miner490 wrote:
Dont know what catagory to put this in. So Ill put it here. Was reading some old Scranton city ordinances, and a copy of "The history of Scranton" Found some interesting info. The Lackawanna courthouse is built on top of what used to be a swamp. Lying in what was to be the central part of Scranton, filling it in was a priority. But having no developed roads, or easy access to fill was a problem. Enter the Lackawanna iron and coal company. It was looking for a location to rid itself of the ashes used in the iron making process. So lackawanna county offered the swamp as an area to dump the ashes. Getting it there was still a problem. Solution ? They used various gangways in the mines, and made an opening in the now central part of Scranton near the swamp to transport the ashes from the furnaces to the swamp.. Has me wondering. A while back a friend and I found an opening leading from the iron furnaces. Wonder if this was where the entrance from the iron works was leading to the mines. On a related note. Scranton steam heat had a shaft on there property off Washington Avenue. They took the ash from there furnaces and brought it into the mines as flush material.
Tony, the opening you speak of at the I/F, was it on the property or in the back of the area near the last furnaces where the public isn't suppose to go?