












Figure 10.—Coat mine at Summit Hit, 1821. (Richard Richardson, Memoir of Josiah White, 1873, p. 48.) 
were used.°? The overburden was relatively light and 
varied from 3 to 15 feet. The exposed area was 
entered in many locations by roads cut around and 
through the coal seams. 
The exposed coal was removed by using hand picks 
in the natural joints and by driving wedges in the 
seams running parallel with the host strata. A few 
blows by these tools were usually required to free the 
coal. For ease in handling, sledges were sometimes used 
to break the larger pieces before loading into wagons. 
In some cases, when the coal was interrupted by 
slate and rock, it was necessary to drill holes by hand 
and separate the strata by blasting. Large pieces of 
material resulting from the blast were reduced in size 
by sledging. Refuse material from the quarry was 
hauled away and dumped over an adjacent hill where 
it would not interfere with mining operations. 
“ Laborers were furnished with daily rations of whiskey, at 
1 reduced pay scale, if so desired. Hazard’s Register of Penn- 
splvania (vol. 1, no. 20; Philadelphia: W. F. Geddes, 1828), 
p Lf 
The company, with high hopes of discovering addi- 
tional coal deposits nearer the navigation, began on 
March 1, 1824, to excavate a tunnel about two and 
one-half miles west of Mauch Chunk. This “Hackle- 
bernie” tunnel was the first large mining tunnel driven 
in the United States. It measured 16 feet wide and 
8 feet high and was extended some 790 feet before 
the operations were temporarily suspended on June 9, 
1827. 
Coal was found in the tunnel but, at the time the 
company suspended operations, it was decided that the 
continuance of the operation was not essential for cur- 
rent production requirements. The company antici- 
pated the need in later years for a drainage tunnel in 
mining the coalbeds above, and this tunnel could then 
be continued to serve that purpose.** 
During the 3 years of tunnel operations, the com- 
pany expended $26,812 to remove approximately 3,745 
* Work on the tunnel was resumed in 1846 and driven for 
a total length of 2,200 feet. 
1 JLLETIN 252: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 
