The Broad Top Coal Field is a high, dissected tableland (mesa), consisting of over 52,000 acres of semi-bituminous coal reserves, located in the corners of Huntingdon, Bedford, and Fulton counties of south-central Pennsylvania. Broken down, the coal reserves include: Huntingdon County, 20,704 acres; Bedford County, 30,416 acre; and Fulton County, 1,500 acres.

The three major coal seams, in ascending order, are, Fulton, Barnett and Kelly. Sometimes spelled “Kelley” the present day Kelly Coal Seam was named after Charles and Barney Kelley who left Ireland in 1796 and settled at Sandy Run, Broad Top Township, and Bedford County. They opened and mined the Kelly Seam. Kelley Row in Saxton is also named for the two men.

The Barnett Coal Seam is named for Philip Barnett who mined this coal near Barnettstown, Carbon Township, and Huntingdon County about 1830.

The Fulton Coal Seam gets its name from mining engineer John Fulton who was employed by the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad. His engineering work with the railroad company led to the discovery and opening of the Futon Coal Seam near Dudley in the 1870s.

During the peak of the coal mining industry around the Broad Top (around World War I), the “black diamonds” were consumed largely for domestic and boiler fuel in Washington D.C., Baltimore Philadelphia, Jersey City, New York City, and Boston; and on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), Huntingdon and Broad Top (H&BT), and the East Broad Top (EBT) Railroad as well as associated industries (Broad Top coal was used in the production of coke for iron making industry is one example.)

The major drainage area of the Broad Top includes: Sandy/Longs Runs, Six Mile Run, Trough Creek and Shoups Run.

Many early historians report that the Broad top Coal was first discovered around the 1800 by a blacksmith, Nathan Port Horton, near the mouth of Shreeves Run in Broad Top Township, Bedford County, at present day North Point. Horton packed the “black diamonds” to his nearby blacksmith shop. A small “country mine” was also opened along Trough Creek at Robertsdale during the 1830s by William Houck while the Alloway family was also involved in coal exploration on “Robertsdale Mountain” around the same time period.

However, it was not until the development of the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad that coal mining was begun commercially during the mid-1850s. Two decades later, the Rockhill Iron and coal Company opened mining operations on the east side of Broad Top Mountain at present day Robertsdale (early 1870s.)

To learn more, visit The Broad Top Area Coal Miners Historical Society Museum in Robertsdale, Pennsylvania.