The Bangors

A map showing the primary slate "runs" through Bangor as well as the location of quarries.

While many of the Bangors were located in the communities of Bangor and East Bangor, some of them were not. So why would so many quarries use the name creating potential confusion if they were not located in Bangor? Bangor was not a trademarked name and could therefore be used by anyone. The slate from Bangor, and most notably the slate from the Old Bangor Quarry, had a reputation for being of outstanding quality so many people may have chosen the name in an attempt to create a sense of association.

One other possible factor requires knowing something about the slate runs which had to do with the geology of the region. While the Martinsburg Formation, the source of the slate which extends through the Slate Belt, is identified by three specific "members" (the Bushkill, the Ramseyburg, and the Pen Argyl), a much closer view of the geological distribution of the area around the community of Bangor, shows at least five major "runs". Runs were subsections of these members which were identified by the slaters because of the differences in the quality, color and hardness of the slate. Each of them produced a different type of rock. (for a better understanding CLICK HERE). These runs not only exist in Bangor, but ran in a southeasterly direction through a good portion of the district. Runs were traditionally named after the quarries where they were first identified, making it obvious that older quarries would be the source of those names. While slate was being quarried along both the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers in communities like Slatington and Slateford before any quarrying began in Bangor, Old Bangor was one of the earliest quarries in this central area ultimately being one of the sources for the named runs. In addition, North Bangor and Bangor were run names as well.

Interestingly the Old Bangor Quarry may have been one of the earliest and largest quarries in the region, but it did not survive the economic crash of the Great Depression. In 1924 Old Bangor quarry was sold to a new organization, the Amalgamated Slate Quarries Company of Easton, Pa and the quarry eventually closed for good just seven years later in 1931, long before the slate industry collapsed.

What's in a Hole

Variation of product, color and quality of slate from one quarry to the next could be significant due to the differences in the folds or "synclines" of the earth. This was apparent by the different runs which were identified, but while runs may have extended for considerable distances, variation was the reason why even neighboring quarries specialized in different products. The Old Bangor quarry and the Bangor Union quarry were no more than 500 feet from each other and yet each had a distinctive geology. Both of the quarries were located in the Upper Member Bangor Beds (identified as beds within the Martinsburg Formation) however, they each sat in different "runs".

Image Source: Pennsylvania Geological Survey

A view of Old Bangor Quarry showing the roofing shanties on the left hand side and the head frames of the incline cable-way at the rim of the quarry in the distance.

Image Source: Penn Pilot

A historic view from the late 1930's available from Penn Pilot showing the close proximity of the two 'Bangor' quarries.

Old Bangor

The Old Bangor quarry originally known as just Bangor quarry (and which in recent years has been filled in) lies half a mile east of the center of Bangor. In 1914 when the United States Geological Survey issued its Bulletin “Useful Minerals of the United States", it recognized Old Bangor as the largest slate quarry in the United States and the oldest in the region. By 1933 when Charles Behre put out his book for the same organization, Old Bangor, which was closed by then, had fallen in rank and was by then the third largest quarry in the district, roughly 1200 feet by 550 feet in its greatest dimensions and from 200 feet to 300 feet in depth.

The general structure was that of a close overturned syncline, with the same gritty bed appearing at both the top and the bottom of the quarry, this lowest bed being regarded as the lower limit of the slate. Drill cores from a depth of 200 feet below the quarry failed to show any good slate, which may help to explain why the quarry kept getting larger in area but not in depth. The thickest bed of good slate was 9 feet thick. The product from the large beds was used for roofing but material from the ribboned beds went into mill stock.

The quarry had an omnipresent problem in the disposal of waste, which was eventually thrown into the old hole or carried south uphill. In 1912 the gritty bed on top, which was overlying the good slate of the syncline, was blasted out and thrown down upon the gritty bed below it as fast as the good slate was quarried out.

Due to the unusual geological formations here, certain diagonal or longitudinal joints intersecting the bedding planes at the northern corner of the quarry produced an optical illusion making the beds there seem to curve over to the west northwest instead of the east southeast and thus, in connection with the syncline on the east southeast wall, to form a complete ellipsoid. This peculiar feature however disappeared with the growth of the excavation. ^2.

Image Source: Ebay

Bangor Union

Even as close as these two quarries were, Bangor Union had an entire sequence of beds that were not present in the Old Bangor quarry because it was farther up in the fold.

This quarry started production in 1869. The Bangor Union quarry lies about 500 feet northwest of the northwestern wall of the Old Bangor quarry. The opening estimated as measuring 400 by 200 feet exposed a completely overturned close fold on its northwest wall crossed by an almost horizontal cleavage. This fold in the Bangor Union was regarded as the inner northwesterly part of the same fold exposed on the northeast wall of the Old Bangor quarry.

Starting production as early as 1869, the opening estimated at 400 feet by 200 feet exposed a completely overturned close fold on its northwest wall, crossed by an almost horizontal cleavage. This fold in the Bangor Union was regarded as the inner northwesterly part of the same fold exposed on the northeast wall of the Old Bangor quarry. Unique to this quarry was their means of transporting slate to the trains for shipping. Located about two miles from the railroad, slates were transported by overhead tramway from where they were made to the warehouse which had independent switches for the railroad. The buckets on the tramway could each hold about 1/3 of a square, which could be loaded quickly and without too much concern for damage resulting from poor quality roads. Once the slates arrived at the terminal, the buckets would then return to the quarry full of coal, needed to fire the boiler.^3.