Katherine Coke Works.- near Allison, PA

Today I had an opportunity to check out some of the harder to find rectangular coke ovens. These ovens are in a really interesting, isolated area but easily accessible. The road they are off of ends at a closed bridge that will probably never be opened. The chances of just stumbling across them are pretty low. The ovens are in pretty good shape and the area is not too overgrown. Just perfect.

 

The Katherine Coke Works date back to 1909 and were constructed by the Union Connellsville Coke Company. The mine was a 176 feet deep shaft mine and the coal field was 160 acres. 75 ovens were completed by November 1909 and 65 more were being constructed. The plant would remain at 140 ovens throughout most of its existence. On May 13, 1927 Katherine was purchased by the W.J. Rainey Co. at which time the plant is listed as having 150 ovens. It also states that the "plant has not been in operation for some time". The ovens were constructed by contractor W.H. Wilkey of Uniontown throughout 1909. Mr. Wilkey was a busy man at this time because he had just recently opened up his own coke plant, Anica Coke Works.

 

On Sunday November 14, 1920 at 10:20 PM a fire broke out at the top of the wooden tipple.  An alarm was sounded but before anything could be done the massive structure and 300 ton coal bin were completely engulfed. After the tipple collapsed the burning coal fell down the shaft setting the shaft timbers on fire. The timbers at the bottom of the shaft were burned up from 100 feet to the bottom. All four sides of the shaft collapsed as well as the roof of the main entry. The shaft cage fell to the bottom and melted. Nobody was in the mine at the time so the fans were shut off and the openings sealed to try and put the fire out. The temperature at the bottom ranged from 2,500 to 3,000 degrees and fused the mine rails, car irons, pump casings and everything else that could melt. The coal seam was cooked from two to five feet at the location of the fire. They decided to seal the mine to control the fire instead of using water which would have required more water than they could obtain. Also flooding the mine would jeopardize the numerous other mines laying next to this mine.

 

The seals were left in place for six weeks and a pipe was installed in the top seal to gather temperature and pressure readings to determine the condition of the mine. After six weeks the readings were between 85 and 86 degrees. The seals were broken and the fans turned on to clear the gasses. An exploratory team was sent into the mine through an air shaft where they found no blazing fire but some hot falls. They lowered a hose down the shaft and fought the hot spots effectively putting out the remainder of the fire. The mine was declared non gaseous and a temporary tipple was built over the air shaft which was used as a hoisting shaft. They then began cleaning out the mine. Work was slow and was carried out in three 8 hour shifts. Eventually the mine was rebuilt and cleaned and coal mining was started again.

 

The damage was estimated at $250,000.00

 

I haven't been able to find anything on when Katherine was shut down for good. The last mention I found was Rainey purchasing it in 1927. Today most of the 140 ovens exist in some form but the eastern end of the block seems to be missing an oven or two. 

 

Coke drawing machine and larry car at Katherine ca. 1920.

Machine crew at Katherine shaft ca. 1920.

Swinging bridge across Dunlap Creek leading to Katherine shaft ca. 1920

The temporary head frame they constructed over the air shaft to clean out the mine and fight the fire in 1920. These photos are from the "Coal Trade Bulletin" of June 1, 1921.

 

 

A view of the ovens from across the creek.

The old closed bridge you have to cross to get to the ovens.

An old abutment coming off the Monongahela Railroad ROW. The embankment on the other side is at the very bottom of this post taken while we were walking to Dunlap.

The closed bridge. No idea why it's closed. Looks sturdy to me.

The ovens!

These rectangular, or Belgian, ovens were larger than beehive ovens. They were charged the same way, through the top trunnel hole, but when the coke was pulled it was simply pushed through one end to the other.

They're in really good shape sitting in this isolated location. The front's are not buried but there are a couple seasons worth of leaves piled up in front of them.

A look from inside the ovens.

The construction of Belgian ovens is incredible. When these ovens are completely intact there are so many varieties of stone and block. They truly are art.

This is an example of a very well weathered Belgian oven. Also taken during this trip. This oven is at Allison.

