Long Valley Coal Company

The Long Valley Coal Company was built in western Pennsylvania in the 1800s.  I believe it no longer existed by 1900, whether it was abandoned or absorbed into another company I do not know.  In those times entrepreneurs started many small coal mining companies.  It was apparently quite easy to start a business in those days - something that is quite hard these days.

The photo above shows a small loco with a string of very small coal cars in front of the blacksmith shop of the Long Valley Coal Mine company.

The wider view above shows what appears to be the same train again in front of the blacksmith shop plus a clear view of some of these small coal cars.  The logs could be for railroad ties or perhaps mine support beams.

This photo shows an elevated plane which I believe brought loaded coal cars down the mountain from the mine so they could be hauled off by the loco.  Elevated planes were quite common in the mountainous western part of Pennsylvania in those days.  Even the city of Pittsburgh had a number of  what they called inclines which carried passengers and even vehicles up and down the high cliffs surrounding the city.  You can see the point near the top of this incline where cars going up can pass cars going down.

And last here is a view of the miners residences (shacks?) in a roughly cleared area.