The Final Days of Anthracite

Page One, A Little Background...

A century ago, the Eastern Pennstylvania landscape was dotted with dozens of coal precessing facilities known as "breakers" or collieries".  Coal would be taken from nearby mines, cleaned, sorted and broken into different sizes within the walls of these fascinating buildings.  Along the way, waste coal and other impurities would be cast aside, forming enormous black mountains.  These "culm piles" as they came to be known continue to mark the spot where many a breaker once stood.  In turn the processed coal would be taken to market, most often by rail in an amazing 24 hour a day operation. In the 1950's, the era of anthracite coal mining came in this area began a long decline.  As they became redundant, these imposing structures were often abandoned where they sat.  While most of the breakers had been removed by the 1970's, a few remained, neglected and derelict, yet intact.  A very few even continued operating well past their prime into the 1990's. Ine 1989 Photographer Ken Ganz visited a few of the remaining breakers and captured some fantasic images of these amazing structures which for the most part, are now only a memory today.

Page Two, The Jeddo-Highland Coal Co.

The Jeddo-Highland Coal Company operated the "#7 Breaker"  well into the 1990's, decades after many of its contemporaries had been demolished.  A fascinating look at a functioning coal processing facility.

Page Three, Abandoned Breakers.

Even into the mid 1990's there were several abandoned, yet intact remnants of a bygone age.  Unfortunately many of these historic buildings have sense been demolished since these photographs were taken.

Suggested Reading...

For more information check out The Underground Miners Website which has additional photographs and information about these and other sites.  You can also visit the site of the Huber Breaker Preservation Society, a group trying to preserve and interpret the Huber Breaker, the last intact breaker in the area.

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