Like I said, the area these ovens are located make for a very nice walk.

This block is very long. The other end starts to get a little grown in and about halfway down the block the area is posted against trespassing.

A piece of block from the original front of these ovens. There should have been a lot more of these laying around. They were probably used somewhere else.

This is the far end of the block. The last couple ovens seem to be missing but overall this is a great site.

On top of the ovens. These trunnel holes are much larger than beehives.

An ash dump for the ovens.

A couple views of the ovens from the ash dump.

As you can see, this block is pretty extensive.

The intact end of the block.

And the other abutment along Dunlap Creek.

 

Allison Mine and Coke Works, Allison, PA

The Allison Mine and Coke Works date back to 1904 and was built by the W.J. Rainey Company of Uniontown.  The ovens are for the most part in very good condition. The remaining coke ovens are part of Allison No. 1. Allison No. 2 was located adjacent to and east of Allison No. 1. There is nothing left of Allison No. 2. There were approximately 293 ovens at No. 1 and most of them remain today although some appear to have been bulldozed. 

These ovens are another great example of the rectangular design. The stone and brick work are amazing. Other buildings remaining at the site are the huge tipple, company store (which served both Allison No.1 and No.2 patch towns), doctors office, and various other buildings.

The mines and coke works closed around the mid 1950's. 

Some of the better preserved ovens. Most of them were like this. Really an amazing site.

Wonderful examples of rectangular ovens.

Inside. The floor is amazingly preserved as well.

The ceiling and walls.

Capped trunnel hole.

Most of the bricks were stamped "Garfield". The ones marked 15x9x4 1/2 were on the inside walls. These bricks may have been manufactured by the Garfield Fire Clay Company near Bolivar.

This is from a 1905 edition of American Manufacturer.

These ones were a little more deteriorated.

There are two blocks with a pier/dock area in between. This block is on the other side.

The Blair Witch coke oven.

These ovens were unloaded by pushing the finished coke through to the other side.

There is a small stream running under both blocks of ovens. I've never seen this before.

The block on the other side with the pier/dock wall showing. The coke was loaded into waiting train cars off this dock.

The end of one of the blocks that appear to be bulldozed.

Another view of the dock area.

This oven still has it's number stamped on it.

The end of one of the blocks.

This fenced off area appears to be a shaft of some sort. Update!! Eric D. wrote me and said   "
The fenced in area that you are saying is a shaft of some sort is actually an opening to the tunnel that re-routed the overflow from the dam under the coke ovens. it's only about 8 ft deep. it is a concrete tunnel about 7 ft wide, and 3 ft high and runs about 100yds to Dunlap creek."

Upside down wheel-less coal cars.

This building was the company store. The building to the right was the doctors office.  There was a building located further back that was the mine office.

The office building. Seems small to me.

Other mine buildings.

This is inside of the building below. The building is located southeast of the other mine buildings.

Pumps of some sort.

This is the tipple and it is massive.

Levers underneath the tipple that open the trap doors to let the coal fall into the trains or larry cars.

Trap doors.

I'm not sure what this wheel under the tipple did.

The side of the tipple.

This is the back of the tipple with the steps that take you inside. I did not attempt to climb these.

This is the top of the tipple.

More stairs.

This building is located behind the tipple.

The roof collapsed into the building.

This is another building that was located to the side of the building. It was pretty inaccessible due to thick and growth and a muddy ravine.

This is the bridge you have to cross to get to the tipple area. It is an old streetcar bridge. The streetcar ran from Republic to Brownsville.

The deck of the bridge.

Hi Mike. Thanks for posting these. My father Joe Cataneo and his father 
worked these ovens back in the day. Dad says there were 400 ovens, 200 #1 
and 200 #2 and they pushed 100 from each section each day. They alternated 
daily. Also, the office located next to the company store was the doctor's 
office.There was another building further back that was the mine office.The 
original company was the Rainey Company and then Hillman Barge took it 
over. Thanks again!

Regards,
Tony Cataneo