During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an estimated 300,000 Lithuanians journeyed to America. This number is hard to document fully because census records did not officially recognize Lithuanians as a separate nationality until the twentieth century, and the country’s people may have been reported as Russian, Polish, or Jewish. Several cities and large READ MORE >>
By 1825, the Schuylkill Navigation Company had completed the Schuylkill Canal, which allowed for the transport of anthracite from Pottsville to Philadelphia in barges capable of holding 200 tons. In 1842, the first train by the P & R Railroad (Philadelphia & Reading) from Philadelphia made the trip to Pottsville (Pa.) to compete for the READ MORE >>
The Mahanoy Plane is an engineering feat that moved hundreds of millions of tons of anthracite coal up Broad Mountain, just north of Frackville, PA. What made this mega-machine run was a tandem frictional rope with a 6,000 horsepower steam hoist at Mahanoy Plane. The anthracite coal from the surrounding 48 collieries went through the READ MORE >>
A stylish, and sometimes haunting, collection of photos of the coal region and what once was. Please feel free to leave a comment if you recognize, or have a connection, to a place in this collection. VIEW THE EXHIBIT
John J. Stoffey was 95 when he died in early January 2017. He wrote what he called “Memories of a Coal Cracker” in the 1960s. Bill White, from The Morning Call, shares his memories with us. READ MORE
Dirty Job’s Mike Rowe goes deep inside an Anthracite mine just outside Pottsville in Schuykill County, Pennsylvania where he gets down and dirty during a shift in the mines with Steve Rothermel and co-workers at the R. S.& W. Coal company workings. If you are from the Coal Region, you will recognize the western Schuylkill READ MORE >>
The deadly coal miners’ disease is surging back despite rules created to control the disease. What is Black Lung? An “Epidemic” Among Miners Advanced Black Lung Cases Surge in Appalachia Spike in Black Lung Cases Strain Federal Benefits Program Surface Miners at Risk For Black Lung
Plans are underway to celebrate “King Coal” Celebrating the anniversary of coal is a tricky business. That’s because there are many different interpretations of its history. If you ask 10 historians for the history of coal, you’re likely to hear 10 different stories. But there’s a move afoot to launch the 250th anniversary of coal READ MORE >>