Historical designation the goal for uncovered Export mine entrance

After a local Boy Scout got the project going, Export Historical Society officials now are looking to designate the former Westmoreland Coal Company’s No. 2 mine as a historical site.

Troy Florian, 17, of Murrysville, is a member of Troop 205, which helped him clear the entrance to the mine, the first major mine on the Turtle Creek Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The borough’s first mines opened in October 1892 to ship coal to Philadelphia and New York.

Florian, a senior at Franklin Regional, made the mine his Eagle Scout project, and was presented with his Eagle rank at an Aug. 24 ceremony at Newlonsburg Presbyterian Church.

He took the lead in organizing scouts and adult volunteers to help expose and clean the No. 2 mine entrance, clearing brush, digging out the upper portion of the mine portals and creating a small path and retaining wall.

Historical society members are in contact with an engineer “who is going to prepare a report about the site,” society member Melanie Litz said. “We’re also acquiring an estimate from a contractor to construct a wall to permanently seal it up.”

Litz said the goal is to preserve and designate the area as an historical site, and to place signage outside detailing the borough’s coal mining history.

In September 2017, borough officials used a grant from the Community Foundation of Murrysville, Export and Delmont to install an informational sign nearby, at the entrance to the No. 2 mine’s fan house.