Montour No. 1

Montour Railroad

Montour No. 1

Bob Ciminels' Montour No. 1 Report.

Unfortunately, there are no timetables showing how the Montour handled trains going into Montour No. 1. Perhaps Gene Schaeffer will come across some old timetables or other documents that will enlighten us about the Montour and the mine.

The 1940 timetable identifies the following stations at Southview: 101 was the P&WV Transfer 38-car interchange track, 102 was the 2-car Commercial Spur and 103 was No. 1 Mine. The Montour also established yard limits in this area from 84 feet east of the East Switch at Peacock Siding to 2,100 feet east of Southview Station. Southview also had a water tank for locomotives working the mine, trains exiting the Midland Spur, and westbound trains ascending the almost 1% grade between Gilmore Junction and Peacock.

The only major change in the 1947 timetable was that Station 103 was now referred to as "Old No. 1 Mine" and the mine spur could hold 20 cars. The 102 Commercial track was still there, and it lasted into at least 1977, as evidence by its inclusion in that timetable.

Montour No.1 Mine was located at Southview, PA, west of Venice off of PA Route 50 and between McDonald Viaduct and Gilmore Junction on the Montour Railroad. Montour No. 1 was one of three new mines the Pittsburgh Coal Company opened as the railroad constructed its Mifflin Extension in 1914. Men and supplies for the new mine were delivered by the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railroad at George Station west of Venice Siding. (George will be
the connection to the new Westland Branch when it is completed later this year.)

The exact date when Montour No. 1 closed is not known. The mine is listed in the PA Bureau of Mines annual report for 1932, but looks abandoned in the 1939 aerial photos of Southview. Montour No. 1 was a shaft mine that was about 100 feet deep. The coal seam was mined toward the north. Montour No. 1 abutted the Primrose Mine on the northwest and the Jumbo Mine on the northeast. It is believed that miners living in the McDonald area could access
Montour No. 1 through the old Jumbo Mine workings. - Bob Ciminel

Here are the maps for No. 1 Mine. Coal seam was between 950 and 930 MSL, dipping to the south. That's why Montour No.1 was the first shaft mine on the Montour. Ground elevation near Southview was around 1090, so the mine was probably 100 feet deep and followed the seam up-dip to the north. It abutted Primrose and Jumbo mines, which were drift entries.

Montour #1 was opened around 1914 according to the 1913 Penna Bureau of Mines Annual Report. The report states 'Montour 1, 2 and 4, new shafts open just down to the coal.