View Full Version : Old Coal Mining Towns Near the AT
...are there any?! I suppose what I mean by 'near the AT' is: are any of the resupply options old coal mining towns?
palmerton, pa springs immediately to mind.
there may be others. theres certainly enough abandoned mines all along the trail most everywhere it seems at times.
fiddlehead
11-17-2017, 20:31
There's a small town near Pine Grove Pa (not to be confused with Pine Grove Furnace state park) called Ravine.
I used to buy my coal there when I had a stoker.
The hard coal (anthracite) region nearby is more to the north and slightly west of the AT.
Port Clinton has a lot of history as far as transporting the coal down to Phila from the coal region up-river.
If you get the chance there is a tourist attraction in Ashland PA called "Pioneer Tunnerl Coal Mine" that is very interesting.
I haven't been down it in 30 years, but it's still running I hear.
And you actually go down inside a mine and learn a lot about how hard these miners worked to get the coal out.
Ashland is probably 15 miles north of the trail around PIne Grove.
Tremont, is also nearby but I believe it's mostly strip mining these days.
Too dangerous down in the mines.
I do have a friend who is a mine safetly instructor and he told me he still teaches.
Good luck.
You know there's an old mine near Rausch Gap shelter, right?
rocketsocks
11-17-2017, 20:33
In PA the southern Anthrcite field is just north of the AT, some notable towns along the, Schuylkul haven, Tamaqua, Coaldale, Summit Hill, Jim Thorpe, Ashland, Mayhanoy City, Centralia, just to name a few, not really walking distance but well worth the trips for those interested in mining history.
rocketsocks
11-17-2017, 20:36
A great read is “when coal was kind”
https://www.amazon.com/When-Coal-Was-King-Pennyslvanias/dp/0911410260
rocketsocks
11-17-2017, 20:41
But this ones better
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812212010/ref=mp_s_a_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1510965631&sr=8-27&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=coal+in+PA
I read Homer Hickham's books (author of Rocket Boys which became October Skies). The other two were "Coalwood Way" and "Sky of Stone". They are excellent books, very well written. I think the book Rocket Boys is better than the movie. However, Coalwood WV is some 3 hours from the AT.
AllDownhillFromHere
11-17-2017, 22:34
Pretty sure Duncannon counts. Also the AT goes through some ruined areas of old towns.
When hiking the AT in PA you go right through the long abandoned scratch town of Yellow Springs village. (right before Rausch Gap Shelter. Be sure to take the side trail to the General. See if you can figure out why they called it Yellow Springs.
I read Homer Hickham's books (author of Rocket Boys which became October Skies). The other two were "Coalwood Way" and "Sky of Stone". They are excellent books, very well written. I think the book Rocket Boys is better than the movie. However, Coalwood WV is some 3 hours from the AT.
I still havent read that book and they used the parking lot of my work for some filming....
Old Grouse
11-18-2017, 08:58
+1 on the Pioneer Mine tour. And if you have wheels, you might be interested in nearby Centralia, destroyed by underground fires that are still burning.
Snowleopard
11-18-2017, 16:57
Salisbury and Kent, CT, used to have iron mines before and after the Revolution. Kent and Salisbury had a thriving iron and steel industry back then, but used charcoal not coal. I guess you could call Kent and Salisbury down and out steel towns :) There used to be a blast furnace near Bear Mountain (CT). It was still there in the 1960s, but I don't know if there is anything left. There is a blast furnace in Taconic State Park, just across the NY border from the AT in SW Mass.
Because industry, including iron and steel, used charcoal in those days, Connecticut and Massachusetts were denuded of trees for charcoal. Iron and steel production shifted west to places like PA and OH when technology changed and coal was needed rather than charcoal. The only coal mine I know of in southern New England is near Green Hill Park in Worcester, MA (near Coal Mine Brook). Don't try to find it without a native guide; once when looking for it, I was 50 feet from it without seeing it.
https://connecticuthistory.org/salisbury-iron-forged-early-industry/
http://www.ahs-inc.biz/assets/uploads/files/Salisbury_CT_Mt_Riga_Ironworks.pdf
http://salisburyirondistrict.blogspot.com/
http://www.friendsoftsp.org/ (http://salisburyirondistrict.blogspot.com/)
rocketsocks
11-18-2017, 17:26
This happened just up stream from Duncannon along the Susquehanna river, the coal field flooded and was lost forever.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4X-074T06s4
Old Grouse
11-18-2017, 17:44
About 100 miles upstream from Duncannon.
rocketsocks
11-18-2017, 22:01
About 100 miles upstream from Duncannon.hmm, didn’t realize it was that far.
LIhikers
11-18-2017, 22:47
If you're looking for old coal mining towns let me suggest you hike, or bike, the Great Allegheny Passage.
