over 130 years ago there was an enormous wooden structure across what we know today as keyser
avenue in old forge pennsylvania this building known as the sibley breaker perished twice in
fire and yet it is still remembered to this day even over a hundred years after its destruction
now at this point you might be asking yourself what was the purpose of such a bizarre building
and there were many like it throughout pennsylvania so stay tuned for the answer
this is the story of the sibley breakers i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
first constructed in 1873 the simply breakers function was to break coal into pieces sort them
by size remove any impurities from the product and grade the coal on remaining impurities coal
breakers typically were as close to the mine entrance as possible to minimize travel time
the colliery which is a coal mine and all the buildings that served it had a special
underground tunnel to connect the sibley works to the old forge coal shaft making the trip
a uniquely short one perhaps it is due to this that the sibley works processed five million two
hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred and fifty five tons of coal between 1873 and 1916. before
entering the breakers workers crushed coal sorted out smaller pieces placed them into mine carts and
washed it with water if necessary since cole often exited the mines with other materials like slate
sulfur ash clay or soil a more thorough cleaning is required than a spray of water can do
that is where the breaker came in the earliest cold breakers first appeared in the mid-1840s
typically oriented towards the mine's opening so that the coal fell into the breaker when that was
not possible breakers had lifts that carried the coal up to the top of the line the simply breaker
had a cage hoist built into the structure allowing the raw coal to travel directly to the top its
tallest point in fact were the pulleys that made the lift work boilers or engines housed nearby
provided power to operate that lift when not built on a slope breakers typically reached
eight or nine stories in height the typical breaker's first point was an inclined picker table
where coal entered from the lift or mine and employees picked out obvious impurities like rocks
or slate chunks these pieces went down comb pipes to workers sides where the debris joined the combs
which was a mixture of coal too small for use impurities and of course debris the workers also
took out lumps of clean coal and deposited it down a separate clean coal pipe which had it skipped
the rest of the line and go straight to crushing the second level was far rougher sorting here cole
passed over sorting bars which shifted through the coal and sorted it into its desired types
each type passed over a mud screen with round coal passed through into the next area a flat
slate fell into a comb pile from there the coal passed through more screens some of which shook
shifting out impurities and sorting the coal more accurately other screens were cylindrical and in
10 rotations a minute they performed the same duty as the others thirdly there was a crushing
level with most of the coal still being lumps at this point crushing was necessary to make them fit
for marketing two cylinders one with teeth another with holes to accept the teeth crushed the lump of
coal into smaller and smaller sizes in the fourth level another line of pickers removed impurities
and picked out good coal for the coal mine while workers picked out impurities at all levels this
level had the most by far cole picked out at the beginning of the line rejoins here since at
this point the line had lost much of the incline the coal traveled through this layer on conveyor
belts typically 33 feet per minute for smaller coil sizes and 50 feet per minute for larger
at the ground level coal and calm reached the end point dry comb went away to a nearby dump wet
combs stayed in holding tanks until dry and clean processed coal was collected by rail cars and went
straight to market since these were the days before child labor laws boys typically between
ages of 8 and 12 took to removing impurities in the coal by hand and placing them into shoots at
their side and there were rarely any safety protocols in place either the interiors of
these breaker buildings were extremely dangerous there were even hazards in the air as coal dust
led to asthma and black lung disease to handle the potentially slick rocks better so-called breaker
boys went without gloves despite the sharpness of the stones most finished their 10 hour shifts with
countless bleeding cuts and those were the lucky ones some were unfortunate enough to lose a finger
on the conveyor belts and others lost entire limbs to gears in the machinery the least
fortunate breaker boys fell into the machinery crushed to death and only retrieved at the end
of the day others got caught by the rushing coal and suffocated in a pile thankfully pennsylvania
was quicker on the draw than most and outlawed children under 12 working in coal breakers
in 1885. unfortunately enforcement of this law was rare as employees and families frequently forged
birth certificates to allow their children to work as technology advanced in the 20th century breaker
boys became progressively more outdated and unnecessary eventually ending for the most part by
1920 thanks to the efforts of the national child labor committee and the national consumer league
on february the 5th 1886 a fire broke out within the breaker completely destroying
the building the a b tyrell company wasted no time in reconstructing it as they entirely cleaned the
site by july the 5th and rebuilding was already underway the second structure was similar to the
first maintaining many of the originals features however it was also not to be within 20 years the
site had cleared again on june the 23rd 1906 at 10 45 am another fire broke out within the breaker
this blaze not only claimed the breaker but the engine house boiler and supply house over the
course of its operating years 43 workers lost their life in the sibley colliery many coal
breakers around pennsylvania still stand today and while operations have primarily moved elsewhere
they remain uniquely pennsylvanian for the most part coal breakers like this were only ever found
in the anthracite coal mines of pennsylvania the large wooden structures strike an imposing
figure over the towns they called home just as the shadows of the coal industry loom over the state