Hike #1068; Lehigh Tannery to Weatherly

Hike #1068; Lehigh Tannery to Weatherly

8/24/17 Lehigh Tannery to Weatherly with Pete G. Wilcox, Amy Davis, and James Quinn

This next hike would be another point to point revisiting Coal Country to cover some ground that Pete had been exploring. It ended up being the perfect group to be able to get through some of the areas I wouldn’t have done with a large one.

Pete along Black Creek

The idea for this hike probably started well over a year prior. Pete was on the hike where we had hiked over the mountain and down the Penn Haven Planes, the stationary steam engine powered inclined planes the Lehigh Valley Railroad operated high above the Nesquehoning Creek at it’s confluence with the Lehigh River. We then hiked the former CNJ line, now D&L Trail, north to Rockport. Pete had done the whole trail by bike already and formed an interest in the Hays Creek Branch when he saw the piers of the massive bridge that once spanned the Lehigh River south of White Haven. He’d followed a section of it, and caught the bug to follow what was left of it. We discussed many times doing a hike over all of it.
After our other Summer jaunt, where we went beneath that same former trestle site, I figured it was time to have a look at it, and when Pete was available the plans were as good as made.
We met in the morning in Weatherly PA. It’s always hardest to figure out where to start and end. It was easy enough to plan a hike that pretty much followed the old Hays Creek Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, but to make it about fifteen miles and figure out an end point is a bit harder. There was a junction (Gara Junction) where we could head north or south. After scaling both routes and looking for parking areas, it seemed the most sensible move to head south to Weatherly for an end point.
James ran a bit late and met us at Lehigh Tannery, our start point we shuttled to.
I found a spot near Black Creek along Rt 534 that was part of Hickory Run State Park’s west side that would be good for parking. The plan was to hike the Hays Creek Branch from where it crossed the Lehigh River back to it’s junction with the former Lehigh Valley Railroad main line, then cross the river at the Lehigh Tannery Bridge, and head south to the rest of the line, where we wouldn’t miss walking really any of the branch.
We got out of the cars and had a look at the lovely Black Creek, just down below the parking spot before we headed on our way.

Hays Creek Branch crossing the main line south fo Lehigh Tannery

We walked down the road a little, then cut to the left down hill on an old road grade, which soon took us to the active former Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks. We’d walked along this to the former bridge site of the Hays Creek Branch.

Hays Creek bridge site today

It was incredibly easy to miss where the bridge once was. The abutments are totally overgrown with vegetation. Still, we found it and were able to make a historical photo comparison rather easily.

Historic image of Hays Creek Branch bridge

The Hays Creek Branch was a rather late arrival on the antracite railroad scene. It was reportedly completed in December of 1911, built to make an easier connection from area mines to the main line. Prior to it’s completion, trains loaded with coal would have to go by way of Penn Haven and down the inclined planes there, a very slow process.

Hays Creek Branch

It made no sense for northbound cars to have to go south and down the slope first, so the Hays Creek Branch made for a better graded approach.
Despite being a later, well built line, it reportedly only lasted until 1963 or 65 when it was torn up.
We made our way up to the trestle site, and climbed the fill to find the grade surprisingly clear, and checked out the end of the trestle that once spanned the Lehigh. To the left at the former bridge site, I spotted an old concrete call box hidden in the weeds.
It was pretty easy to miss this one, and we almost did. These were like phone booths, used by railroad employees. There was nothing left inside unfortunately.

Old booth

Having reached the north side of the bridge, we headed back on the right of way and climbed down to cross the active line at it’s bridge site. We then climbed up on the other side to continue following the right of way toward it’s junction, on the slow grade down.
It was not too hard to walk at first, but then the path became narrower. We went through a bit of a cut, and it was just a tiny goat path left. It looks as though only animals follow this right of way today. Not a single sign of an ATV having passed through here in forever.

