The Rise and Fall of the Coke Industry in the Punxsutawney Area

By Coal Memorial Committee for Hometown magazine

The coke era in the Punxsutawney area lasted approximately 40 years. During that time, coke was a major factor in the region’s economy.

The presence of coal and other minerals in Pennsylvania were identified in the First Geological Survey of the State, which was authorized in 1830 and completed about 1852.

were much in demand to provide transportation. Steamships, fueled by coal and coke, had replaced the sails of earlier ships. These industries created a large demand for iron, as well as coal and coke. An 1857 map of Jefferson County shows two proposed railroad routes across Jefferson County, one through Brookville, the other through Punxsutawney. Motivation was needed to stimulate the development of railroads across Jefferson County.

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Children born to the early settlers in the Punxsutawney area, who grew up roaming the area forests during the lumbering era, assisted the surveyors. These youngsters gained firsthand knowledge of the extent of the minerals and coal that existed in the area. As adults they were advocates for the development of these resources. They were among the purchasers of the Jefferson County Bonds sold in 1837 to finance the building of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, which lay unused until the late 1860s. By 1850, steam engines, powered by coal,

Residents of Punxsutawney continued to advocate for the development of the natural resources of the area. They were among the financiers of a special Jefferson County Geological Survey conducted during the Second Geological Survey begun in 1874. This Second Geological Survey confirmed the rich resource of Lower Freeport Coal in the Reynoldsville Basin, which stretched from Punxsutawney northeast to above Reynoldsville. Phineas W. Jenks, born in Punxsutawney in 1819, had trudged the forests with the men conducting the First Geological Survey and was credited with contributing $20,000 (the equivalent of over $710,000 in 2023) of his own money to secure a railroad in the area. The iron smelting industry developed as a large industry in communities along the Lake Erie shore. It flourished because of the easy access to coal and iron ore from Canada. In 1866 the United States instituted

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In 1896 an iron furnace was constructed in Punxsutawney to save money on transporting empty coal and coke cars from Rochester and Buffalo, NY, to Punxsutawney. On the return trip they would carry iron ore, which would pay the freight charge and increase the railroad’s income. The site on which the Iron Furnace was located is now Punxy Plaza on West Mahoning Street. (postcard circa 1900, courtesy of PAHGS) of building the Buffalo and Pittsburg division of the Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad is completed.”

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RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL • Carpet Cleaning • Janitorial and Construction Cleanup • General Housecleaning • Wet Furniture Cleaning a duty of $1.25 per ton on the estimated 465,000 tons of coal imported from Canada. The prospect of paying half a million dollars a year to use Canadian coal sent the Lake Erie iron manufacturers in search of easily accessible, duty-free United States coal. The coal was available in the neighboring counties in Pennsylvania. However, there was no means of transportation.

Railroad entrepreneurs saw the opportunity. The race was on to connect the coal fields of Pennsylvania with the iron industry along Lake Erie. In 1869 an agreement was made with Jefferson County to use the Jefferson County Railroad Bonds it had been holding to construct a 28-mile railroad from the mouth of the Redbank Creek on the west to the community of Falls Creek on the east. This railroad, the Low Grade Division of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, opened in 1874. Coke produced at New Bethlehem, Clarion County, was transported to meet the demand of the iron smelters in Rochester and Buffalo, New York. The railroad generated openings of additional coal mines and the building of modern beehive coke ovens along the road. Powers, Brown & Co. opened a coal mine at Reynoldsville and built 50 beehive coke ovens, which began operating in July 1880.

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In 1883, the Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad reached the Rochester Mine of the Bell, Lewis and Yates Company, near DuBois, where 50 coke ovens were already in operation and prepared to ship coke. At the newly opened Walston Mine, coke ovens were already under construction.

The demand for Walston coke, pushed the development of more ovens. By August 1885, a solid wall of 300 stone and fire-brick ovens almost a mile long was in operation. By October, 60 more coke ovens were added. The Clarion Democrat, of August 5, 1886, reported: “One hundred and fortyseven new coke ovens have just been completed at Walston, making in all five hundred. When they are all in operation, it presents a scene very much resembling Dante’s vision of Hades.” These extended the line of Walston ovens nearly to Clayville.

Another railroad joined the rush to reach the rich coal deposits in the Punxsutawney area. According to the Indiana Weekly Messenger of March 28, 1883: “Engineers were in the eastern section of Clearfield County laying out an extension of the Bell’s Gap Railroad from Bell’s Mills to Punxsutawney.” This railroad would transport coal and coke to Philadelphia and the eastern seaboard for the Berwind White Coal Company, which would have 50 coke ovens operating when it opened its first Eureka mine at Horatio. The company had plans to build 200 additional coke ovens.

Coal, which had become the primary source of domestic fuel, now had a competitor with the organization of the Punxsutawney Area Natural Gas Company in 1884. Commercial coal and coke remained in high demand for industrial uses.

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The Rise and Fall

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The demand for Punxsutawney area coke was high. In the spring of 1887, 300 additional coke ovens were being built at Walston, making 800 at that mine. At Adrian plans were in place to build 700 coke ovens. The Eureka mine at Horatio had plans to build an additional 200. By winter, it was estimated that 1,700 coke ovens would be in operation.

During the next ten years, the people of Punxsutawney accepted the new normal of employment, strikes, mine closings, and reopenings. The Punxsutawney News, of July 13, 1894, reflected the attitude of residents: “The smoke and odor of sulfur from the Walston and Adrian coke ovens is not very pleasant when one gets to the leeward of it, but the ovens have been idle so long that we can stand most anything now for a change. So let the smoke roll upward and let the sulphur fill the air, it indicates that work is going on and money is being put in circulation, and that is what helps relieve our distress.”

