Historic Blossburg Coal Mines

Coal mining around Blossburg located in Northwest Jefferson County began around the mid 1880's when Sloss Sheffield Steel & Iron Company in conjunction with the Georgia Pacific Railroad established a branch line running down just west of Brookside and Cardiff which Sloss also operated coal mines at. In later years A railroad tunnel would be constructed west of Cardiff that would eventually connect with the Warrior Coal Fields mostly in Walker County. The railroad tunnel was named Jefferson but it locally became known as the Fish Trap Tunnel. Hence the branch line from Cardiff became known as the Jefferson Tunnel Branch or Fish Trap Branch.and was still the same for Southern Railways which later purchased the Georgia Pacific Railroad. The areas first mining took place around what became known as West Blossburg. Sloss eventually built over 100 coke ovens and a coal washer there. By 1900 Tennessee Coal Iron & Railroad Company (TCI) had moved into the Blossburg area after buying up large tracts of land and established several large coal mining operations naming them A, B, C, D & E Mines. During this time period there were also literally dozens and dozens of drift mines all over Blossburg being worked by small independent coal mining companies.

Other coal mining companies entered the Blossburg area such as Pratt Consolidated Coal Company, Tutwiler Coal & Coke Company, Blossburg Mining Company and Brookside-Pratt Mining Company. By the 1930's
the only coal mine left in operation was Blossburg E Mine operated by the
Brookside-Pratt Mining Company on lease from TCI, By the late 1950's this
mine also shut down.

In what was known as West Blossburg the coal mining town of Alden was
built between 1927-1929 by Sloss Sheffield Steel & Iron Company to house the company's coal miners and their families working at Sloss's Flat Top Coal Mine. Alden was a very unique coal mining town in that it was built with with one purpose and that was to shorten the travel time for coal miners working in the Flat Top Mine which at that time the main entrance, tipple and coal washer was located over four miles north which was an enormous amount of underground travel time for the miners.
An almost one thousand foot tunnel was bored through rock at a 30 degree down angle to in constructing a man and materials way for the miners. At the same time a nearly 900 foot air shaft was constructed at Alden that was parallel to the 'Man Way'. It is unsure how long operations lasted at Alden but the Flat Top Coal Mine was eventually closed around 1977 it now being owned by Jim Walters Corporation. The Flat Top Coal Mine was completely torn down years ago along with the Alden man Way entrance and air shaft building and sealed, Today many of the original buildings and miners homes still exist at Alden though the main buildings are located on private property and trespassing is not tolerated.