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, February 28, 1906
Visit Coal Works North Of Ligonier
Mines, Tipple And Ovens Of The Company In Splendid Condition
Pittsburgh And Ligonier People
W. G. Cronkright Highly Entertains And Delights Crowd Of Stockholders And Others At Works Of The Old Colony Coal & Coke Company Three Miles North Of Ligonier The Mines Entered, The Tipple Examined, The Coke Ovens Viewed And The Entire Plant Admired A Free Trip To Mines, Followed By An Excellent Dinner At The Ligonier Springs Hotel Picture Of Visitors Taken Out At The Works
A number of stockholders and others from Pittsburgh and other points and from
Ligonier were right royally and delightfully entertained last Thursday by W. G.
Cronkright, manager of the Old Colony Coal & Coke Co., at their works north of
Ligonier. A most delightful day was spent in viewing the works and seeing the plant in successful operation in the mining of steam coal and the manufacture of an excellent quality of coke.
By a special car about twenty-five people came out from Pittsburgh arriving at Ligonier at 10 o'clock a.m. and they and a number of Ligonier men were taken out to the works of the company over the extension of the Ligonier Valley Railroad arriving at the plant at
10:30 when under the leadership of Mr. Cronkright the visitors proceeded to examine the different parts of the plant. The coke ovens were first observed and they are large and of the best made and are producing some of the best of the products. Here could be seen the coke in its various stages of formation in the one hundred ovens that have been constructed from the coal as it was poured into the ovens to perfectly formed coke as it was drawn from the oven and placed on cars for shipment. The next was a visit to the tipple where a train load of 23 cars was brought in from the mines and unloaded either into cars for shipment or into the larry to be taken to the ovens to be manufactured into coke. Every detail of this part of the work was observed. It is down grade from where the coal is mined to the tipple so that the coal is easily moved and from the tipple to the ovens is also down grade, being an additional advantage and all a saving of expense in the work of converting the coal into coke or placing it on the cars for shipment. Next we proceeded to the mouth of the mines and after looking at the air fan which supplies the men in the mines with pure air we entered the left entrance accompanied by a guide and found the mines to be dry and comfortable and the air and temperature good. The visitors
who entered the mines traversed the main entrances to a distance of about 1,500 feet, visited a number of rooms where the miners were at work and came out of the mines at the right entrance excepting five of the party who got lost and ran up against the walls several times and at last found their way out where they went in. The vein of coal is fully six feet and of an excellent quality. The company is now in good shape to do a more extended business, as the mines are only now fairly opened that more men can be employed. After coming out of the mines, we walked back to the bridge leading to the tipple and there the crowd collected and had a kodak picture taken by one of the party and then down past the ovens to the company store. As we walked along we noticed that
everything has been done in a substantial way, superior to what is usually found about coal works. The ten double company houses are better than the ordinary employes's home. There are nicely painted, containing ten rooms each and are some distance apart, leaving ample room for a large lot for cultivation and pleasant home surroundings. Arriving at the store we found Mr. Stillwill, the manager, a very pleasant and affable gentleman with his efficient assistant, Ira Brant. Both of these gentlemen soon made everybody feel at home and the visitors were shown all around. Everything here is strictly up-to-date with the luxury of water throughout the building for domestic use. The store is well supplied with such goods as are needed for the trade.
We were invited out on the front porch of the store building where two pictures of the
crowd were taken. The rest of the time until after one o'clock was spent in pleasant conversation. Quite a number of the men were weighed and it was found that Mr. Schewe was the heavy weight, touching the scales at 285 pounds. The light weight was 125 pounds, the tall man 6 feet 4 inches and the shortie 5 feet 2 inches. Shortly after one o'clock C. E. Naugle, freight conductor on the L.V.R.R., came out and coupled to a train of 13 coal and coke cars, our passenger car was stopped in front of the store and after all were on it another picture was taken. This car was then hitched to the coal train and we
were brought safely down to Ligonier and landed at the station from where all "as hungry as bears" started at the invitation of Mr. Cronkright for the Ligonier Springs Hotel where a most excellent dinner was served to which everyone in the part did even more than ordinary justice. Everybody was pleased with the trip and delighted with the evidence of prosperity and success to be seen at the plant of the Old Colony Coal & coke Co. It was a party of pleasant gentlemen and we were pleased to meet and shake hands with each one. We give below the names of those from a distance who were present:
F. R. Brocklebank, of The Black Diamond, Pittsburgh, Pa.; B. Heacox, Pittsubrgh Div.
P.R.R., Latrobe, Pa.; William J. Ward, Pittsburgh, Pa.; H. E. Scaraborough, Allegheny, Pa.; Jos. J. Werner, Millvale, Pa.; A. H. Schewe, Voskamp's Sons, Pittsburgh, Pa.; R. Faulk, Allegheny, Pa.; E. F. Hartland, of Kilbuck Coal Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; C. M. Stauft, Pittsburgh, Pa., Monongahela Consolidated Coal & Coke Co.; L. A. Green, of L. K. Hirsch & Co., Pittsburgh Pa.; Geo. H. Sherlock, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Hugo Wantz, Dawson, Pa.; C. K. Porter, of Frank Williams Coal & Coke Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Geo. L. Berg, Bellevue, Pa.; W. C. Valentine, Bellevue, Pa.; L. F. Becker, Allegheny, Pa.; W. R. Harris, of Harris-Smith Coal & Coke Co., Wilkinsburg, Pa.; Bernard I. Berg, Beatty, Pa.; David Lamond, of D. Lamond & Son, Pittsburgh, Pa.; E. J. Cronkright, Gen. Manager Old colony Coal & Coke Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Geo. W. Gehres, Somerset, Pa., Somerset Coal Co.; A. Rasner, President Old Colony Coal & Coke Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Wm. Remensnyder, of German National Bank, Allegheny, Pa.; W. J. Fichtner, Jeannette, Pa.