However, times were changing. In 1896, Bion H. Butler, a columnist for the Pittsburg Times reported that a blast furnace would be built in Punxsutawney. The furnace would address the concern of 600-700 empty cars being hauled over the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad every day. If these cars were to carry iron ore, instead of nothing, the railroad would benefit. An iron furnace built closer to the coal and coke resources could reduce cost of production. Rogers, Brown & Co. offered to construct an iron furnace closer to the coal fields at DuBois or Punxsutawney, whichever town would offer the better inducement. Punxsutawney provided the better offer and a blast furnace costing $300,000, with a daily capacity of 200 tons of pig iron, was built. This development benefited the railroad, the mining company, the local coke industry, and the blast furnace.

The special industrial issue of the Punxsutawney Spirit on May 1, 1900, touted the value of the mining and coke industry to the area in a headline that stated the area’s mining operations “employ 7,000 workers.” It described coke production as an auxiliary to the mining industry and identified the 1679 coke ovens operated by Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company. The article also told about the coal washer and crusher installed at Walston, which enabled the production of an extra good grade for foundry and blast furnaces.

As the new century dawned the winds of change were blowing. In 1902, 312 new coke ovens were being installed at the Sharon Coke Company. These ovens would capture 1,200 tons of by-products from coke making, including coal tar, sulfate of ammonia, and gas, which could be processed and sold independently.

In Punxsutawney, the Beam Coke Oven Steam Better Power Company was chartered, in 1903, with the purpose of converting the waste heat of coke ovens to produce steam and electric power. The power generated could be sold at low cost to industries developing in the Punxsutawney area. It was estimated that 2,000 coke ovens in the vicinity of Punxsutawney could produce 500,000 horsepower, which would be sufficient to supply power for manufacturing.

On May 31, 1905, the Punxsutawney News opined: “If Punxsutawney is going to do something towards making efforts to get in- dustries located here, she had better begin now while our coal and coke and gas resources are at their high water mark. To wait until these resources begin to fall, we greatly fear that the struggle to get industries may result in failure.”

The attitude of the people of the Punxsutawney area was also changing. The Fairview correspondent to the Punxsutawney News, of February 24, 1909, reported: “Fairview has no building boom this year, but she has plenty of room left for more houses. People who are seeking a nice, quiet suburb of town, where there is no coke oven smoke to soil the washing as it hangs on the line, should come to Fairview and investigate her claims.”

In 1910 an article in the Punxsutawney Spirit entitled “GAS FROM COKE OVENS” reported on a new type of coke oven installed at the United States Steel Plant at Gary, Indiana, which could capture and save the by-products of coke production. Called a “hopper,” this oven held 13 tons of coal in an airtight chamber that was heated from the outside by the company’s smelting furnaces. The gas and other by-products were carried off to a “retort,” where they were separated, saved, and processed for sale.

Local pundits expressed both the benefits and cost of these new ovens to the local coke industry. It was clear that coal mining was moving south to Indiana County, with the opening of mines at Ernest, Lucerne Mines, and in the Cowashannock Valley.

New technology, changes in manufacturing, declining resources, and the cost of converting to new ovens, combined to end the coke industry in Punxsutawney. The Indiana Gazette of July 9, 1918, in reporting on the end of the famous Walston Coke Ovens which had operated for 35 years, stated:

“People visiting this section of the country never regarded a trip as complete unless they visited the famous Walston Coke Ovens. Stretching a distance of over a mile and a quarter and lighting up the sky so brilliantly that they could be seen for miles around, they were a truly imposing sight.”

The Punxsutawney Iron Furnace disappeared from the local landscape in 1936. Where it once stood is now the Punxy Plaza on West Mahoning Street. What remains of the once mighty coke ovens are remnants scattered in the woodland near coal communities, the names of the communities where coke was produced, and a street in Punxsutawney named “Coke Oven Lane.”

This article has been prepared by the Coal Memorial Committee of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society. Resources used in preparing his article are from PAHGS, Punxsutawney News @ Newspapers.com., and the Library of Congress. Direct comments to PAHGS, P.O. Box 286, Punxsutawney, PA 15767. Individuals desiring to honor a coal or coal-related industry worker in 2023, are encouraged to purchase their tile by June 30, 2023. A Coal Memorial tile may honor persons who worked in any aspect of the coal industry, including railroads and ancillary services. Additional information and forms may be found online at www.punxsyhistory.org or may be requested by an email to: punxsyhistory@outlook.com, or calling (814) 9382555 and leaving a message.

Hometown’s 2022 Christmas Baby Named!

midnight on Christmas Eve. At birth, Callie was 19 ¼ inches long and tipped the scales at 7 pounds, 11 ½ ounces.

As the “winning” newborn, Callie (and her proud mom and dad) will receive prizes from the sponsors of Hometown’s Christmas Baby Contest: Brookville Hometown Market (a box of diapers), Christian Book & Gift Shop ($25 gift certificate), Marion Center Bank ($25 gift card), McDonald’s ($25 gift card), Punxsutawney Area Hospital (gift to be determined), Punx’y Shop ’n Save ($25 gift card), and The Medicine Shoppe ($25 gift card).

Callie Elyse Waltman, daughter of Richard and Alyssa Waltman of Coolspring, is Hometown’s 2022 Christmas Baby. Callie was born at 1:43 p.m. on December 27, thus becoming –unknown to her! – the first baby born at Punxsutawney Area Hospital after

Richard and Alyssa were surprised to learn that Callie was the “winning” baby. “We didn’t know anything about the contest until we were told, ‘She’s the Christmas Baby,’” recalls Alyssa. “We were surprised. It was a good surprise!”

Congratulations to Richard and Alyssa and their new bundle of joy! • • •