[Archers] Mine at Pennsic

[Garth Groff]

Noble friends,

A couple of weeks back we were discussing the old archery range at 
Pennsic and the question of whether the hill was riddled with collapsing 
tunnels. For what it is worth, here is the summary of my recent researches:

Other than my own observation of the subsidance at Pennsic 37, I am 
still unable to confirm the existence of a mine beneath the hill. That 
said, I did some searching for resources on coal mining and Butler 
County, and was overwhelmed by the hundreds of mines that exist/existed 
there. The names are recorded in a huge database, with is not set up for 
searching by location, and each entry would have to be examined for 
clues to its location (Worth Township, would probably the key). That 
said, I found the USGS Topographic map for the Porterville quadrangle, 
which just barely includes the Coopers Lake area. No mines are indicated 
on the hill itself (but USGS maps only indicate visible works, ruins, 
tunnel adits or shafts). The west side of our hill has been strip mined 
at some time in the past. An additional played-out strip mine exists 
between the freeway and the hill, probably part of the far north parking 
area. If you are familiar with coal mining, you may recall that 
underground mines often take coal from seams in galleries, leaving large 
pillars to hold up the earth above the gallery and wasting a lot of 
valuable coal. Many areas were later strip mined to get at this coal 
that had been bypassed by underground mining. The presence of slumps on 
the former main archery field, and strip mining within a 1/2 mile or so 
on either side strongly suggest this hill might have hidden tunnels 
beneath it. There are literally dozens of strip mines or reclaimed areas 
shown on the Porterville quad map around Coopers Lake, including huge 
works to the north and south of Rt. 422 along Muddy Creek. The whole 
Butler area was once a major coal producer, and some coal is still being 
recovered in the area. If I could find a USGS or state division of mines 
publication on coal or minerals in Butler County, I might be able to 
confirm this, and such pubs do exist, though not online or in my library.

In addition, there is an old railroad grade which crosses the Coopers 
Lake property. It runs east-west just to the north of the creek, skirts 
the southern edge of Coopers Lake itself, then turns due south, crossing 
422 on the west side of the Freeway. I suspect it may be close to our 
current archery range. I would not be surprised if there was a spur up 
to our former archery range area a long time ago to reach a coal loader, 
but if so, it has been obscured by later development or farming of the 
main site. So far, I haven't found any more information on this 
railroad, but it wouldn't be too hard to uncover if I had the time.

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier
(aka Garth Groff, Amateur Industrial Historian)