Credit: Courtesy of Chris DellaMea, www.coalcampusa.com/
Mining coal in the Irwin Gas Field meant mining a section of the Pittsburgh Seam that wasn't as ideally suited for making coke as it was in the Connellsville and Klondike Fields, however, there was some beehive coke production in this field. Transportation was dominated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Westmoreland Coal Company, the nation's oldest coal company, began here in the 1850s. The field encompasses Salem, Penn, North Huntingdon, Sewickley, South Huntingdon, and part of Hempfield Townships.
