Beechwood Colliery

The Beechwood Colliery was located at Mt. Laffee at the head of the Mt. Carbon Railroad and on the south slope of the Mine Hill Mountain.

The colliery was celebrated for its large production and the cost of driving the water level tunnel.

The original operators were Man and Williams who drove the tunnel north-ward to the mammoth vein in 1832 at a cost of $70,000. They continued mining until 1843 when they were sold out by the sheriff.

In 1843, Williams retired from the partnership and T.C. Man leased the property after the sheriff sale and continued the mining until 1849 when he assigned his lease to Miller and Patterson, who sunk the slope in 1853 and operated it until 1858.

In 1858, Gowan and Turner purchased the property and operated the colliery until 1859 when they failed.

The mining continued under a new management of Gowen, Jenkins and Co., who operated until 1862.

In 1862, Guilden and Douglass purchased the colliery and mined it to 1867 when Potts and Siegfried took possession and contuned mining to 1872.

In 1872, William Kendrick purchased the colliery for the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company (P&R C&I Co.) who in 1873 began mining, making large improvements and in 1895 abandoned the colliery.

In 1913, the P&R C&I Co. reopened the old water level tunnel to the buck mountain vein. They worked several veins cut by the tunnel until the Beechwood Colliery became a section of Wadesville Colliery.

The total shipments from the Beechwood Colliery were 2,152,545 tons of coal.