Nemacolin, PA - Old Family Pics from Around the Patch

Other Nemacolin blogs with old pictures:

More Classic Nemacolin,Pa from Patricia Ogden

Nemacolin Ferry 1940s from Patricia Ogden

Vintage Nemacolin Mine,Nemacolin, PA. From Patricia Ogden.Part 1

Set 4/4 from Patricia Ogden

Back down to Stringtown, PA, a suburb of Carmichaels, PA trail, filming some old time hill side coal mines.

It started snowing this morning, despite it being in the 60's a few days ago, ruining my plans to take the bicycle out, so I decided to head on back down the path under my house and film some of the old time hill side coal mines down there.  This post might be a little redundant of the one I did earlier in the year,  but I have video this time.  Also, fellow explorer, Chip posted just yesterday a lost video blog he filmed of some similar mines in Rices Landing, PA, and those got a loving response, so I couldn't be out done.  Stringtown, PA is what I like to call a suburb of Carmichaels, PA, and though not much of a town, it has wonderful access to the river so lets take a look...

Welcome to the trailhead

Heading down on this snowy day.

The mines are located just down the path, and unlike Chip's Rices Landing mines, these have no old tracks inside them, these are more of the "personal use" mines.  I noticed since my last trip, there were a few more rockslides, covering up a few of the openings into the hillside.   So, if you are planning on going into these mines, a word of advice, don't.  
A few pictures before the videos....

Inside the mine.  The coal seam on the right and left of the posts must be 4 feet tall.

Video 1

Video 2

And yes, I did mine some coal today, I'd be derelict in my duties if I hadn't.   Safely, mind you.  Going to take it over to my buddy's workshop and burn it up as an homage to todays trip.




     And in closing, a big "thank you" to all the blog followers/viewers, we just hit 10,000 page views today, thanx to all of you!

Vintage Nemacolin Mine,Nemacolin, PA. From Patricia Ogden.Part 1

Supply house then

Supply house now.

Like i said in Mr.Snopik's post..we love hearing from blog readers who have photos/stories and memories to share.Thats why we do this and its catching on!Former area resident Patricia Ogden sent me some amazing photos from Nemacolin in the 1940's.She not only earned her own post,but series of posts! I will also include Patricia's descriptions which she emailed me.We cannot thank her enough! If you enjoy these posts,please comment!! So,Patricia...here we go!!
To see the mine in its current state, click here for the first of four videos.





Hello Chip,

Attached are photos that I found in my mom's album of Nemacolin mine. Most of these were taken in 1940, 70 years ago! Some of them were very small, only 2" x3". I have adjusted the contrast to make them as visible as possible, but this is the best I could do, considering the age and size of the photos. I viewed Judge Toothman's YouTube videos a few years ago and seem to remember that he said he worked at the mine for a time. Perhaps he can help expand on the uses of these buildings. These photos were left to me by my deceased mother, you have my permission to use them on your website, Southwest Pennsylvania Rural Exploration.

Patricia Ogden

A few notes/thoughts:

-I am going to send several separate e-mails, with a few photos attached.

-I have labled the photos with what was written on them by my mother. I certainly remember seeing the mine buildings, but I don't know what they were used for.


-The block house stood in what we called the supply yard. There were timbers, cinder blocks, etc. stacked here for use in the mine. In the foreground of the photo, you can see the brick road, then the small cars of a utility "train" that was used to transport the supplies to the mine shaft. There are a few timbers loaded in the last car. I don't know the use of the block house. But, notice across the river there is a train pulling coal cars. In this photo, the mine would be up the hill to the left, the ferry landing would be down the hill to the right. The place where the brick road ended at the dirt is just past this point, to the right. This block house was directly across the street from my family's home.

-Mine entrance photo-the steps you showed in your video continued across the brick road and down the hill to the mine. These steps can be seen in this photo, on the right. The machine shop building, that you walked thru in your video is shown in this photo. I remember in the 1960s that many of the windows in the shop building were blue, perhaps to reduce the heat in the summer? Also in this photo behind the machine shop building can be seen coal cars waiting to be loaded at the tiple.
(Keep in mind..the pics may not post in order as described,but I'll try - Chip)

Machine shop front now, 2010.

The Nemacolin, PA Ferry 1917-1949

The Nemacolin Ferry was first put into operation in August, 1917,  used to haul materials, passengers and wagons from Huron Station, located across the Monongahela River. The original ferry was constructed of wood and propelled by a steam engine. In its first year, it would haul approximately 25,000 wagon loads of various materials across the river for the mine. A new steel cable was required every 45 days to keep the ferry in operation.

The ferry in use with help from the Buckeye Coal Co. motorboat.

The Buckeye Coal Company motor boat.

In November of 1924, the Nemacolin Ferry sank and an entire new flat had to be built. The new ferry was put into service on December 20, 1924.

Ferry flat out for repairs.



Starting in mid-1926, grading of the road from the Ronco intersection to the bridge at Brown's run was completed. This would allow an outlet from the Nemacolin Ferry to to the road that connected Ronco and Masontown. The road on the fayette county side would eventually be open to vehicles in October of 1928. The bridge over Brown's Run was completed later in the same year (1926). The Buckeye Coal Company completed both the bridge and the road west of the bridge to the ferry landing. The eastern road to the ferry landing was completed the following year(1927), allowing better access to Fayette County.



Ferry Road.



Construction of retaining wall along Ferry Road.



