 new coke machines, and 316 bee-hive coke ovens were changed to machine drawn ovens and 100 ovens were changed to a waste heat system, and two new turbine driven pumps of 2,000 gallons were installed in the mine. Jamison No. 2 Mine (Hannastown Mine) and Jamison No. 3 Mine (Forbes Road Mine) were consolidated underground with connecting mine tunnels in, November, 1920. In 1920 the consolidated Mines produced 428,410 tons of coal, 192,900 tons of coke, with 516 coke ovens, 479 of which were in operation. The Hannastown Coke Works bee-hive coke ovens worked 302 days, the mine worked 294 days, with 562 employees, there were 2 fatal accidents and no non-fatal accidents in 1920. As with the other Jamison Coal & Coke Company properties in northern Westmoreland County, the Keystone Coal & Coke Company leased the company's mines and coke works from 1922 until 1930, including the Hannastown Mine & Coke Works. In August, 1930 Jamison Coal & Coke Company reassumed control of the Hanastown Mine and Coke Works. That year the company appointed R.W. Sterett as superintendent of both Forbes Road and Hannastown Mines. The mine used twenty trolly locomotives and employed 375 miners in 1940, producing 3,500 tons daily. Jamison Coal & Coke Company closed down its Hannastown Mine operations in 1949, and abandoned the mine property. (History and description of the Jamison No. 2 Mine & Coke Works [Hannastown Mine & Coke Works,] adapted in part from "Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1994," America's Industrial Heitage Project, National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, U.S. Department of the Interior, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
| Coal Miners
Memorial, Jamison No. 2 Mine (Hannastown Mine), Hannastown, Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania " |
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