Who owns the Huber breaker as of right now? Also who owns the majority of abandoned mine sites in anthracite filed ( land owners, coal company etc etc...)? Fianllt does the state have old mining maps of where mines were located and if so who would i contact to see them? Thanks

the huber breaker, as far as I know, is still owned by Al Roman. ..Luzerne County was going to take it through eminent domain but I don't think it ever went through.

with the abandoned mines...its kindof up in the air.. Depends who owns the mineral rights. the now defunct companies? The land owners usually don't, other than the mine openings. Thats a question I never answered... if the company that owned the rights goes out of business, and theres no single person tied to the rights, who owns the mineral rights? the County? The state?

Mine maps are all accessible to the public at the Office of Surface Mining in Wilkes Barre. They have most of them....

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

The mineral or coal rights are a Real Estate issue.

I can't speak for Pennsylvania, but in Indiana.......


If a company leased the rights and the company went out of business. Then the lease most likely would revert to the land owner.

If the company purchased the coal rights out right. The rights would be dispersed with other property. If the company was liquidated and the coal rights not address. The land owner would have the best claim.

Although usually when a company goes out of business, assets are sold off.. This is done for tax purposes and to make money to pay off last debt. So I would imagine mineral rights would go along with that sale.

Miner Greg

This should be a " sticky" column. I tried getting to the bottom of that as well. Just as there were many indivdual mines in the active years. Well those rights went to various indivduals. I cant speak for the entire northern field. But through research in old newspapers. Many of the mining companies were still in exhistance. If only on paper. After active mining ceased.So when the flushing projects were planned. Most of these companies were glad to sign away the moneral rights. And they would be transferred to the city. And rights of ingress to complete the projects would be granted by the city involved to the contractors. But before the federal goverment would OK the funding for the project. The city would have to sign an agreement that no mining would ever take place in the areas flushed. Even today, My favorite mining company still exhists on paper. And actualy still owns some land in the city. The Diamond colliery company. Has an address at 520 Spruce Street, Scranton Pa 18501. With a Ferrario listed as president. ( county tax search on Lackawanna county web site ) On a side note. The gangway we traveled in through at the Diamond was specifically left open as part of the transfer of mineral rights to the city for the flushed areas you see inside. In other words. The Diamond colliery company still retains ownership of the gangway and drift to this day. This was done because the Diamond colliery company was to use the drift, and gangway to reach blocks of coal located farther in the mine. But evidently never got to mine.

woah, thats pretty interesting.... wait, So tony, this Ferrario guy still exists then and is currently paying taxes on the company / mineral rights?

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

According to the lackawanna county web site :

PIN Number:
1340101000204


Property Information

Address:
REAR KEYSER AVE

Municipality:
SCRANTON


Owner Information

Name:
DIAMOND COLLIERY CO

Address:
520 SPRUCE ST
SCRANTON, PA 18503


Dwelling Type:
VACANT LOT (LESS THAN 10A)

Dimensions:
115X520

Subdivision:



Book Page/Ref No.:
1327-0179

Date Acquired (mm/dd/yy):
06/07/90


Assessment

Land Value:
$2430

Improvement Value:
$0

Total Value:
$2430



Purchase Price:
$21250


PIN Number:
13401010001


Property Information

Address:
COX & TRIPP TRACTS

Municipality:
SCRANTON


Owner Information

Name:
DIAMOND COLLIERY CO%GIOVANNINI

Address:
520 SPRUCE ST JOS P SR
SCRANTON, PA 18503


Dwelling Type:
VACANT LOT (LESS THAN 10A)

Dimensions:


Subdivision:



Book Page/Ref No.:
(NL)

Date Acquired (mm/dd/yy):
06/12/70


Assessment

Land Value:
$82000

Improvement Value:
$0

Total Value:
$82000

Here is a link to the site: http://ao.lackawannacounty.org/agreed.php
TRY TYPING IN COMPANIES THAT HAVE LONG BEEN " OUT OF BUSINESS
scroll down to the bottom search qurerry and type in anything such as:
-Penn Anthracite
-Diamond
etc. For research worms like me it pretty neat.

Get the heck outa here... I just typed in Scranton Coal Co for kicks, and it came up that they still own a lot where I drove through every day going to school, next to the intersection of Parker and Boulevard in Scranton....(sound familiar?)

The funny thing is, it says Date Acquired: 12/28/05

..... but thats gotta be 1905!

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

This one will get you sick. that lot is where the Bryden air shaft was ( PA coal company) I passed that going to my grandfathers for about 20 yrs. ( to young for photos.) It had the most interesting fan house on top of it. Complete brick. But where it went over the shaft, it was tottaly round. Like half an oval. Ive never seen one, or even a photo of another fan house like it. Unfortunately it was " reclaimed " about 15 yrs ago. You can see where the shaft has settled about 5 feet. (Future subsidence ?) in a perfect rectangle about 20 by 40.

I remember now you saying that one day when we were over there! Just like everything else... Never found an old picture of it eh?

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

I looked thoroughly at OSM. It wasnt one of there projects. So it must have been a DEP project. Unfortunately there info is like a vault. But going to OSM on Wednesday, So I may take a trip over there see what I can find out ?