By 1872, Elias and his sons William and Douglas Charles operated a new business three miles south of Mauch Chunk in Lehighton, Carbon County. It was known as Weissport Foundry, later renamed the Fort Allen Foundry (or Fort Allen Iron Works), and using the trade name "Miner Bros." 

When the Atlas of Carbon County was published in 1875 by F.W. Beers & Co., Elias' name was printed in the map of Weissport. His home was shown as being located facing Bridge Street, next to the home of C. Becker on the left, with the Methodist Episcopal across the alley on the right, and a public square across the street. The Miners' home was just a block from the iron Works, which sat on White Street, meaning Elias could quickly get to and from the foundry at any time.

They were profiled in an 1881 booklet, Manufacturing and Mercantile Resources of the Lehigh Valley. The booklet said that the three Miners had: 

... built up a very large trade, ranking them among the leading enterprises of the kind in this section.... The proprietors... are through men in their business, and have by careful attention and good work, not only secured a large and lucrative trade, but won the confidence of all with whom they have been brought in contact.... Everything about the works indicates the superior management to which they are subjected, and well illustrated the ability and fitness of the firm for the business. Convenient in their location to both railroad and canal, they possess every advantage for prompt shipment to any point, and the receipt of material for their works. The individual members of the firm ... are all residents of Weissport, and among the most active and respected citizens.

Carbon Advocate, Aug. 23, 1890

The foundry was susceptible to the ups and downs of the economy. In 1876, the company shuttered operations, and only opened again in May 1877, after a shutdown of about seven months. By September of the following year, 1878, the company was "receiving large orders, which compel them to put more men to work every day," said the Carbon Advocate. "They are at present running to their fullest capacity." 

Fascinated by the foundry's booming activity, an Advocate reporter visited the works in late September 1878. A detailed article followed: 

Every nook and corner of their large building had its occupant. They are now turning out the castings for some 1200 sewing machines per week, and have offers for still larger contracts. In these dull times it does one good to witness so much business enterprise as that exhibited by the Miner Bros. They have it under contemplation to still further enlarge their buildings, now they are putting up another annealing oven of large capacity in order to facilitate their business.

~ Enter the Mollie Maguires ~

During the 1860s and 1870s, when the Miners were building their business, dependent on coal, the entire community was abuzz with the controversy of the Mollie Maguires, a violent group of anthracite mining labor activists, in an era long before labor unions were legal. The Mollies reputedly had been formed in Ireland, and, said the booklet The Lives and Crimes of the Mollie Maguires:.

...had for its chief purpose the shooting of the agents of the cruel grasp-all Irish landlords,.. Mollie Maguireism was revived in this country, taking its chief and most terrible hold in the coal regions of Pennsylvania... For fourteen years, ending with 1876, the populous mining districts of Eastern Pennsylvania were terrrorized over by this mysterious secret society. During that time brutal assassinations of prominent citizens, besides attempted murders, assaults, and other outrages almost innumerable were committed by it.

A number of mine bosses and police officers brutally were killed by Mollies over the years at work, on the road, and in their homes, in view of co-workers, loved ones and others. More than 70 men eventually were arrested during this era, of which a dozen were found guilty of first-degree murder, and 11 executed for their crimes. Five were hanged at Pottsville, MD, with the other six at Mauch Chunk.

Today, a handprint may be seen on a cell wall in the Old Jail Museum where the condemned men were housed. Reputedly, just before being taken out for his hanging, one prisoneer rubbed his hand in the dirt on the floor and then on the wall. He then declared,    "That mark of mine will never be wiped out. There it will remain forever to shame the county that is hanging an innocent man." Today it is a tourist attraction.

Above, portraits of the chief Mollie Maguires perpetrators and victims, and the murder of a coal mine boss. Below, executions at Mauch Chunk, 1877, and the 1969 movie version, starring Sean Connery. Paramount Pictures

~ The Miners' Final Years ~

Residing in Weissport, the Miners spent their final years there. 

Mary passed away in Weissport on Aug. 20, 1890, at the age of 75, "after an illness of some weeks," said the Carbon Advocate. She "was a good and faithful wife, a kind mother and christian neighbor and her kindly face will be much missed by our people who will ever remember her for her excellent virtues." 

Mauch Chunk Gazette, Oct. 9, 1891

In Mary's obituary, the Mauch Chunk Democrat noted that "Mr. Miner is quite feeble and confined. Both reached ripe old age."

Later that month, the Advocate reported that Elias, "one of our oldest and most respected citizens who lost his wife by death last week, left on Monday for Philadelphia and Atlantic City where he will spend a brief season in an endeavor to regain impaired health." He likely went to Atlantic City to live with his son Frank.

Elias passed away on Oct. 5, 1891, at the home of his son C.D. Miner, "from general debility consequent to old age," said an obituary in the Advocate. The Mauch Chunk Gazette ran a lengthy obituary under the headline "Death of a Pioneer." The article said that:

To many of the younger generation in Mauch Chunk, Mr. Miner is but a memory. But by all of our older citizens he is well and favorably remembered.... In the death of Elias Miner a good man has gone to his rest. He was in every respect an honest man, and lived the life of a true christian.

The remains were laid to rest in the Weissport Union Cemetery, following a funeral led by Rev. G.W. Dungan of the Methodist  Episcopal Church of Lehighton. No stone is known to mark the final resting place.  

Many years later, his former Methodist-Episcopal church building in Mauch Chunk was converted into what today is the Mauch Chunk Museum & Cultural Center, In an exhibit viewed by the founder of this website in October 2022, Elias' and Edward Lippincott's names are spelled out in a panel entitled "Industrial Development 1830-1870."

Elias named in a Mauch Chunk Museum exhibit. Below: Jim Thorpe, Oct. 2022