This message has been cross posted to the following Discussions: SME Community and Penn-Anthracite .
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The PA Anthracite Section Society of Mining Engineers Fall Field Trip and Meeting "Sights and Sites You've Likely Not Seen, But Should Have!" will be held October 16. The tour and meeting will focus on some of our priorities for 2014-2015: a "memorial" commemorating the Section's 100th, reaching out to environmental and heritage groups, and an "Anthracite Mining Engineers Give Back" above and beyond our Kaminski Scholarship program, where we will attempt to establish a fund to support environmental, heritage, and educational groups working on mine related projects, like several that we will see on the tour.
On the S&SYLNSBSH tour we'll visit a number of sites in the Wyoming Valley south of Wilkes Barre. The anticipated schedule is :
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Earth Conservancy offices at 101 South Main Street, Ashley, PA. Earth Conservancy (www.earthconservancy.org) is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their purchase 16,300 acres of land from the former Blue Coal Corporation, which had declared bankruptcy in the mid 1970s. Earth Conservancy has been working to return those lands to productive use, collaborating with local communities, government agencies, education institutions, and the private sector to create and implement plans that restore the land's economic, recreation, residential and ecological value. More than 10% of the property has been reclaimed by Earth Conservancy and its partners.(http://citizensvoice.com/news/earth-conservancy-passes-halfway-point-in-converting-old-coal-land-1.1749056) Their office once was the Blue Coal office, and before that Glen Alden Coal office, and today also houses the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR http://epcamr.org).
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The office is also the site of the meetings of the Huber Breaker Preservation Society (http://huberbreaker.org), and is adjacent to the site where the Huber Breaker stood until this spring, and next to the Huber Breaker Memorial Park. ( http://citizensvoice.com/news/miners-monument-unveiled-at-huber-breaker-1.1496320)
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One of the projects of the Earth Conservancy is working on is treatment of the abandoned mine discharge from the Askam Boreholes on Dundee Road. This recently completed project utilizes a Maelstrom Oxidizer to treat the borehole discharges. (http://m.citizensvoice.com/news/project-to-rid-acid-mine-water-in-the-works-1.1445926)
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Concrete City in Hanover Township. The Concrete City was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Coal Company in 1911 as housing for key employees and mine supervisors who worked at the Truesdale Colliery. There were 22 2-story homes that faced a courtyard and is one of the earliest examples of modern tract housing. Each home had seven rooms and rent was $8.00/ month with concrete outhouses built behind each house. Everything, including the roof is made of concrete. The Glen Alden Company abandoned the property rather than installing a sewer system required by the township. Demolition began in Dec. 1924. Glen Alden abandoned the complex, in place, because 100 sticks of dynamite had little impact on one of the buildings. It was declared a historical site in 1988. http://www.itsveryeasytoremember.com/Pennsylvania/Concrete_City/History_of_Concrete_City/history_of_concrete_city.html
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A strip pit located near the Newport Cemetery. One of the S&SYLNSBSH. For a special reason, we won't describe it and ruin it for you if you don't know about it.
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The Avondale Colliery #2 Tunnel, located at the site that was used to access the 110 miners who were killed during the Avondale Mine Disaster of 1869. The property was recently donated by Earth Conservancy to the Plymouth Historical society for preservation and protection. The society is partnering with the Susquehanna Warrior Trail Association and has plans to develop a trail that will run 18.5 miles from Berwick to Edwardsville and will pass by the No. 2 Tunnel. http://timesleader.com/news/home_top-local-news/50271112/Victims-of-Avondale-Mine-Disaster-remembered
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South Wilkes-Barre Boreholes, six boreholes into the South Wilkes Barre mine, which drain minewater from the Wyoming Valley Southeast Minepools, the mines south and west of the Susquehanna River from Pittston south to Hanover Township. Learn some interesting environmental history related to this minepool discharge. http://citizensvoice.com/news/five-boreholes-installed-in-solomon-creek-1.1638675
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16 South River Street, Wilkes Barre, former site of the Wyoming Valley Hotel, where A.I.M.E. was founded in 1871. The Guard Insurance Center now occupies the building that once was the Lehigh Wilkes Barre Coal Company offices, where the Anthracite Section of SME/AIME held its first meeting. This is the proposed site of the PA Historical and Museum Commission historical marker we are applying for.
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Public Square, Wilkes Barre, site of the AIME 125th Anniversary Plaque.
Following the Tour (12:30-4:30), we will have a nice Hospitality (5:00-6:00) followed by a Dinner and Meeting (6:00 -8:30) at the Best Western Genetti Hotel & Conference Center, 77 E. Market Street Wilkes Barre. We will have representatives of most of the heritage, environmental, and educational groups involved in these site available before and/or during the tour, and /or at the hospitality, dinner and meeting to add information, background, and entertainment.
Cost of the Tour is $20, of the Dinner and Meeting $25, or $30 for the Package. There will be a cash bar during the Hospitality hour. Meet at Earth Conservancy Office lot at 101 South Main Street, Ashley for the tour, and park in the Genetti lot at East Market St. and South Pennsylvania Ave. for the Meeting/Dinner (tell the attendant you are attending the SME meeting). Hope to see you there!
RSVP to Randy Wallett, 215-766-1211 x 125 | rwallett@earthres.com by Thursday, October 9.
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Michael Korb
Environmental Program Manager
Pennsylvania DEP- Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Wilkes Barre PA United States
(570) 826-2371
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