UREY HISTORY
Coal mining in the Urey area began in ca.1889, when the Passmore & Burns Coal Company opened a mine exploiting the 4 foot to 8 foot thick "B," "C" and "C Prime" coal veins. The mine and small coal patch settlement were first called Bryson. The mine was served by a branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Glen Campbell. The mine employed fifty-six men and boys and produced 60,000 tons of coal in 1889. A second mine was opened in ca.1890, and the two were then named Urey No. 1 Mine and Urey No. 2 Mine. By ca.1891, employment had increased to approximately 128 men and boys, production increased to 65,000 tons of coal. In ca.1893, the mine operations were being conducted by the Urey Ridge Coal Company. Urey Mines No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6 were being worked by 227 men and boys in ca.1908, and production had risen to 129,000 tons of coal. However, by ca.1914, only 133 men and boys were employed at the Urey Mines. No electric power was being provided at the mines as of ca.1914, and all the mining and haulage work was being done using men and mules. In ca.1917 Urey No. 1, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 Mines produced a total of 113,187 tons of coal and employed 123 men and boys in the mines. The mines power plant had two tubular boilers of 160 horse power, one steam engine of 125 horse power, and one electric dynamo that produced 80 kilo watts of power. The Urey Mines employed 12 mules and had 1 electric locomotive. Miners evidently included many Eastern Europeans, as the local church, buillt in ca.,1916, in Sts. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Church. Deep drift mining in the area has been over for many years, but some strip mining was still underway in the area ca.1993. (History and description of the Urey Mines, adapted from "Indiana County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1993," America's Industrial Heitage Project, National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, U.S. Department of the Interior, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |