The entrance of the
Pennsylvania Railroad's extension from
Tyrone, northwest to
Philipsburg and
Clearfield opened much of the field to coal mining. Later the
New York Central (NYC) built the
Beech Creek Railroad from
Jersey Shore up
Beech Creek and entered Clearfield from the northeast. This line bypassed Clearfield and extended south to
Mahaffey and eventually into
Indiana County. Other rail lines included the
Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad's extension down
Anderson Creek to Clearfield, NYC's extension to Clearfield and down the
Susquehanna River to Keating, and the
Bell's Gap Railroad, which ran through the southern part of the county through Mahaffey. Each railroad opened numerous coal company towns such as Surveyor, Croft,
Karthaus and Bald Hill on NYC's Susquehanna River line. Numerous other towns were built such as Gaazam, Glen Richey, Peale, Winburne (
Summerville), Hawk Run, Morrisdale and
Irvona. The active mining of these fields has been greatly reduced since the 1970s. Some coal is obtained via
strip-mining for the power plant at Shawville and other private enterprises. There were no active underground mines in Clearfield County as of 2007. == External links ==