The Pittsburgh Coal Company was a bituminous coal

Bituminous coal

Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...

 mining company, controlled by the Mellon family. It later merged with Consolidation Coal Company, controlled by the Rockefeller family

Rockefeller family

The Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...

.

Coal Mines

Pittsburgh Coal ran numerous coal mines in Allegheny County

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Allegheny County is a county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,223,348; making it the second most populous county in Pennsylvania, following Philadelphia County. The county seat is Pittsburgh...

 during the early 20th century. In 1915, it merged with the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company

Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company

The Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company was a railroad and coal transportation company, founded in 1899 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was formed by merging more than 80 independent coal mines and river transportation businesses, both in Pennsylvania and Kentucky...

.
It operated the Darr Mine

Darr Mine Disaster

The Darr Mine Disaster at Van Meter, Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near Smithton, killed 239 men and boys on December 19, 1907. It ranks as the worst coal mining disaster in Pennsylvania history...

 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile...

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Railroads

The company operated the Coal Hill Coal Railroad

Coal Hill Coal Railroad

The Coal Hill Coal Railroad began as a coal mine on the north face of Mt. Washington, then known as "Coal Hill", begun by Jacob Beltzhoover in 1825. This mine was operated by a series of persons, finally by James M. Bailey, who extened the mine completely though the hill to the south side of the...

, a 1.5 mile, narrow gauge

Narrow gauge

A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...

 railroad until 1871, when it was sold to the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad

Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad

The Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad was a narrow gauge railroad in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Originally built in 1871, it may have been the first American common carrier narrow gauge railroad. It purchased a rail line called the Coal Hill Coal Railroad from the Pittsburgh Coal...

, which lengthened the line.
The company assumed control of the Montour Railroad

Montour Railroad

Montour Railroad is a former short line railroad company operating passenger and freight service on standard gauge track in southwestern Pennsylvania...

 in 1901.

Labor Relations

Pittburgh Coal paid compensation in the death of John Barkoski due to a beating by the Coal and Iron Police

Coal and Iron Police

The Coal and Iron Police was a private police force in the United States established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly but employed and paid by the various coal companies. The origins of the Coal and Iron Police begin in 1865...

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The company was involved in labor disputes with John L. Lewis

John L. Lewis

John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...

 and the United Mine Workers

United Mine Workers

The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...

.

According to A. E. Hotchner's memoir, King of the Hill, the Pittsburgh Coal Company shot and killed photographer McShane. He apparently attempted to take pictures of the miners in Duquesne for a magazine. The company first shot McShane, and then shot some miners who ran to his aid, using machine guns.