Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Ligonier Echo
Wednesday, December 10, 1902
Have Discovered Valuable Coal
Byers-Allen Company Found It On Mountain
A Four-Foot Vein Of Good Coal
The Coal By Analysis And Test Has Been Found To Be Of An Excellent Quality And
Preparations Are Being Made For Development Of the Extensive Field Blue
Rock Sand Stone And Limestone Of Superior Qualities Also Found On These
Mountain Tracts Of Land
The work of testing a hitherto unknown coal field which lies several miles above Rector on the flat on the mountain along the line of the Pittsburg, Westmoreland & Somerset railroad, owned and controlled by the Byers-Allen Lumber Co., has been going on for some months and has resulted in the discovery of a coal field of several thousand acres right on the top of the mountain. The entire territory is owned by the Byers-Allen
Lumber company and when they purchased the land they were not aware of the presence of the coal field. Having the coal and tested it and found it to be of the best quality and in large quantities the company has decided to fully develop the field. The coal is of an excellent character fitted for engine purposes, almost entirely free from sulphur and containing a large percentage of carbon. It is of a hard nature and burns with quite a blaze and while not adapted to coking purposes is a fine engine coal.
The coal territory is so situated that it can easily be worked, lying almost level and cropping out on at least two sides and can be most easily and economically worked. An
opening near the P. W. & S. railroad has been made and a coal chute is up, that conveys the coal from the pit's mouth to the cars as they stand on the track. The coal is being used by the company on their engines and with the best results. This vein which is four feet to four feet 10 inches is supposed to be the lower Freeport vein and is not the same as the Somerset vein at Windber. This coal is practically smokeless and non-coking and is considered a very superior quality of steam coal. The analysis shows but 66 per cent (sic) of sulphur.
There is also on the Byers-Allen tracts a vein of blue rock 60 feet in thickness and of a superior quality, as all who have seen the rock from this quarry used in building the new M. E. church which was presented by the company to the church authorities, can fully witness. The work of placing this rock on the market is only the matter of a short time and will prove quite an advantage to the owners as well as this entire community.
In addition to the above there is now in operation a large sandstone quarry operated by the Laurel Stone Co., a Pittsburgh corporation. Considerable quantities of this stone has already been quarried, a large amount of which has been used by the contractor in the construction of the foundation of the county court house. They expect to have a force of 100 to 150 men employed in the early spring and are now making arrangements for the erection of a sandstone crusher and washer. This sand has already been analyzed and shows it to be of a little better quality than the sandstone at Derry. There is also to be found along this railroad on the same tract of land a vein of almost pure limestone, which
on a test analysis has proven to be fully 93.3 per cent pure lime. The only disadvantage to the working of the limestone is the heavy drifting required in mining it. There is also a large vein of silica rock on the Westmoreland side of the mountain that in the line of future developments will be brought into market as it is of an excellent quality.
We anticipate a great business activity in the near future along the line of the P. W. & S. from Ligonier across the mountain to Somerset, to which place this road is destined to be built within a short time.