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 Post subject: Carbondale Mine Fire
PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:57 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:50 pm
Posts: 34
Location: Willoughby,Ohio
Hello All! I was wondering if the Mine Fire in Carbondale is still burning & what coal mine it originated in? When my father was a kid in the 30s he said that there had been a mine fire burning there for years & there was a Hole in the ground in Mayfield(Mine Shaft or vent?) that one could look into & see a red glow from the fire. also, was this mine fire responsible for the 1955 fire in Downtown Carbondale that decimated quite a few Buildings on Main St? Even when we visited the area in 1974 Carbondale looked like a Ghost Town with Burned out buildings & houses. Seemed like a place from the Twilight Zone then. Glad that the town leaders are cleaning up the place as it looks much nicer now than then. Take Care.


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:19 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 3:48 am
Posts: 194
Location: Gouldsboro, PA
I dont know if it is still burning, a guy i work with lives in Carbondale and claims it is not but he likes to tell stories. But 2 weeks ago on my way into work i heard over my State radio that there was a culm bank fire at about midnight. I didn't hear anything else about it.


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:31 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:34 pm
Posts: 6872
Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field
well, i think what you were told about the shaft glowing is a bit of a story...... in order to see the fire you have to be looking directly at the vein burning. there isnt coal on the bottom of a shaft landing its rock or a wooden landing so you wouldnt see the fire actually. if there was coal burning at the bottom of the shaft, it wouldnt be there for long, these things advance like 3 feet a day! once they burn the coal out theres nothing left to burn so its out there. now, in a refuse bank, or culm bank fire you will see it glowing, blue flames, or glowing cracks and vent holes. up in olyphant theres both a culm bank caught fire and there was an outcrop of coal under it. the fire burned down and caught the vein, actually 2 on fire. when they dug the trench around it to contain it they exposed the burning seam. we have some pics of this from in the trench on the ugm site. at carbondale now, there is the powderly mine fire. it is contained. its also burning in 2 veins of coal with a 150 foot trench dug around it and its burning itself out to the outcrop. i have heard stories that the mine fire is still burning up the hill in carbondale where the highschool is but thats just it stories.

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:07 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:50 pm
Posts: 34
Location: Willoughby,Ohio
Hi Chris! Was the Powderly Coal Mine located off the Main St in Carbondale? I know that the Coalbrook Colliery was on the west end of town off Dundaff St as most of it was still in existence in 1974 (or at least it seemed like it then) Also, where was Racketbrook located in Carbondale as the town did not seem large enough for all the collieries it had.? We saw some Breakers & Culm piles there & I cannot exactly remember or place the locations of what we then saw back in those days as I was just a small kid & vaguely remember some of what we saw. These days everything looks different there & you would have to know what to look for in order to find out where a particular Colliery was. Thank You & Take Care............Keith


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:23 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:34 pm
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Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field
ok, here goes to the best of my knowledge.....

powderly was exactly where the ramp onto rt 6 casey highway is. the culm piles are still there. if you were coming down the ramp the breaker would be on the right after the huge culm piles. you know where coal brook was. racketbrook was at the top of 8th street. the breaker foundation is still there. it was on the gravity rr bed. if you go to the top of church st, russel park is up there. behind that was the carbondale coal co, later deangelo coal co. that extended south west and met the powderly workings. now its not known exactly which company the powderly mine fire is in, but the workings butted against eachother and the fire is in that area. also to note, this should not be confused with the powderly culm bank fire. thats the huge red burned out culm pile on the left side of the ramp when going down to bus rt 6. there was alot of stripping where the now carbondale high school is. thats the area that had the huge mine fire. that burned for a very long time. they dug it out and filled the pit in. then built the school on it.......... nice. all the piles behind the school are from the stripping and digging out the fire. they are huge, take notice next time youre in the area. the racketbrook foundations are cool to explore too. theres actually alot up there. we found a fan house foundation and an airshaft that was filled up from it. it was a stone and concrete foundation and the airshaft sunk down about 10 feet from a subsidence. they filled these with loose meterial and if the mine is flooded, moving water will cause the shaft fill to sink every so often. this is in the middle of the woods so its not filled back in. i have all the maps to racketbrook, also of interest i have a 8 foot by 15 foot surface map from the city of carbondale from 1904! its pretty cool, actually real cool. i guess they are starting some sort of muesum up there. going to be pretty small but its still good they are doing something. if they do i will donate the map to them. its not doing me any good sitting in the closet. maybe they can put it in glass and put it on the wall! i know there were a few other mines in the area but those are the big ones. coalbrook was huge. that was the biggest operation in carbondale. its too bad they are in the process of tearing down the powerhouse. that was the last standing on in the lackawanna valley.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:01 am 
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Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:50 pm
Posts: 34
Location: Willoughby,Ohio
Thanks Chris! Lots of excellent info here. You should write a book with all of your photo's & mine history as this would be another way to preserve the area's coal mining history as most of the old timers are dying off & taking their knowledge with them as well. As I was reading your reply I remembered a huge Dragline in Carbondale in the general area of the new high school after you cross the city line into Carbondale & my father said that a machine like that was used for strip mining also. Thanks again & take care..........Keith


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:10 am 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:34 pm
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Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field
some day, someday :lol: working on a video now. should be done this season.

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