The sources of raw coal for the St. Nicholas District Central Breaker were Maple Hill, Ellangowan, Knickerbocker, Suffolk, Hammond, Gilberton, Tunnel Ridge, West Shenandoah, Shenandoah City and Mahanoy City Collieries.
The preliminary work of railroad grading, creek changes and the removal of obstructions started Apr. 12, 1930. Work started on the breaker Aug. 3, 1931 and the company started operations on Sept. 16, 1932.
One half of the Village of Suffolk was removed to build the new breaker which was erected on the site of the Old Suffolk Colliery.
Approximately 2,500 employees were used by contractors to build it and more than 150,000 man days of direct employment were provided by this construction.
A half a million cubic yards of grading was required to prepare the site for builders.
Two streams were diverted into new channels and approximately 20 miles of railroad tracks were laid. 3,800 tons of structural steel was used and more than 10,000 cubic yards of reinforced concrete, a mile and a half of conveyor lines, 25 miles of conduit, 26,241 sq.ft. of rubber belting, 118 miles of wire and cable and 20 miles of pipe had been installed.
The pumps had a circulating capacity totaling 150,000 gallon per minute.
There were several hundred motors of various types & sizes with a total capacity of 8,000 horse power.
The breaker was constructed in two halves. Each half could be operated independently of the other.
The capacity of the breaker was 12,500 tons per day and the site covered 500 acres over 10 square miles. It was located midway between Mahanoy City and Shenandoah along highway route 54. It replaced all the old fashioned colliery breakers in the district and supplied steam for a number of collieries adjacent to the breaker which eliminated the wasteful boiler houses.
The coal being sent to the new central breaker was first rough cleaned & crushed at each colliery cleaning plant. Then shipped by railroad cars to the central breaker inbound storage yard which had the capacity to hold 85 loaded standard cars.
A thaw shed for frozen coal held 18 cars during the winer months. A huge rotary dump would empty the cars to start it way up the conveyor belts for processing.
Coal entering the breaker moved at a speed of 600 ft. a minute and took 12 minutes to pass through the many processes of the plant. The finished coal was then loaded into railroad cars by means of a tilting cradle type box car loader and sent to the outbound storage yard which had a capacity of 885 loaded cars for shipment to the consumer.