Coal Mine Tour | Wilkes Barre

Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour — what to expect underground

Where and what it is
Hidden inside McDade Park on Scranton’s west side, the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour drops visitors 300 feet beneath Bald Mountain into a once-working anthracite mine that operated from the 1860s until 1966. Retired miners guide every tour, blending personal stories with hard history in a lamp-lit labyrinth of black rock, timber props, and rusted iron rails.

The descent
Your visit starts topside at a replica “slope” hoist. A bright-yellow mine car, once used to haul coal, now carries passengers down a 1,900-foot inclined tunnel. The temperature falls to a steady 50–53 °F—bring a jacket even in July.

Walking the gangways
At the loading platform you step onto damp rock and begin a ¾-mile walk along original gangways. Guides explain:

Anthracite geology – how massive pressure folded 300-million-year-old peat bogs into shiny, hard coal.

Room-and-pillar method – miners carved chambers, leaving coal “pillars” to hold the roof, then returned later to rob them, a nerve-racking practice called “pulling pillars.”

Child labor – breaker boys, some as young as eight, sat aboveground picking slate from rushing coal; underground nippers swung heavy doors to control deadly drafts.

Mule power – before locomotives, sure-footed mules hauled two-ton cars; one preserved mule stable still shows gnawed timbers.

Signal system – a bell code (one ring: stop, two: go, three: hoist men) echoed through darkness. You’ll hear the bell clang just as miners did.

Disasters and safety reforms – stories of firedamp explosions, collapsing roofs, and the 1902 strike that birthed modern labor arbitration.

Atmosphere and sensations
Water drips constantly, forming shallow tracks where carts once rolled. The sulfur smell of “black damp” lingers in stagnant pockets. Overhead, you’ll notice wooden cribbing wedged tight against a sagging shale ceiling—an unnerving reminder that everything above you is still moving, albeit slowly.

Length and difficulty
Tours last roughly an hour. The path is level but uneven and often wet; closed-toe shoes are mandatory. Low ceilings require occasional ducking, and two short stairways have sturdy handrails. The hoist car accommodates wheelchairs, but the underground route itself is not ADA-accessible.

Topside museum pieces
Back in daylight, stroll past a 1937 Eimco electric locomotive, a Cutler coal drill, and a “miner’s shanty” dwelling that shows how families lived on a company lot. The gift shop sells hardhat magnets, coal chunks polished into paperweights, and locally printed anthracite history books.

Practical details
• Season: April through November, seven days a week in summer, weekends only in early spring and late fall.
• Hours: First descent 10 a.m.; last around 3 p.m.; tours depart every half hour in peak season.
• Tickets: Purchase in the red-roof visitors’ center; adults pay about $10, seniors and kids slightly less; phone reservations recommended for groups.
• Gear: Hardhats are provided. Dress warmly, wear sturdy footwear, and expect your clothes to pick up coal dust.
• Location: McDade Park, 1120 Bald Mountain Road, Scranton, PA 18504; five minutes off I-81 Exit 182.

Nearby add-ons
Pair the mine with the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum (also in McDade Park) for breaker machinery, immigrant stories, and a 20-foot-tall “Molly Maguire” scaffold. Downtown Scranton’s Electric City Trolley Museum is ten minutes east and offers vintage-trolley rides past old colliery sites.

Insider tips
– Arrive early on hot summer days; the first tours are quietest and the cool air feels most refreshing.
– Bring a flashlight for kids—guides encourage shining light into unexplored recesses.
– Listen for a sudden hush: guides often extinguish all lamps briefly so you can feel total darkness.
– After the tour, hike McDade Park’s short interpretive trail; its overlooks show the patchwork of culm banks and subsidence pits still scarring the valley.

The Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour delivers an unforgettable, sensory window into the gritty world that fired America’s Industrial Revolution—and it does so with authenticity only former miners can provide.