EBT Virtual Tour
Jacobs

Mile Mark: unknown
Elevation: unknown
Date: unknown

Jacobs was a mining area established shortly after the Rocky Ridge branch was built. The proprietor of this mine was R. W. Jacobs, a merchant in Huntingdon. It was Jacobs who, after twenty years of trying by others, was able to lure the EBT to construct a line down the valley along Rocky Ridge. August 21, 1903 he formed the Broad Top Coal and Mineral Company mergint his own holdings with that of Sleeman and gaining control of the Weaver and Savage Bank lands.

Upon offering the EBT a loan of $5,500 in 1903 toward the construction of the branch, the EBT moved forward with construction, with Jacobs being one of the main contractors for the branch. Two drift mines were opened in 1906 at Jacobs. Of al the mining encampments along the Rocky Ridge branch, Jacobs was the most substantial, peaking around 1912 with a post office, schol, church and 60 houses.

In 1913 the Juniata and Southern was built, expanding upon a logging railroad near Patadice Furnace, from the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain railroad to Jacobs, racing it in 1915. R.W. Jacobs went bankrupt in 1914 and died later that year. BTC&M opened a new mine opening and tipple serviced by the J&S. With insufficient traffic and cheap construction, the J&S went bankrupt in 1917 and was scrapped. The EBT then built a spur off the branch main to the new tipple.

BTC&MCo went into bankruptcy in 1922 after a economic downturn in 1920. The Jcacobs mines were presumably closed at that time.

Today the foundations of the Post Office/General Store can be found in Jacobs along the Rocky Ridge Branch main. The upper drift entrance appears to be visible as a depression above the road.

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