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                          Dunn  Breaker













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 GEORGE DRAKE LETTER FROM          E. B. JERMYN 1931

Department of Mines Inspector reports

18 STATEMENT COAL MINED PECKVILLE COAL CO 1934

MANY MINERS IN PERIL 1888

Last Update: 4/25/2010

 

   
   
 

     The Dunn Colliery was the first colliery built by John J. Jermyn in Old Forge. It was located in the Rendham section of town and was operated by John Jermyn for the Penn Anthracite Coal Co. It sank the first slope in 1882, and started sinking the shaft later that year. The colliery and surrounding buildings were destroyed by fire on July 17, 1888. The culm bank had been on fire for some time, and it was suspected to have spread to the breaker. A New York Times article reported the fire. Between 1883 and 1891 the coal shipped to market was 991,137 tons as recorded in the Pa. Mine Inspector Reports.

     A new breaker named the Jermyn No1 replaced the Dunn. It was erected 200 feet from the shaft location under new laws enacted after the Avondale disaster. It operated from 1892 to 1910 and produced 2,707,587 tons of coal. The breaker was heavily damaged or destroyed on October 27, 1906 by a cyclone. All coal mined at this colliery is now taken by the SCRR to the Jermyn No2 colliery for processing. It was also the site of the worst mining disaster in Old Forge which resulted in the deaths of 5 miners on September 27, 1897.

     In 1908 a washery was built and operated by the Dunn Coal Co till 1910. Dunn Coal was also listed as operating the colliery in 1911 and 1936, with the Dunn Coal operating only the slope in 1937.

 

From the New York Times, Published: July 18, 1888

"MANY MINERS IN PERIL, A BURNING BREAKER THAT THREATENED HUMAN LIFE"

     Scranton, Penn., July 17.--- The Breaker of the Dunn Colliery in Old Forge, on the outskirts of Scranton, caught fire this evening at 7:30 o'clock, and in a short time was burned to the ground. The night force of 50 men went into the colliery at 6 o'clock to their work, and were in the mine when the breaker caught fire. The flames were seen in the tower of the breaker, 100 feet high, and spread so rapidly that it was impossible to reach the mouth of the shaft until the destruction was complete. Fortunately a trumpet from the blacksmith's shop, some distance away was connected with the pump room, and through this the outside hands communicated with the pumpman at the foot of the shaft and told him of the disaster, bidding him to warn the miners to make their escape through the slope.

     Bu this time a shower of blazing sparks and timbers fell down the shaft and drove the pumpman from his work. There was intense excitement in the neighborhood of the burning breaker, which was surrounded by thousands of eager and anxious persons, waiting to here from the men in the pit over which the fearful fire was roaring. At last there was a cry of joy in the crowd as the glad news "the miners were safe" was passed along the line. The miners ad made their escape through the slope and managed to reach the surface about 8:30 o'clock. The burned breaker was built by John Jermyn of this city a short time ago at a cost of $100,000. The workmen there had been on strike some time ago, and had but recently settled their differences with their employer. End....

 

From the New York Times, Published: September 29, 1897

"FIVE MINERS SUFFOCATED" "Overcome by Black Damp following a fire in a mine near Rendham Pennsylvania"

     Scranton Pa. September 28, 1897. --- Five men this afternoon met a horrible death from "Black Damp" after the accumulation of a fire in the Jermyn No1 mine of the Dunn Colliery at Rendham, which had been burning since last Tuesday. The dead are Issac Watkins 55, fire boss; William Tompkins 22, Joseph Smith 35, John Gallagher 42, and William Franklin 26, company men. The bodies of all but Watkins were discovered at 5:30 o'clock by a man who went into the mine with supplies to fight the fire. At midnight the body of Watkins had not been found.

     The men who lost their lives represented "one shift". They went on duty at 3: o'clock, and nobody knew of their deaths until the discovery of the lifeless bodies. Not a man in the party survived to tell the story.  In the case of each body, the head was pointed toward the shaft, indicating that they had groped and struggled toward the shaft and fresh air, while suffocation was overcoming them. End...

 

 

This page is still being researched. No photos of the Dunn or Jermyn No1 have yet to be found.

 

 

 

From the Old Forge Centennial Celebration Book Told By W. J. Szczech

When the sun peeks over the east hills, into Old Forge and gray mist creeps from the thin black river, long shadows stretch out on the streets and gardens like ghost fingers. Shadows from the house, the church, the breaker, fall aimlessly over the town while the soft, red sun is low and the whistles scream out the hour.

Dark specters with ruddy faces, and shining pails ‘neath their armpits, steal briskly down from the hill or up from their homes by the river, and powing themselves down the shaft into huddled groups on a carriage deep in the dark of earth’s bosom, and coolness that man’s engines make. They bend along through each passage until they reach their chambers.

These men are makers of cities. These men have built up Old Forge.

When the sun lingers over the west hills, above Old Forge, and the lazy black river winds onward, long shadows stretch our over the streets and gardens, and the fathers will laugh with their children and tell them a sleepy-time story. Telling babes sleepy-time stories, and working so near the Grim-Reaper.

The dangers they lived through yesterday will be less, perhaps by tomorrow, when the sun peeks over the hills, into Old Forge, and the gray mist creeps up from the river, a NEW whistle screams out the hour.

 

 
 

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