Hays Creek Branch near the junction

There were a lot of down trees over it which forced us to go off of the barely discernible path and into the mess from time to time, and it was also muddy in areas. I’d already gotten my feet wet in Black Creek at the start, but mud is a different story. It gets into the shoes and just eats up the socks.
We continued to soon reach where the line joined up with the main line; a pretty obvious spot. From there it wasn’t far along the active tracks, which has a clear and safe path beside it, back to the Tannery Road grade crossing.

Hays Creek Junction

Tannery Road was the site of Lehigh Tannery, on the shores of the Lehigh River.
Lehigh Tannery was a small settlement along the river that included not only the tannery, but homes of over one hundred families, but an ice house, a steam saw mill, a hotel, and a school.
The tannery, where hemlock bark was used for it’s tannic acid in curing hides for leather, was in it’s heyday the second most successful in the nation. Lehigh Tannery produced over fifty thousand hides annually.
John James Audubon visited the area to sketch birds during these early days, and noted the incredible deforestation, with Hemlock trees cut only for their bark and discarded.

Historic image of the dam above Lehigh Tannery, initially used for Lehigh Canal later served other industry

“Trees one after another were....constantly heard falling. In a century, the noble forest around should exist no more.” -John J. Audubon

Interlocking tower at Tannery

In 1875, a fire swept through the forest floor and spread to the tannery, destroying it forever. Today there is second and third growth forest dominating the entire region.

Lehigh Tannery ruins

When we reached Tannery Road, we headed to the left and over to a nice wooden deck erected to view the ruins of the tannery. That wasn’t good enough for Pete and I, as we stepped over and walked the crumbling stone tops of the foundations in search of more. Clearly, the ruins stretch further into the woods down stream from this site, but we didn’t have the time to go sifting through that at this point. We had a lot of other stuff on the agenda, and a lot of rail bed we did not know the state of.

Hays Creek Branch bridge site

We crossed the Lehigh on the Lehigh Tannery Bridge, with a guy sitting at the tannery parking lot in his truck probably wondering what we were all about, because Pete and I were making Pee Wee Herman voice things (Pete can do it spot on perfect).
Once on the other side, we turned left on the former Central Railroad of NJ main line grade and headed down stream. We continued until we got to the opposite side of the Hays Creek Branch bridge. The towering piers are really something else through this area. It’s amazing the line was so short lived with such good construction.

Lehigh Canal remnant

My next goal was to locate a bit of the Lehigh Canal we had missed the last time we walked through the area.
Lock #26, with a lift of 25 feet, and Dam #17 were along the river in this area. Pete and I had painstakingly searched for remnants of the other locks, but we kind of missed this one, and there’s really not much left to see. It’s amazing that so little remains of such a high lock and a dam that was thirty five feet tall. According to David Barber’s book on the Lehigh Canal, some of the dam abutment is visible on the far side, but that’s probably only in Winter.

Possible lock site

Pete and I followed a path down to the river, and then found where the canal should have gone inland a bit. This was the upper end of a rather long canal section, which was uncommon of the Upper Division of the Lehigh Canal, destroyed by flooding in 1862.
Between the two of us, we found two possible sites for Lock 26 to have existed. The first was just off the river at the up stream end, the other was a slight indentation with river rock scattered closer to the river edge. It’s possible that either of them could be channels dug by flooding.
We found the obvious canal channel a bit further down, with some muddy water on it’s floor. It was in that area that I spotted the indent with stones. In it, I found an oddly shaped, curved rock in a long section. I wondered if it could be lock related.

Possible site of Lehigh Canal Lock #17

Also in the channel, I found what appeared to be a very few rocks laid in a line, which could have been part of the base of a lock wall. We cannot be certain at all though.
James and Amy waited patiently while Pete and I drooled through the woods over the prospect of making a new discovery.

