Coal Mining Archives - Shamokin Online Museum

Shamokin From Mount Carmel Road by James Fuller Queen, 1851
Source: Library of Congress

Although the old Reading road, opened in 1770 to connect the incipient settlements of the upper Susquehanna with the Schuylkill Valley, passed through the present limits of Shamokin borough, this locality was for many years practically unmarked by the influences of civilization.

There were numerous varieties of timber, but its value was trifling and a long period elapsed before the waters of Shamokin creek at this part of its course were made to subserve a useful purpose in furnishing the power for a single saw mill; and there was coal in practically inexhaustible quantities, but its existence was scarcely known and the time had not yet arrived for its profitable development. And when, at length, the miners pick and shovel began the work of prospecting, the immediate results were not such as to encourage sanguine expectations.

The railroad and mining industries of this country had not yet passed the experimental stage, and it was not until adequate transportation facilities had been provided, with the growth of a demand for the distinctive product of the region, that the way was opened for its unrestricted development.

Then followed a rapid influx of population, diverse in language, nationality, and creed, but homogeneous in the purpose of lending their common energies to the work, and thus Shamokin, the largest town in Northumberland county, has reached its present proportions. It has sixteen churches, an efficient system of public and parochial schools, water, gas, and electric light companies, three lines of railway, two banks, and an ample quota of stores and hotels, while the collieries of the surrounding region and a variety of local industrial establishments furnish employment for the population

Click the links below to learn more about Shamokin’s early history