Highland Goat
11-20-2017, 07:08
Towards Snowleopard’s point, the blast furnace near Bear Mountain in Connecticut is downstream from South Pond, near the junction of Mount Riga Road and Mount Washington Road. South Pond is to the West of the AT and shows up on most trail maps.
There is actually a lime kiln on Appalachian Trail land, but it is not visible from the trail. If you are northbound from Jug End, you will walk though a field after passing the Shay’s Rebellion Monument. At the East side of the field you cross a farm road to reenter the woods. Instead of going into the woods take a few steps to the right on the farm road to a public road, which is Lime Kiln Road. Turn left (East) on Lime Kiln Road and walk about 100 meters, the lime kiln will be on your left off in the woods. If you reach the farm, you have gone too far.
Lime kilns burned limestone to make quicklime. The quicklime was added to iron ore and charcoal before it was dumped into a blast furnace, and in the furnace the quicklime combined with various impurities to form slag, which separated from the molten metal and was removed from iron.
Duncannon doesn't really qualify as a coal town, houses are close together in southeast PA farm and canal towns too. Although coal was "mined" in a sense out of the river even downstream, coal dredges operated in the Susquehanna behind some of the dams below Harrisburg.
There are mine seeps in the (compass-) north side of Stony Mountain, close to the first climb (trail-) north from Clarks Valley/PA 325. But, as mentioned, Yellow Spring is the first (abandoned) townsite in the lower-most extremity of the anthracite coal field, followed by Rausch Gap (there is a mine drainage water treatment system trail-west in the gap).
Swatara State Park (trail-south of Swatara Gap) was intended to be a "normal" park with reservoir, but the dam was nixed when it was realized that most of the upstream Swatara Creek watershed from there was acid mine runoff from some still existing mines north/up from Pine Grove and Ravine.
Blue Mountain past Schuylkill County is at least one valley away from the mining areas, though of course the railroad in Port Clinton was and is intended to service the mines further north. Centralia, the (in)famous (nearly) abandoned coal town, is one county to the north (that didn't stop Bill Bryson from going there and writing about it, though).
Palmerton was the site of a zinc refinery, not a coal mine, despite being located in Carbon County. It married coal power from the west, and zinc mined to the east, emitting vegetation-killing fumes.
Going on to non-coal mining in PA, the lakes at Pine Grove Furnace (where the A.T. museum is, not Pine Grove as mentioned above) were iron ore mining pits. The A.T. also passes some iron ore pits north of Center Point Knob, on the downhill into the "midnight train" campsite just before Boiling Springs and its iron furnace.
Old Grouse
11-20-2017, 18:18
On the subject of iron or mining, it should be mentioned that just west of NY 9D the AT follows the path of the mule-pulled ore cars which brought ore out to that road. From there it was hauled west to the nearby Hudson River town of Cold Spring where, at the West Point Foundry, Parrott Guns of Civil War fame were made. The stonework for the track is pretty impressive.
On the subject of iron or mining, it should be mentioned that just west of NY 9D the AT follows the path of the mule-pulled ore cars which brought ore out to that road. From there it was hauled west to the nearby Hudson River town of Cold Spring where, at the West Point Foundry, Parrott Guns of Civil War fame were made. The stonework for the track is pretty impressive.
just west of 9D is in the hudson river.
do you mean just west of the river, just east of 9D, or just west (or east) of 9?
i'm guessing you mean rt 9 one way or the other as i'm more familiar with the area around 9D (both sides of the river) and cant say this rings a bell.
Old Grouse
11-20-2017, 20:33
Sorry to confuse - I should have consulted a map instead of relying on memory. The track comes out onto Rte 301 just southwest of Canopus Lake. Thence west on 301 ( a/k/a Cold Spring Turnpike) to Cold Spring.
Old Grouse
11-20-2017, 21:03
Sorry to confuse. I should have checked a map instead of just relying on memory. The track (and noe the AT) comes out onto Rte 301 (Cold Spring Turnpike) just southwest of Canopus Lake. Ore was then hauled a few miles west on that road to Cold Spring.
Hikes in Rain
11-20-2017, 21:40
There's a prehistoric (?) talc mine right beside the trail a little north of Sam's Gap. Big overgrown hole in the ground. I missed it somehow, but an iron mine, I think, is located just of the trail to the left northbound, just short of 19E near the old Apple Barn shelter site.
peakbagger
11-21-2017, 07:05
If you want to see the equivalent of a old coal mine company town in progress take a drive through Millinocket or East Millinocket Maine on your way out from Baxter. These towns were built from scratch to provide housing for paper mill workers and support companies. The mills are pretty well long gone and probably are not coming back yet the towns remain. There is a struggling tourist economy but it cant support towns that size. The towns practically give away houses that they get for unpaid taxes just so they can get someone to pay taxes. Folks from Mass pick up houses to use as camps that they use in the winter for snowmobiling.