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The Morris Run Coal Mining Company was one of the major coal producers in the
semi-bituminous coal fields of Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Coal was first discovered
in the Tioga region near present-day Blossburg around 1792, with David Clemons
opening the area's first mine around 1815. By the middle of the nineteenth century,
railroads had been constructed to move the coal to from the region's various
collieries to markets primarily located in the southern tier of New York state.
The history of the Morris Run Coal Mining Company begins with the incorporation
of the Morris Run Coal Company on October 3, 1864. By the late 1870s, the firm
was known as the Morris Run Coal Mining Company, controlling 7,000 acres of
land. In 1894, the firm employed 709 men, 522 of which were miners. Throughout
this time, the coal lands were actually owned by the Tioga Improvement Company,
with companies such as Morris Run serving as operating units, working the mines
under a lease from Tioga. In June 1909, T.S. Barber and Associates took over
complete control of the Morris Run Coal Mining Company, as well as the Tioga
Improvement Company. From 1909 through 1913, extensive improvements, such as
new colliery buildings constructed of brick and concrete, and electric motors
replacing mules for hauling, were introduced.
The materials in this collection were donated by Rodney Robertson, Jr., of Maine.
According to Robertson his grandfather, Jack Haddock, settled a large debt for
an acquaintance in the 1930s, and in return received the mineral rights for
the lands controlled by the Morris Run Coal Mining Company. Mr. Haddock passed
away in the 1960s, with these mineral rights passing to his daughter, Claire
Matlack Haddock. Ms. Haddock leased the rights to Jones and Bragg, a firm which
used the lease to conduct predominately strip mining on the Morris Run properties,
with New York Power and Light Company the main consumer of the coal produced.
Jones and Bragg were an environmentally-conscious company, planting trees, resodding,
and recontouring the lands which they had previously strip-mined.
By the 1960s, the debt assumed by Jack Haddock had been paid off. The family
that originally owned the mineral rights at this time approached Ms. Haddock
and her husband, Rodney Robertson, Sr., asking to reassert their control of
the mineral rights. Their inquiry was declined, and the Morris Run properties
now started to make money for the Robertson family. Ms. Haddock was the major
stockholder, with the company being governed by a board of directors. As the
coal seams became depleted by the 1970s, oil and gas companies were approaching
Morris Run to conduct exploratory work on their lands. A few five-year leases
were issued, but no major oil or gas deposits were discovered. Eventually Jones
and Bragg acquired the mineral rights to the company's properties, and by the
mid-1980s, the Robertson family was out of the coal business.
The collection consists of seventy-four maps, the majority of which deal with
either the lands or coal deposits present in southeastern Tioga County, specifically
the townships of Covington, Hamilton, Liberty, Union, and Ward. For related
records concerning other mining concerns in the Tioga County coal fields, see
Manuscript Group 48, Fall Brook Railroad and Coal
Company Records and Manuscript Group 282,
series {#282m.20 - #282m.26}, records of the Blossburg Coal Company.
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