The Lehigh No. 3 Colliery was located west of Shenandoah City Borough on the Lead Run, a tributary of Mahanoy Creek.
The colliery, originally known as the "Mammoth" and later "The Bee Hive" was opened by a drift driven on the south dip mammoth vein by J. B. Reber and Company in 1865 and was mined by them to 1866 when Wm. L. Williams and Herring leased the colliery from the owners of conflicting title and continued mining two drifts to 1869. At the same time George W. Huntzinger and Jeremiah Seitzinger were also mining on the same tract under a seperate lease and they shipped 3124 tons of coal in December of 1869. Williams and Herring had shipped 14,000 tons.
An agreement was reached by which the colliery was operated by the combined operators and the colliery was transferred to the Philadelphia Coal Company on January 1, 1870. The Girard Estate issued them a new lease for fifteen years, thus perfecting the lease on three tracks of land north of Shenandoah Packer No. 2 Colliery.
In 1870, the Philadelphia Coal Company sunk the first slope 330 ft. on the south dip mammoth vein to the first level. They also built a large new breaker and made other improvements. They continued operating the colliery to 1874 when the Lehigh Valley Coal Company purchased the controlling interest and operated it under the old name of the Philadelphia Coal Company.
In 1875, a new slope was sunk 300 ft. below the old slope workings and later that year the old slope was extended to the same level.
In 1878, the new slope was extended 1080 ft. to the basin of the mammoth.
In 1884, their lease was renewed for fifteen years and they changed the name of the colliery to "Packer No. 3". They replaced the old hoisting machinery with more powerfull engines and sunk a new slope to relieve the mammoth vein slope.
In 1886, they sunk two additional slopes, one on the seven foot vein and the other on the buck mountain vein to the fourth level. In 1900, this slope was extended to the ninth level, a total of 2227 ft.
In 1893, a small slope was sunk on the holmes vein and in 1905, the last original breakers of the Packer Collieries was dismantled.
This colliery was mined extensively in connection with the Packer No. 2 and No. 4 Collieries.
The total shipments from Lehigh No. 3 Colliery (Packer No. 3) were 7,840,355 tons as of 1928.