The Weston Colliery was
located on the north slope of the Shenandoah Valley just north of Packer No.
3. The colliery was opened by a water level tunnel driven 3807 ft. north to
the little buck mountain vein by the Locust Mountain Coal Company who started
driving the tunnel on March 18, 1913 and completed it in March, 1914. The first
shipment of 5,615 tons was made April 11, 1914.
On January 1, 1913, Baird
Snyder, Jr. was granted a lease on the property by the Girard Estates which
was transferred by him to the Locust Mountain Coal Company of which he was president
and general manager. In April of the same year, a large and well equipped breaker
was built on the site of the Old Packer No. 3 Breaker which was removed in 1906.
In June of 1913, the stripping at the eastern basin of the mammoth, skidmore
and seven foot veins were started. Three large 70 ton steam shovels were used
for excavating. the material was handled by eleven-20 ton locomotives and 74
dump cars and three revolving steam shovels for loading the coal.
In 1915, they installed
a Bucyrus 175b type electric drag line excavator weighing 255 tons with a 3
1/2 yard dipper on a boom 125 ft. in length. two 8 ton electric locomotives
were also placed in service. Mining continued on an extensive scale, tunnels
& gangways were driven on all veins covered by the lease. The colliery was
one of the largest producers in the southern coal field having a maxium shipment
of 655,129 tons in 1923.
The Locust Mountain Coal
Company continued operating the colliery to 1933 when after all the equipment
of recoverable value had been removed, the colliery was abandoned as it was
exhausted. A new lease for one year from July 1, 1933, covering the remaining
coal on the property, was made to the Shenandoah Coal Company.
The total shipment from the Weston Colliery was 7,274,782 tons as of 1928.