Grading of road to Nemacolin Ferry from Big Tree.




A new steel ferry boat was built by Midland Barge Company of Midland, PA and towed from Midland to Nemacolin. The new boat had the capacity to carry 14 tons, weighed 64,000 lbs, and cost $5600. It was received on June 12, 1931. In 1935, the ferry's aprons were removed and redesigned to accomodate for the heavy trucks that were now using it frequently. The ferry was briefly taken out of service from May 1945 to June 1945 to receive a reconditioning.

The steel ferry boat.

Nemacolin ferry.  Ronco, PA and the former water plant on the opposite shore.



On January 1, 1949, the ferry was taken out of operation by the Buckeye Coal Company and sold to Kenneth Forsythe of Carmichaels, who would then operate it himself. Other operators were Hugh Christopher of Adah and Frank Yandura of Carmichaels.

Information and pictures courtesy Nemacolin: The Mine - The Community, by Robert A. Korcheck.
And Robert Snopik.

Robert P. Snopik. Nemacolin, PA 1940's.

As we've mentioned in some of our recent posts,it's not only the interesting things we see while exploring,but the people we meet,that make it all worth it.Nothing is more valuable than a story striaght from the person who remembers it first hand.Anyone can look at a map or read a book,but the personal stories and memories are the best lessons of all.
Mr. Robert Snopik is a former resident of Nemacolin,Pa and has great memories (not to mention photographs) of the places we like best.We met Mr.Snopik on our Facebook page.Here is a collection of photos he shared with us there.So,a big Thank You to Mr.Snopik!!His memories and pictures have answered many of our quetions.We hope to hear from him more,and will post everything here!

Old Nemacolin ferry to Ronco,  PA, pictured in background.

We encourage anyone who has some old photos and stories to PLEASE share them with us! Its a shame our history is living in boxes and in attics!! Dig 'em out and drop us an email.Mabye you'll get your own post,like Mr.Snopik!

Old Nemacolin Ferry. Nemacolin, PA, Greene County

Ok....Chip has his Crucible Ferry, so I figured  I'd adopt my own.
I have heard in the past there was a ferry boat on the banks of the river that ran between Nemacolin, PA and German Township, Fayette county.  As I was out driving the Fayette side last week, I stumbled upon a road that led to the river named, surprise, Ferry Road.  I turned down, passed the last house on the right but alas, it had snowed the night before and the road seemed steep and I was alone and didn't feel like pushing the giant Toyota out of a ditch alone, so I plan on coming back soon.


If you look here....

(I'm an interactive map, play w/ me!)

View Larger Map


...you can see Ferry Road on the Fayette side, seems to want to meet up w/ Pershing Blvd on the Greene county side. Although there are no street signs, a red brick road runs behind the former Nemacolin mine site that I seem to think is Pershing road.

A brick from the road

Heading to the river.

As I said earlier, not too many people have much information about this, and I have only found minimal info on this world wide interweb, this one seemed the most helpful....

From what I am imagining, this ferry probably didn't last too long after the nearby Masontown Bridge

was erected in 1925 or so.
If you have any more information on this, please send it our way!

My question now. Nemacolin PA mine quiz.

Ok, Chipper asked his question, now its time for 

mine.  A while ago, we headed to the Nemacolin mine and did some looking around and we ran into this.....

Cool looking, yes, but what exactly did it do and what form of engine powered this behemoth?  I have been doing my duty asking around and showing pictures to all the right people, and while everyone seems to remember this unit, no one remembers it running.  I have gone so far as contacting GE via e-mail today hoping for some answers and we will see where that gets us.  So, if you have any ideas  or better yet old pictures, let us here at the blog know!
Correct answer receives an Italian Hoagie from Stan-Lee's in downtown Crucible.


The good people of the Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium
Nott Terrace Heights
Schenectady, NY, who handle all things historic GE, have been looking into this machine as well for me.  They are not sure exactly what it actually did, or what type of motor powered it, but they are still seeking answers and seem genuinely interested.  The below pictures are some of their early speculation.

As always, we welcome your opinions and comments into this little mystery.

10.03.13 update....  A friend, Joe Sokol, recently posted a few shots of this machine at work, as scene below....Thanks, Joe.

On the path under my house to the river. Stringtown, Carmichaels, Pa. and some abandoned coal mines in the hill.

As I begun and ended Christmas shopping yesterday, and successfully put off wrapping until tomorrow, I had a little bit of time today to walk down the path under my house and snap a few pictures. My road in Stringtown, PA (a suburb of Carmichaels), is a dead end road, but after it ends, a trail begins used mainly by us locals for 4 wheeler and dirt bike access to the river. It ends up on the former railroad that terminated in the Nemacolin mines (see earlier post) and is undeveloped. Some have said that there once was a ferry at the end of this path and the stone house I live in (circa 1840 (?)) was in fact the ferry mans house. These are speculations. The pictures show a series of shallow mines that were used for coal a long while ago. Its hard to see in the picture because of the snow, but there is coal still scattered about the entrance to some of these mines. Of course, these are terribly dangerous today, so I dont plan on entering, in fact, in the one picture of the side of the hill, on the left, you can see where the hill has fallen and sealed up an entrance to one that was accessible just last year. The first few pictures were taken a few months back, before the snow and are just some old rail road features.
Old forgotten rail road marker. Most likely planted during track construction.








Ice stalagmites!



Under the snow lies coal

The author.