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Reliance Tipple: Placque #2
At Reliance Tipple in Reliance
The wooden, coal-loading facility, which was completed in 1912, went through a number of changes during its life time. The original wooden tipple was a frame structure set on top of wooden piers. Windows were located on either side of the structure to let in light and let out coal dust. Coal came into the tipple from the south. The coal was sorted by men or boys and sized according to need. The Workers picked out stone or odd-sized pieces of coal and dropped these pieces into the appropriate conveyor or outside the tipple. The stone wall southwest of here is all that remains of the tipple today.

It was not uncommon for boys to work alongside men in the tipple. Some miners began their lives in the coal company’s employ by first working in the tipple. The wooden tipple was contructed long before safety regulations were in force. Though working in the tipple was much safer than working underground, it was still dusty. Tipple workers often complained that you could not even see the person working beside you.

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