Extracting and transporting coal from underground veins to markets was a very different industry than whom, only the elderly, in this day and age, have first-hand memories. The photo shown of the inclined plane, near Carbon Mine Road, in Lawrence Township, truly shows this “throwback.”
Automated continuous mining machines replaced the pick and shovel work of loading coal cars in underground mines. Dozers and draglines transformed the landscape with the advent of surface mining in the county after World War II.
Both modes of mining required coal to be taken to tipples and then loaded on to railway cars and later trucks. In the days of limited technological equipment and passable roads, coal companies needed to improvise to meet demand.
Clearfield County’s physical geography and the hilly areas, such as the ones overlooking the Susquehanna River, in particular along Carbon Mine Road, made the task even more difficult. Inclines were sometimes necessary as a first step in transporting freshly dug coal, in order to eventually turn a profit for the coal company.
The Industrial Revolution brought inclines, powered by steam engines and later electric generators, that utilized strong rope and later steel cables to lift everything from canal boats to coal cars up steep grades and then using braking systems, guide them downwards. Gravity had to be controlled.
A great example of industrial inclines can be seen locally by visiting the Allegheny Portage Railway site and museum near Cresson. It is a must see for those interested in the development of local industrial technology.
A number of long-gone mining companies operated along Carbon Mine Road and, as was common a century ago, erected company houses for miners and their families. Few remnants can be seen of these mines and homes today. Both nature and continued building and road construction have overtaken the lay of the land.
It is, at the time the week of this Labor Day holiday, worth remembering and honoring the tough work and harsh conditions faced by early miners in Clearfield County. Their hard toil made the 19th and 20th century Industrial Revolution possible in this area.
