AREA HISTORY:  Slate Quarries, Peach Bottom Township, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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THE SLATE QUARRIES – Page 767

The slate quarries of this township for half a century have been famous.  They have given 
popularity to the name Peach Bottom over a large extent of country.  Industrial statistics show 
that five-eights of the slate used in America is quarried from Northampton and Lehigh Counties, 
in this State, and the valuable quarries of Peach Bottom.  For roofing purposes the slate of 
this township is unexcelled on account of its durability.  The roof of the Slate Ridge Church 
was placed on it in 1805, and is still well preserved.  The quarrying of the slate of this 
region for use as tombstones began at a very early period, but for roofing purposes slate was 
quarried only in small quantities before 1800.

The land on which the quarries are located, was originally the McCandless property and now 
owned by the Williamson estate.  A Baltimore company opened some quarries and did a 
considerable business as early as 1812.  Peter Williamson, a native of Scotland, became the 
lessee and Maj. Thomas S. Williamson succeeded, and eventually purchased the lands.  He 
quarried slate extensively for many years.  The slate is first blasted out, then hoisted by 
steam to the bank in large irregularly-shaped blocks.  These blocks are then broken or 
“scalloped” into smaller blocks, and then split into sheets of required thickness.  For that 
purpose a chisel or knife about eighteen inches long is used.  The slate as it lies in distinct 
veins, splits readily wherever the knife is put in, if inserted when the block is wet, or 
“green,” as it is called by the workmen.  They denominate the original moisture in the slate 
“sap.”  After the blocks become dry, they harden and cannot be split easily.  After the blocks 
are split, the sheets are dressed or trimmed into shingles of the required shape, by means of a 
machine worked by foot-power, which is from 6x12 inches to 14x24 inches.

Slate is packed and sold in “squares,” which contain 100 square feet, or sufficient to cover a 
space of 10 feet by 10 feet, when laid on the roof.  One square of slate covers the same area 
as 1,000 shingles.  For more than a third of a century the quarries at Peach Bottom have been 
operated by the Welsh, among whom are John Humphreys & Co., William E. Williams & Co., E. D. 
Davies & Co., James Perry & Co., William C. Roberts, Thomas W. Jones & Co., John W. Jones & 
Co., Foulk Jones, Hugh E. Hughes & Co., Kilgore & Co., and others, all of whom are intelligent 
men.  Many of them worked in the slate quarries of North Wales before coming to America.  John 
Humphrey located here, coming from Wales in 1849.  The means at the disposal of miners for 
getting out and dressing the slate were then very limited and chiefly confined to an ordinary 
crane and derrick.  At that time the mines were not deep like now.  The slate ridge which 
crosses the township south of Delta is neither high nor steep, but preserves a rather uniform 
outline as far as it can be followed by the eye from the valley below.

From 3,000 to 3,500 squares of slate of the best quality and 1,000 tons of second quality have 
been obtained yearly from some of the best quarries.  Some of the quarries are 200 feet deep.  
Prof. Agassiz, the great naturalist, visited these quarries in 1870.

Enos Frey & Co. have recently commenced operations in mining slate on an extensive scale in 
this region.  There is a valuable vein of serpentine in Peach Bottom Township.