Talk:Keeling Coal Company

Mine

The mine and railroad are mentioned in a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case involving the Rankin family and Joseph Keeling.Pustelnik (talk) 01:12, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Ormsby

John Ormsby (Pittsburgh) had a son Oliver Ormsby and a daughter, Sidney Ormsby. Oliver Ormsby also had a daughter named Sidney Ormsby and a son Oliver Harrison Ormsby. Pustelnik "Captain" Phillips may be Oliver Ormsby's other son-in -law, Asher Phillips, 1790-1843, but is likely to be yet another son-in-law, Elias Phillips, Asher's brother, married to Mary Mahon Ormsby. see: A short account of the family of Ormsby of Pittsburgh, 1892, Oliver Ormsby Page.(talk) 01:35, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Railroad

The Whitehall Branch was built at the behest of Henry W Oliver, probably after Keeling stopped using the line on Railroad St. Old Hopkins maps show the line on Railroad St (now S 21st) went straight from the incline to the river where I assume the coal went onto river vessels.

It's unlikely the coal even made it onto the Whitehall Branch.

I'll see where my Oliver biography went. There's a date for construction of the Pittsburgh and Whitehall, since the P&LE attempted to enjoin its construction. Dbrashear (talk) 17:44, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I corrected the article. I misunderstood the route of the Whitehall branch. Is this the railroad that crossed S. 18th street, just as it turns to go up the hill and connect with Brownsville Road? Pustelnik (talk) 13:46, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

The Whitehall Branch ran from a yard where Giant Eagle is now, around a curve, up south 21st, then curved around the Duquesne Brewery clock building and ran out Mary St, joining the railroad on the embankment near 30th St. The original Pittsburgh&Whitehall continued from the Giant Eagle down at least to 10th St, parallel and adjacent to the P&LE. That portion ended up leased to Oliver Iron subsidiary Allegheny and South Side; I have a 1938 map showing their portion in great detail from Rivers of Steel.

The railroad which Keeling used ran from somewhere up along Quarry St down Railroad St (South 21st) straight to the river, and was the reason for the center reservation which got reused later when the Pittsburgh&Whitehall was built by the Oliver interests.

The railroad which goes over 18th St at the bottom of the hill is the PRR Monongahela Branch, formerly Pittsburgh Virginia and Charleston. A 1924 map of the "PRR pitsburgh terminal district" suggests the yard on the north side of the main line there may or may not have been on the embankment like the rest of the facility there. I'd like to find pictures but haven't had much luck. If you're local I'll happily show you everything I've gathered. Dbrashear (talk) 16:51, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Trestle

According to an 1886 map of Pittsburgh, the Mt. Oliver end of the trestle was on land owned by Anthony Soulier. I'm not sure what relation, if any, he is to the Anthony Soulier involved on the union side of the Homestead Strike of 1892. The Carrick end of the trestle was on land owned by A. Bruner, and I suppose that that explains the name of Bruner Street.[ http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/maps/showmap.pl?client=maps&image=86v01p20&levels=5&originx=0&originy=0&lastlevel=4&fullheight=5460&fullwidth=8218&level=2&size=1&tnail.x=72&tnail.y=80] I suupose that the nearby street named Laughlin is named after James H. Laughlin of Jones and Laughlin Steel, who also owned both ends on the 1916 map [1], but the trestle is no longer shown. . Pustelnik (talk) 17:24, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Incline

Incline is on Plate 30 of the 1886 Pittsburgh map. The one known as the St. Clair Incline or South 22nd Street Incline, run by the St. Clair Incline Plane Company, appears to have run parallel to the same ravine, now South Side Park. See:Arlington Heights (Pittsburgh) Pustelnik (talk) 23:30, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

St. Clair incline is separate from the coal inclinePustelnik (talk) 13:34, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

The coal incline for the Ormsby mine shows up on the 1872 G.M. Hopkins Co. Maps of the area, so it must have been in existence then, making this one of the oldest of the Pittsburgh inclines. Pustelnik (talk) 00:07, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Gravity Plane: Self-acting incline or brake incline or gravity plane: a rope incline on which the weight of descending loaded wagons pulls up the empties. The coal "gravity plane" may be the first incline in Pittsburgh, except that this area was not Pittsburgh when it was built, but Birmingham.Pustelnik (talk) 15:22, 2 January 2011 (UTC)