Good evening, list, I am delighted to share the following information with you as communicated to me concerning the "Penn Number Five" mine in Rush Township. I trust you will all enjoy it. "Info which follows, concerning the "Penn No. 5" mine, was kindly sent by Lynn Raftovich. She asked me to try to resend it to the list as her original post apparently did not go through. The mine itself was located in Centre Co., but many of the workers came from Osceola, Spike Island & Houtzdale, in Clearfield Co. Both Lynn and I have ancestors who worked in Penn NO. 5, so if anyone has additional info on this mine, please post to the list -- I'm sure many people would be interested! Regards, Luann (DDuBarry@aol.com)" ==== >From Lynn Raftovich: Information I obtained in letter from Penna. Department of Environmental Protection in response to my inquiry about Penn No. 5 Coal Mine located in Centre County. Thought it might be helpful to others. Sept 24, 2001 - The towns you mentioned (Houtzdale, Osceola Mills, and Spike Island) are all in bituminous mining areas. The post office address for Penn No. was Osceola Mills although the mine was actually located in Centre County. In 1908 there were two Penn No. 5 collieries in Centre County. One was operated by Peerless Coal Mining Co. and the other was operated by G. L. Whitehead Coal Co. In 1909 only one Penn No. 5 is mentioned and it was operated by Grampiam Coal Mining Company. At that time Penn No. 5 was loacted in the 18th Bituminous Mining District. The districts changed from time to time as new mines were added and old ones worked out. In 1936 and 1937 Penn No. 5 appeared to be idle. In 1938 DuShan Coal Mining Co. began operation Penn No. 5 and in 1940 renamed it DuShan No.3. In 1934 Penn No. was operated by Grampian Coal Mining Co. in the Eighth Bituminous Mining district. The coal mined was the B seam of the Lower Kittanning coal that had an average seam height of 60 inches. The mine was non-gaseous and had a drift opening (a horizontal passageway that follows the path of the coal seam). A disc-type fan, seven feet in diameter, was used for ventilation; there was one pump to pump out any water. Power to the mine was by electricity. The colliery was operated only 67 days in 1934 with 26 employees who produced 13,901 tons of coal. Penn No. 5 had no fatalities or serious injuries that year. However, in 1934 all bituminous coal production in Penna. was 89,592,481 tons with 127,868 employees, 157 fatalities and 1,796 serious injuries. The Department of Environmental Protection has no list of workers from the Penn No. 5 colliery. Although we have no actual figures, we believe wages at that time were between $1-$2 per day. We have no information about how many hours a day they worked. In 1934 there were no mining regulations, but bituminous industry was governed by mining laws contained in the 1911 Mining Code. We do not have a copy of the Code. Regards, Lynn ===== "This info is from a Daniel Dugan in Clearfield, in response to my mention of family lore stating that ggfJohn JAMES was a superintendant of Penn 5. (Based on Mr. Dugan's info, John JAMES would have been over 70 by the time this mine started... so I can only suppose John JAMES must have worked at the "other" Penn 5 mine.) Per Mr. Dan Dugan: 'John Christopher James could not have been the superintendent of the PENN FIVE mine near Sandy Ridge (Edendale/Spike Island area). My father, Arthur Dugan, was the superintendent from the time he opened it in 1939 until it closed around 1953. It was a family mine called Dugan Coal Co. There were other mines such as PENN NINE, etc.' " Justin Justin Kirk Houser Genealogist/Researcher of Central PA and Beyond Main Lines: Houser, Breon, Shawley, Ranio (and others) President, BAHS Class of 2003 Listowner, PACENTRE-L@Rootsweb.com Historian, Schürch Association of North America (specialty Central PA lines) Member, Valley View United Methodist Church "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"