Poland Mines Coke Works

The Poland Mines Coke Works are the only known coke ovens in Greene County. They are another great example of rectangular coke ovens. The only other rectangular ovens I've found have been at Fort Palmer in Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County and Allison in Redstone Township, Fayette County. 

Poland Mines dates back to circa 1916-1917 and contained 101 ovens. Most of these ovens are still intact. 

Other remnants from the mine include a large concrete tipple, rail lines and various supports scattered across the hillside behind the ovens.

The beginning of the block.

A piece of rail sticking up out of the ground. This is the side of the ovens where the ram bar would push the finished coke through to the other side.

A Garfield brick laying on the ground. The Allison coke ovens predate these ovens by at least a decade but seem to be of very similar construction. The Garfield brick yard and refractory were located near Bolivar, PA.

This wall is starting to give out.

The nice thing about rectangular ovens is if it gets too overgrown to get through on one side, you can walk through the oven to the other side.

A bit of hardware.

I'm not sure if this was a lamp post or something electrical related to the larry cars.

This end of the block is collapsed.

An old railroad bridge crossing Dunkard Creek.

The huge concrete tipple.

Looking up through the bottom of the tipple.

This is looking down from the top.

Puritan No.1 Coke Works

There were approximately six Puritan mines and coke plants in this area. I haven't been able to find any resources indicating which one this is. I actually stumbled upon these ovens by accident driving from Hoover to Leckrone. They sit right along Puritan Road on the old Monongahela Railroad line. 

More than likely these are either Puritan Coke Works No. 1 or No. 2. I have been able to find that these date to 1903, were operated by The Puritan Coal and Coke Company of McClellandtown and contained 202 ovens. I don't know if there were 202 ovens combined between the two because there certainly are not that many on this bank. However, it is possible that there are 101.

Regardless, they were a nice find and the ovens are in pretty good shape. They are also numbered. I could only make it so far in because of how overgrown it was but I might try to make it back and explore it further. 

Update 3/23/14: According to the Leckrone mine map I was able to locate, the Puritan No. 1 Mine was located right here so I am calling these the Puritan No. 1 Coke Works.

Pretty intact.

A bunch of coke left in the back of the oven.

Oven Number 8.

Oven Number 7.

A nice intact ladder.

Oven Number 11.

This is where it started getting really overgrown.

Old railroad ties from a washed out rail bed.

Oven Number 6.

Leckrone, PA/ Village, Mine Buildings and Coke Ovens

The Leckrone No. 1 mine and coke works date back to 1899 and were operated by the Eureka Fuel Company. The Eureka Fuel Company was the fuel end of the Federal Steel Company of Chicago and was the second largest company merged in the steel combination. Eureka also owned plants at Footedale and Buffington. After January 31, 1902, the H.C. Frick Coke Company took over operations and eventually acquired it for good on March 28, 1903. By 1928 the coke plant had two batteries of block and one battery of bank ovens totaling 516 ovens. It is uncertain when the mine and coke works shut down.

The company store remains and dates back prior to the Frick era. Across from the company store is the ruins of the office building. The back wall remains as well as the foundation. What is interesting about this building is a cast iron door frame on the rear wall. It almost looks like an old vault door. Apparently this building served as the post office as well as the Superintendents office. Next to the company store sits the ice house which dates back to 1901.

There is another building further down the road that may have been a boiler house or a machine shop.

Update 3/23/14: The Leckrone mine map does list the ruins of the building across from the company store as "office".

The company store.

This is the ice house next to the store. I'm sure it was modified to a garage later but it's a nice old building.

This is the post office/superintendents office across the street.

Exposed basement.

This is the top of the iron door frame.

The door frame itself. Maybe a vault?

Plaster remaining on the wall.

The front door of the company store. Yes, there is a light on.

Apparently the company store sold gas at one time.

Side view of the company store.

A view of the coke ovens from the store.

The ovens are deteriorated but the ground is really clear.

These ovens are on the opposite side of the dock area.

A little bit of remaining block from the dock wall.

It started raining.

I've seen this stuff remaining where the bricks have fallen before. I'm beginning to think it is baked fill or clay that was used to insulate the ovens. It's not brick or concrete but it can be found around ovens.

This is the flooded dock area where the trains would come in to load up the coke.

This is the other building down the road that may have been a boiler house or machine shop.

Some of the patch houses behind it.

This is inside that building.

It's nice to see an intact window that hasn't been smashed out.

Front door.

This was sitting by a side door.

Rear of the building.

These sit behind the houses. Either ice houses or spring houses.