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| Inside a collapsed coke oven |
Now that you watched both videos, I can really give you more of details that a few minutes of video can't really describe. I grew up in a small town in northern PA in a county called Cameron. Coal mining was a big industry during the late 1800s for this area. I didn't know anything about it until a few years ago and it blows my mind away just thinking about it.
The first 2 photos you see are related to whats left of the old coal mining operation that existed a long time ago. The photo above is me sitting inside of whats left of one of coke ovens. The photo below is an old coal cart that's on display at the Cameron County Historical Society. These carts were once used back in the late 1800s to move coal from the mountains to the railway or in this case over to the coke ovens that I showed on day 2 of the videos. If you were to visit the location today there is very little evidence left to show that 30 homes, a general store, a post office, saw mills, and a rail road once bustled with activity. The rail road is still there as well as whats left of the coke ovens.
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| Whats left of an old coal cart |
Between
the years 1863-1917 this area of Northern PA was very much alive but
the coal mining operations shutdown in 1912 and by 1917 most of the
folks living there moved on. I have been exploring this location on and off
for over the last 20 years . I was fascinated by what went on during that
time and every time I go back I learn something more. To stand in the
same spot on top of the mountain where these coal miners hauled coal from
inside the mountain really makes a person wonder how they did it.
If you were to stand at the point on the mountain where most of the action took place, you would be amazed. Its steeper than you can imagine. Even as a kid, I enjoyed
walking from the top of the mountain to the bottom the mountain but hating every
minute of the walk back to the top. I only did it a couple times a year on a well groomed path! These
guys did it everyday and if that wasn't hard enough to image try to
envision that these workers built a wooden staircase all the up the
mountain and built a cable car system to bring the coal from the top of
the mountain, down a cable in a big bucket, and across the creek where
it was off loaded to the coke ovens. I go into more detail in this video
and actually show you what the coke ovens look like and how they were used.
The photo at the shows me in front of whats left today of the coke ovens that are still visible.
On April 25th and 26th (2014) we spent 2 full days at this location trying to find artifacts of of mining operation or maybe a coin or token from the folks who worked and lived in the area.
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| Front view of the coke oven |
Here is recap of some of those items that made the video but many that didn't:
1 horse shoe near the stream bank which would have been an area where they would have crossed the stream and they used donkeys and horses back in those days so that was expected and a good find.
Several pieces of old clocks. We aren't sure why we uncovered so many of them in different areas. We weren't sure what they were at first but thanks to you folks out there we did.
1
Gold plated ring (we think) that could have been worn by one of the
wives or even the school teacher who taught to a few of the children on the
mountain.
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| Gold Plated ring (stone missing) |
Old lock that read "Champion 6 lever"
Several fired (modern) bullets.
A potential grave site. There were 3 documented deaths from small pox and they were buried somewhere at the base of the mountain. A huge flood back in the 1950's or 60's washed away the markers but I think we found one of them. I point this out in the video.
Double sided axe heads.
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| Pocket watch pieces and old spoon |
1898 "V" Nickle.
Coal pick.
Spoon and pocket watch.
1 Broken bottle from a local brewery almost intact.
Crotal Bell (just found on a return trip this past October) in really nice shape. Ran up clear as a bell..no pun intended. :-)
A serving utensil that was really fancy. It had a lot of ornate detail that we didn't expect to see from they type of people that probably worked at the mines. We expected them to be somewhat poor. Wages weren't very much and most of them were immigrant workers.
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| Really nice serving utensil for pies or cakes (Oct 2014) |
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| Hand dug well (full of water) 8' deep |
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| 1907 Indian Head Penny |
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| Crotal Bell (Oct 2014) |
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