The Jeddo Pump Room was built in the 1940s, carved out of solid rock 180 feet underground, for the purpose of pumping water for washing and separating coal within the Jeddo-Highland No 7 Breaker. Two, 440 volt 300 HP 2500 Gallon Per Minute Barrett, Haentjens & Company centrifugal Hazleton pumps were used to pump water through a column line out of the mine and to the breaker. Large ditches within the gangways and tunnels were built with gates and dams directing water to this pump room. This was necessary as there was no water basin to pump from due to the mine drainage from the Jeddo Tunnel System. In the early 1960s Deep mining ended in the Hazleton area and the pumps were shut down. In the late 1970s, The breaker was rebuilt and strip mining was becoming a very efficient way of mining the remaining coal. Therefore, the pumps would again need to be serviced to feed water to the new breaker. The original entrance slope in Ebervale was a considerable walking distance and no longer passable, so a manway was dug into an old chamber to access a rock tunnel, and travelway that led to the pump room. A 30 inch bore hole was drilled into the pump room to bring equipment down using a capsule, and a deep well pump installed in the sump below the original colliery pumps. A fan house in Ebervale was rehabilitated and put into use as a second opening and a means to ventilate the mines around the pump room. The Supey Family worked to rebuild the pump room from the onset, and maintained it until work at the 190 Slope, Lackawanna Mine Tour became too busy. Several members of UGM, while working for Alfred Brown Coal Co. took over the monthly maintenance of the pumps. In 2015 the pump room was shut down for good, in favor of drilling a 10” borehole 98 feet into a pool in the buck vein workings and installing a 125 HP 8” discharge 1000 GPM pump. While this bore hole is a further distance from the breaker, it eliminates the underground maintenance work to the pumps and mine. The manway was sealed permanently February of 2017.
Our photos showing the hoist house, travelway, and pump room in 2012.
Our photos showing the Ebervale Fan House in 2012.
Our videos showing the pump room and bore hole.