BRT-ISABELLA FURNACE & COKE WORKS Traditional Cache
beans&franks: UNDER WATER.........
BRT-ISABELLA FURNACE & COKE WORKS
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A SHORT WALK BACK IN TO THE WOODS FROM HERE BRINGS YOU TO A SERIES OF COKE OVENS
The Isabella Furnace Company of Pittsburgh purchased 900 acres of coal rights and lands in 1871, at the junction of McGee Run and the Conemaugh River, southeast of Blairsville, in Derry Township, Westmoreland County. Construction of 200 bee-hive coke ovens, a cokeyard, and roadways was initiated in ca.1872. The Isabella Furnace Company employed 300 men in the spring of 1872, to build the coke ovens, mine trestles and coal crusher plant.
At the Isabella Coke Plant each of the bee-hive coke ovens measured 13-1/2ft. in diameter with a height of 7ft, dimensions fairly typical of the region's bee-hive coke ovens. The coke works produced coke for the company's Isabella Blast Furnace located in the Etna Section of Pittsburgh, PA. Water for quenching the coke ovens was pumped from the Conemaugh River to the top of the hill above the town, where a large brick lined reservoir, holding 62,000 gallons of water, had been constructed.
Two hundred bee-hive type coke ovens were built at the Isabella Coke Plant. One hundred sixty of these ovens were placed along the side of an adjacent bend in the Conamaugh River and the other 40 were placed on the further hill across McGee Run. The coke track came across the ravine upon wooden trestles located in front of the coke ovens. A spur track of the Pennsylvania Railroad was run along the hillside to service the Isabella Coke Works. A wood trestle and a 36 inch gauge, narrrow-gauge railroad was constructed from the Hotham Mine entries, located east of the coke works across McGee Run. This narrow gauge railroad delivered the coal to the coke works, a distance of about one mile. The area in which the mines were located was called Miners Hill. The mine cars holding about 30 bushels of coal, pulled by a narrow-gauge steam locomotive called a dinkey, hauled coal from the mines to the coke works. The coke company built a large coal crusher between Minerstown Hill and McGee Run, which was used to prepare the coal for the coke ovens.
In 1880, the Isabella Furnace Company's mine at Cokeville produced 96,000 tons of coal. The company town of Cokeville was incorporated in 1887, providing housing for 300 miners, coke workers, and other personnel. The company built several other structures including a school house and a post office.
HUNTING AREA ,SO WEAR YOUR ORANGE IF SO NEEDED..........BYOP.....
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
unir gb hc lbhe tnzr sbe guvf bar
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