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Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania

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The 20th Century Society of Western Pennsylvania
Links to
Coal Miners Memorial Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works (Trauger Mine & Coke Works), Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church, Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
Forty Martyrs Catholic Church, Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA
Coal Mines of Westmoreland Co., PA INDEX
Map of Westmoreland Co., PA
Map of H.C.Frick Coke Co. Mines
Map of R.R. Transportation System Westmoreland Co.
Map of West Penn System Light Power Railway
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Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works,
(Trauger Mine & Coke Works),

Trauger,
Mt. Pleasant Township,
Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania


A Tribute to the Coal Miners that mined the Bituminous Coal seams at Hecla No. 2 Mine, (Trauger Mine), Trauger,
Mt. Pleasant Township,
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania


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


Updated Dec. 3, 2005

(These pages Underconstruction)

Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works (Trauger Mine & Coke Works) (ca.1889-1925),
Located between T 571 and PA Rt. 981, .3 miles W. of Trauger, Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Twp.
Owners:  (ca.1888-1889) Thaw & Dorsey Coal and Coke Company
               (ca.1889-1906) Hecla Coke Company, Pittsburgh, PA
               (ca.1906-1925) H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA

Larry Cars being loaded at Tipple.
Trauger Works, Hecla No. 2 Mine tipple, the small compressed air locomotive hauls the coke oven Larry Cars which are being loaded at the coal tipple to charge the coke ovens. Show in the photo are: (Left to Right): Mike Harri, S. Maunack, Whitey Jakoski, John Polcha and Joe Mattey.
(Photo courtesy of Kenneth H. Eichner and the Mt. Pleasant Twp. Bicentennial Committee)

Hecle Coal Company:
Trauger and Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works
Located between T 571 and PA Rt. 981, .3 miles W. of Trauger
Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Township
DESCRIPTION:
One row of bank coke ovens and two rows of bee-hive block ovens extend along the north side of Sewickley Creek.  A total of nearly 150 ovens of brick construction and nearly fifty with concrete-block fronts constitute this battery of coke ovens. They were among the best-preserved coke ovens in Westmoreland Couinty, till the area was reclaimed and most of the ovens torn out. A reservoir, just east of the ovens, is now used as a fishing pond. It was originally built to impound water used for quenching coke produced at Hecla No.2 Mine Coke Works.
The town of Trauger once included four rows of Company-built houses situated above the coke works along Sewickley Creek.  The majority of these houses and the company store have been burned or demolished.  Only about five company-built houses survive ca.1994: three are on Second Street, one is on Apple Street, and the fifth is on an unnamed street to the east. Though somewhat altered in appearance the five surviving houses are in good condition. They are identical in construction and are T-shaped two-story wood-frame buildings with gable roofs, two brick chimneys, and a rubble stone foundation.  Originally these were double houses: however, they have been converted into single-family houses.

HISTORY:
Hecla No. 2 Mine (Trauger Mine), Trauger.
In ca.1888 William K. Thaw had leased thousands of acres of coal lands in Mt. Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County. A company was formed and know as the Thaw and Dorsey Coal and Coke Company.  This company built Hecla No. 1 Mine, at Hecla (Southwest) in ca.1882, Hecla No. 2 Mine, at Trauger in ca.1888 and Hecla No. 3 Mine, above Hecla No. 1 Mine, Hecla (Southwest) in ca.1902. Thomas Laird was the general superintendent. The company name was changed in ca.1889 to The Hecla Coke Company, led by Thomas Laird.

The Hecla Coke Company developed its Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works, and coal-patch-town of Trauger. W.G.Wilkins, a Pittsburgh mining engineer, was retained by the company to design and lay out the colliery and mine and coke works. The coal company sank a mine shaft about 223 feet deep and lined it with large oak timbers. The mine shaft contained three sections, two of which were used for hauling men, coal and materials. The third section was for the pumpway. The original tipple head frame was of heavy timber construction, stood 35 ft. high, and supported iron sheaves 12 feet in diameter for hoisting the cages. The Jeansville Iron Works of Jeansville, Pennsylvania, manufactured the winding engines which were housed in a brick engine house, the building measuring 50 feet x 40 feet. The Boilers, which supplied the steam to run the engines, were housed in a brick building with an iron roof, the building measuring approx. 79 feet x 54 feet.   Coal was to be delivered from the tipple to large holding bins from which the coke oven Larries were charged, the Larried would then haul the coal to the nearby large bee-hive oven coke works, that was under-construction and was to contain 500 ovens when completed.  The Stark Brothers of Greensburg served as contractors for the construction of the coke works and mine buildings.

In addition, the Hecla Coke Company contracted with the firm of Wallis & Carley of Sharon, Pennsylvania, to build twenty-three double frame houses, along with a mine office building, various other mine buildings and a large company store building.

By 1890 these facilities were complete and the Hecla No. 2 Min & Coke Works was in operation. Miners produced nearly 98,000 tons of coal that in 1890 and the coke works, with 499 bee-hive ovens in operation, produced more than 61,000 tons of coke. Both the mine and coke works employed 260 miners. These production figures rose to 357,000 tons of coal produced annually by 1900 and 254,000 tons of coke produced that year, using 499 bee-hive coke ovens. The company employed 448 men and boys at Hecla No. 2 Mine in 1900.

In 1906 the H.C. Frick Coke Company acquired the Hecla Coke Company and installed H.L.Henderson as superintendent at the Trauger Mine.  Through the 1910's, Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works was averaging about 225,000 tons of coal and 140,000 tons of coke each year.  The population at the coal company patch town of Trauger during the 1910's was about 1,000 persons.

Improvements to Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works in 1910 included: One permanent overcast and six permanent stoppings were built with brick and cement.  A new mine pump complete with bole holes to surface was installed.  Coke oven yards track renewed with 85 pound rails, and a trestle from the coal bins to the coke ovens was renewed. Work started on safety latches for the mine shaft cages.

The H.C. Frick Coke Company continued to operate Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works until ca.1925, when Frick permanently closed the mine and coke works and abandoned plant.

Trauger, Mine workers. Construction workers who built the miners housing at Hecla No. 2 Mine, Trauger, PA
(Photo courtesy of Kenneth H. Eichner and the Mt. Pleasant Twp. Bicentennial Committee)

The Old Trauger Post Office, Trauger, Pennsylvania.  The lady at the door of the Trauger Post Office is Anna Kirik Heide.
(Photo courtesy Kenneth H. Eichner and the Mt. Pleasant Twp. Bicentennial Committee)
Trauger Post Office

Trauger Band The Trauger Band outside the Old Coal Company Store.
(Photo courtesy Kenneth H. Eichner and the Mt. Pleasant Twp. Bicentennial Committee)
Coke Oven remains at Trauger Remains of the Trauger Works Coke Ovens, and slate dump (bony dump) at Hecla No. 2 Mine, Trauger, PA
(photo by Jet Lowe, courtesy of HABS / HAER)

"Coal Miners Memorial, Hecla No. 2 Mine & Coke Works,
Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania"
"St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church,
Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania"
"Forty Martyrs Catholic Church
Trauger, Mt. Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania"
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