Packsaddle No 1 Mine, Torrance, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA, USA

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Packsaddle No. 1 Mine,
Torrance,
Derry Twp.,
Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

A Tribute to the Coal Miners that mined the Bituminous Coal seams of the Packsaddle Mine, Derry Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

by
Raymond A. Washlaski, Historian, Editor,
Ryan P. Washlaski, Technical Advisor,
Peter E. Starry, Jr. "The Old Miner."

Updated Dec. 9, 2005

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Packsaddle No. 1 Mine (ca. 1920-1922),
Located 1/4 mile east of Blairsville Junction (Torrance), on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in the Packsaddle Gorge, just east of the Village of Torrance, Derry Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
[Packsaddle No. 1 Mine was listed as a new mine built ca.1920.]
Owners: (ca.1920-1922), Packsaddle Coal Mining Company, Portage, PA

A portion of the U.S. Geological Survey 15min. New Florence, PA Quad map, 1922 edition, showing the area around the Packsaddle No. 1 Mine, Derry Township, Westmoreland Co., PA. Blairsville Junction and the Torrance Railroad Station which was located within the Y, as well as the trackage to Blairsville, Indiana County no longer exist.
(Courtesy of the U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.)

HISTORY:
The Packsaddle Mine is on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad just east of Blairsville Junction (Torrance), Derry Township, Westmoreland County. This was a small operation having a daily output of about 40 tons of medium-volatile Upper Freeport coal per day from advance workings. The mine was opened in ca.1920 and abandoned in ca.1922, with a total reported production of 18,000 tons, most of which was sold as run-of-mine coal.

The coal is roofed by a variable thickness shale; the cap rock is Mahoning sandstone. The coal bed is normally 40 inches thick, it is topped by 2 inches of bony and contains a 1 1/2 to 2 inch shale parting in the lower part. The coal bed was measured and sampled by personnel of U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1922.

Some Upper Freeport coal was produced at the Packsaddle strip mine, located just north of the Packsaddle Mine. The coal was measured at 2 foot - 10 inches.

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