Anica Coke Works Whitsett PA

Up on the hillside behind the Youghiogheny River town of Whitsett are the remains of the Anica Coke Works. The earliest mention I have found for the Anica Coke Works is from 1908. The Kaine and Wilkey Coke Company was a partnership of Charles Irwin Kaine and Wilmer Harry Wilkey. The Kaine and Wilkey Coke Company constructed  the coke plant which initially consisted of 32 ovens. Mr Kaine passed away in 1909 and his share of the partnership went on the market.

 

 Uniontown Morning Herald -February 29, 1912

 

This ad appeared on February 29, 1912. By March 4, 1912 Kaine's half had been purchased by James Isaac Feather.

 

Uniontown Morning Herald -March 4, 1912

 

By March 11, 1912 the new company called the Wilkey and Feather Coke Company had been born. 

 

Uniontown Morning Herald -March 11, 1912

 Also in 1912 Anica Coke Works is listed as having 40 ovens. This would be as large as the plant would get. 

 

In 1915 Mr. Wilkey got married. As can be seen by his wedding announcement, he also had many other interests outside of the coke company. Also in the wedding announcement it looks like his bride is already married? She is already referred to as "Mrs. Wyatt" although her family name is "Cook". 

 

Uniontown Morning Herald- July 7, 1915

 

Anica lasted until at least 1921. The last mention of Anica I can find is in the 1921 "Coal Field Directory" and it is listed as being operated by the Wilkey Coal and Coke Company. Somewhere between 1915 and 1921 Mr. Feather left the company. Wilmer Wilkey passed away in November of 1935 from a heart attack. His body was found in a Pittsburgh hotel room.

 

Uniontown Morning Herald- November 21, 1935

 

Uniontown Morning Herald- November 20, 1935

 

Today most of the 40 ovens still remain on the hillside off the Elwell Branch of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. The fronts of all the ovens are missing but there are occasional sections of retaining wall still visible. The branch itself is a very nice walk too. 

 

Walking up the railroad branch toward the ovens.

It's a little bit of a walk but the ovens weren't too difficult to locate. This was my second attempt at this. Thanks to the Whitsett Historical Society for setting me straight!

A section of retaining wall.

This is the condition of all the ovens.

A pile of bricks in one of the ovens.

Looking out.

Pretty clean inside.

Looking out again.

 

A light dusting of snow really makes these ovens stand out.

Snow, ferns and ovens.

An old oven face.

Last weekend when I hiked back here it was 60 degrees. Today it was around 30.

Interesting hole inside this oven.

Same oven, different hole.

Look closely to the back of the hole to see evidence of the inhabitants of the hole.

The big pile of bat guano.

The bat oven.

More ferns, snow and ovens.

Another piece of retaining wall.

A hole between two ovens.

A collapsing oven.

Interesting detail of brickwork and the fill covering the ovens. The fill used to insulate these ovens became baked solid from the heat.

Remaining pieces of support block on top of this oven. These blocks held the weight of the tracks and the larry cars that charged the ovens so the ovens wouldn't be damaged.

This bank was once the loading pier of the coke plant. Where I am standing is the spur where the trains would pull up to load the coke.

Another look at the pier with the ovens in the back.

The railroad spur.

 

The following photos are from last weekend when I was unable to locate the ovens. Just a look at some of the other interesting things in the area.

 

Up along the outcrop at the top of the hill were the remains of long sealed mine entrances.

The Elwell Branch had some nice cuts along the way.

Waterfall under what was once a bridge on the branch.

Remains of the bridge piers.

Old mine track sticking out of the side of the hill.

You can follow this rope (I did) up to the top of the mountain. Don't. There's nothing up there.

 

At this wye the trains could go to the right and continue south on the old Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad which is now the Great Allegheny Passage. The left would take the trains northbound via the Anica Coke Works and the Whitsett Mine.

A shelter somebody made under an outcrop.

Youghiogheny Coke Works, Douglass, Elizabeth Township, Allegheny County, PA

The Youghiogheny Coke Works was something I stumbled across while looking for information on something else. This is a pretty obscure plant and not a lot of information is available. Most of the information I have been able to locate is just a casual mention of it in old mining and engineering journals. 

 

Here's what we do know. The Youghiogheny Coke Works were constructed in 1891 by Carnegie Brothers and Co. Just that alone makes these ovens very relevant because other than the Larimer Coke Works this was the only coke plant started exclusively as a Carnegie interest. They had an annual capacity of 100,000 gross tons of coke and contained only 18 acres of land. Larimer and Youghiogheny had a combined total of 375 ovens. According to the book "Old And New Westmoreland" (1918), Larimer is said to have had had 300 ovens by 1886. If that's true then there were only 75 at Youghiogheny and that fits in with its small acreage. And that is basically all we know. 

Today Youghiogheny Coke Works is basically an archaeological site. No intact ovens remain. There are two banks that are covered in partially buried coke oven brick and stone. This site is located between the Sutersville Bridge and the town of Blythedale along the Youghiogheny River. It is certainly located in the flood plain and I would imagine they have taken quite a beating from the river before the dam was built in 1944. My guess is the ovens do remain but they are buried. The amount of brick and stone that remain tell me these ovens were not removed. 

This 1939 aerial photo shows that remains of the ovens were barely intact even that early.

This is the bank. It looks like absolutely nothing until you get closer.

Then you start sifting through debris.

Lots of old coke oven brick.

A nice example of burned up fire brick.

A single marked brick.

Now we're getting somewhere! BFB Co. Fire Brick. From what I've been able to find about this is it is the Boston Fire Brick Co. That's Boston, Mass. not Boston, PA. If that's really what this is, what is it doing here? I have never come across a BFB Co. fire brick at any other coke oven site.

A piece of coke oven arch.

An old piece of terra cotta pipe laying in the debris.

Part of a coke oven crown.

A look at this bank.

Looking up the bank from on top of it.

Small section between the two banks. It may have been a solid bank at one time. Even as early as the 1939 aerial it was two separate banks so that might have been the way it always was.

The end of the one bank.

This is a hole that looks like it goes deep into the oven. It may be possible to dig these up.

An incredible find! A nice large piece of coke oven arch block.

Another hole surrounded by coke oven brick.

More bricks.

A nice chunk on inner coke oven wall.

And there you have it! It leaves a lot to the imagination but it's another site discovered.

  The photo below is a postcard I acquired. I'm pretty sure it is of the Youghiogheny Coke Works. I am unaware of anything else in the area that it could be. But things pop up! It could be something different.

Unless there were other ovens at Blythedale, this is probably a photo of the Youghiogheny Coke Works.