From Guy and Mary Scheib, Transcribed by Jake Wynn
Short Mountain Colliery: Events Which Increased or Decreased Production (1825-1899)
1825: Anthracite coal first discovered in this vicinity by Jacob Burd, Sr. and Peter Kimes, lower end of Short Mountain. A 1600 acre plot purchased by Thos. P. Cope for $400.00 partly paid with merchandise.
1830: April 7th– Lykens Valley Railroad and Coal Company formed to construct a railroad to Millersburg. This railroad was fourth in the United States and the first in Dauphin County to carry Anthracite coal.
1831: Wiconsico Coal Company was organized, consisting of six members. Simon Gratz, Samuel Richards, George H. Thompson, Charles R. Thompson, Henry Schreiner and Henry Scheffer. Work began on the Lykens Valley Drift, first miners were James Todarff, John Brown amd William Hall.
1833: A slope was sunk into the Whites Vein about 70 feet from the surface by a miner named John White, the Vein named after him.
1834: Railroad completed to Millersburg, coal cars were drawn by horse power on a flat strip rail, taking two days for one trip down. A number of ark loads of coal shipped down the Susquehanna River during the spring freshet. Later the coal cars were boated across the river from the end of the railroad at Millersburg to the Pennsylvania Canal at Mount Patrick. The first boat load of Lykens Valley coal sent by canal left Mount Patrick, Saturday, April 19 by a bat numbered 76, with 43 tons. Captain C. Faunce in charge, the shipment was consigned to Thomas Borbridge, Columbia, Pennsylvania.
