I figured I'd start this post so people who have family that worked in the Anthracite can tell there story. As anybody that knows me can tell you I'm very proud of my familys story.

Briefly; I work at Jeddo and Alfred Brown Coal Co., am on AUGR, and am a director at the No.9. My mom and Aunt picked coal when they were growing up, much of it coming from the rock dump at the Bootleg my Pap worked at. My Pap worked at Bush Coal Company and for Koppenhavers in Bear Valley. His Dad worked for Bush for many years and ran dragline for Fisher and Williams plus worked for many other Independat Operations. My Great Uncle, Clyde Machamer was President of the IMA and worked in the bootlegs as did his brothers. On the other Side of the Family they worked in the Williamstown Tunnel and Brookside before the depression and worked there own Bootlegs during the depression. More to Come!

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"We don't look for any money all we look for is a little help and the only help we get is for the government to shut us down and if you go to the gas station and buy the gas you'll see why..........................you'll see why"

My fathers father father owned there own mine sometime in the early 1920's. ( It went belly up)My grandfather ( Victor Wilson) ran away with the circus in the late 1920;s Upon returning to Scranton he settled in Dickson city and worked at the Storrs. He was a member of a voluntary " scavenger team". When there was a cave or squeeze he and a few other volunteers would go into the area to salvage any equipment they could before the place fell in. And would be paid a bonus depending on the value of equipment they got out. He worked at the Storrs up untill the end. And described in great detail how he and a few others sealed the pump room. So they would have been the last guys out of the Storrs below water level ( Nov 1 1960)He got his brother a job with him. On his first day he sat down to have lunch. Evidently his wife forgot to put salt and pepper in his lunch. So a guy a few feet away offered his. He went to go get it, and while he was gone a few seconds a rock( a bell ?) fell from the roof. Taking that as a sign he left the mine and went on to school to become an FBI agent.
On my mothers side my grandfather lived in Simpson as a boy. His brother got kicked by a mule and died. The company officials felt sorry for his family and taught him the trade of carpentry. He built and repaired mine cars. He moved to Dickson in the late 1930's and also got a job at the Storrs repairing the cars. When the Storrs closed he bounced from job to job till Beltrami enterprises bought the Marvin. He worked there in the 70's bagging silt for them. His brother Billy worked the Johnson sometime also. Its funny. When my parents bought this house he helped fix it up. They didnt have alot of money, so my grandfather built the kitchen cabinets out of dynamite boxs. Up untill the last time we repainted them, you could still see the word DUPONT !! That generation knew how to save and reuse everything !!!!

Ok here is mine... although my immediate familyis here in the wyoming valley, very few of them ever worked in the mines. my fathers father was the only one in his family to ever work in the mines. He was employed by Glen Alden and worked in the 1940s and 1950s off an on at the kidder slope which i think was where sherman hills apts are now in wb. his father came from great britian and was a professional soccer player there, when he came here arround 1920 he breifly worked in construction and died shorthy after. he never worked in the anthracite industry. my great grandfather on my mothers side was born in eckley and was a breaker boy there. later on he moved to larksville and worked for kingston coal co. my father waas atelecommunication engeneer and has no interest in the history of the anthracite industry, which i understand because of the lasting negative impact it had. he has no positive memories of his fathers experiance. i know many people like this... to them i4t was just another low paying job.

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My aim, when I built my car was to scare the hell out of myself, its the type of vehicle that were I to park in front of your house, your lawn would die

My G-Grandfather, George Woodworth used to be a Tin Miner over in Cornwall,England when he was a lad & his family came over here to the States in the years after the civil war.(1870s) They settled in Pennsylvania & some of the family settled in northern NJ later on. Anyway, G-Grandfather George settled in Jermyn & worked in the Hudson Mine there. My Grandfather also named George raised his family in Jermyn & that is where my father, Gordon was born & raised. My Grandfather Woodworth started as a Breaker Boy in the Hudson Mine at Jermyn when he was 14 & all he had was a 7th grade education! He worked his way up to Timekeeper & Foreman of the mine. I have a copy of his work record from the Hudson Company & it list all of the Jobs he did from 1901-37 before he passed away. His Mother's father, Thomas Baker was killed in a Rockfall while mining coal at Jermyn in 1878. I think that he may have died at the mine on Rushbrook Rd north of the Roosevelt Hwy in Jermyn where you can still see some foundations of various buildings & footings there. I believe the mine on Rushbrook existed before the one across the Lackawanna River on Bonnieview Dr was in business. I have not found Thomas Baker's obit or other mining info yet. Would like to someday . I do know that the Baker family had a large home on Washington Ave in Jermyn which still exists today & they also had family reunions at Nay Aug Park in Scranton many years ago & was a family tradition, BTW- The County Coroner of Lackawanna County in the 30s-40s whose name was Nick Kinback married into the Baker Family of whom I'm indirectly related to by Marriage. Take Care.
Keith

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Keith Woodworth

Seat Belts save lives, Buckle up every time you drive or ride in a vehicel. The life you save may be your own!

well all i know about my minin heritage is- my great grandfather edwin zavacki worked at the westmoreland colliery in west wyoming in the low vein when he was young and was permoted to a motor man, he died of black lung in his early 60's, as far as i know he worked at that colliery his whole life, one of my cousins andrew zavacki also worked in the mines, i dont know where but in also guessing westmoreland, i have his first aid certificate.....on the other side of that family i knoe a frank bella (at the time it was beila) was killed in a mine explosion in 1906 i think and one of his brothers worked in the mines his whole life too.... not sure when or where i dont know alot about the bella side of the family.... from there on they went from miners to engineers, before they were dirt poor farmers in austria and poland, so they had to upgrade to semi dirt poor miners in the us

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running a dragline is like fishing for salmon - according to E.Bella