Hays Creek Branch

We couldn’t wait around there all day, so we soon made our way back up to the D&L Trail, built on the former Central Railroad of NJ grade (and before that Lehigh and Susquehanna, the line that replaced the Lehigh Canal after the 1862 flood).
We climbed to the right of the abutment of the Hays Creek Branch trestle and soon reached the old grade at the top. It was pretty clear and would really make a very nice trail. Pete had said they were looking at making it into a trail, but then later found out that this plan had been abandoned due to private land issues, and instead they were looking at the Sandy Run Branch of the CNJ, which would get to the Eckeley Miners Village to the west. Eckeley is a “mine patch”, or small coal mining town with a few modest homes used in the early, rougher days of coal mining. It was used in the feature picture “The Molly Maguieres” because it was so unchanged, and then made into an interpretive historic site.

Old signal post

We followed the Hays Creek Branch heading south out of Lehigh Gorge State Park and into State Game Lands #149. Along the way, we saw one old metal base to some sort of signal tower. Other than that, very little remains except a few ties here and there.
It was a very pleasant walk which took us along a lovely shelf, through cuts, and over a very substantial fill of Black Shanty Run. Pete pointed out quarrying areas that were probably borrow spots to create the fills we were walking on.
The rail bed curved to the west a bit, and there was a little view out over the gorge of the Sandy Run just to the south. We then moved toward the trestle site that crossed it.

Sandy Run Trestle site

When we reached the top of the abutment to the Sandy Run trestle, there was a little camp site under more sparse Staghorn Sumac trees, which had weird fruit looking things hanging from it’s branches, probably some kind of insect pouch.
We climbed down from the trestle site along a woods road that went to the right. We then crossed carefully over the Sandy Run. Concrete footings that held metal stanchions to brace the trestle were still there along the shady forest floor, and I laid down in the creek among the Hemlocks and Rhododendrons.

Drifton Branch

A slight climb on the other side led us to the right of way of the Drifton Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ, which is easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for.
I found out since the previous hike that the Sandy Run Branch was not the same as the Drifton, but rather the branch south of Sandy Run Junction we had passed, which connected with another Lehigh Valley Railroad line out of Freeland.
We took a little break, and there were some old bicycle frames hanging from a tree. They might be valuable if someone could get them out.

Hays Creek Branch south of Sandy Run trestle

We climbed back up to the other side of the trestle site and continued walking on the Hays Creek Branch.
The right of way was nice and clear for a while. I thought I spotted what might have been a junction site to the right, but I’m not sure. I had found an older map from before the line was completed in the past, which showed the LV line only going as far as the CNJ Drifton Branch and connecting with it. It would take a bit more exploration in this area to find any more on it really.
We crossed a power line and skirted above someone’s house before reaching Lehigh Gorge Drive, where the railroad bed leaves State Game Lands.

Hays Creek Branch

The route was more questionable from here, but we went for it. We crossed the road directly and hurried by someone’s house to the right. On the other side of it, an access road follows what was probably the Drifton Branch. We continued into the wood sand were soon away from any buildings. There was evidence that the right of way from here was used by horse back riders, but not much evidence of any ATVs. It became more of a wider access road that was used to get to lands to the right of us as we continued. It wasn’t too overgrown before that, but wasn’t obviously used often.

Hays Creek Branch

I saw a bear run off to the right as we followed it onward, and soon came to where we were skirting a tree farm to the left. Amy was mad that she didn’t get to see the bear.
Some of the wooded sections of the right of way were widened well beyond what would be necessary to get even a large truck through.
It didn’t take too long and we emerged onto Stagecoach Lane, a dead end road to some houses off to the right. The railroad bed continues ahead as Railroad Street, but it’s barely a street. Really, it’s just the widened cinder based railroad bed.

The rail bed, now driveway

We continued on straight ahead, which was a bit weird at first because it just looked like someone’s driveway. Soon though, it was just looking like a railroad bed like we had been walking just a bit wider. There were a few homes on the road, and only one on the left was there anyone that even saw us as we walked by. They waved as I waved at them, so we had no problem at all. The last house we saw I think was on the left, and it appeared to be totally abandoned. Beyond it, the rail bed was still vehicle accessible, but no one without a truck would dare to try to drove on it due to potholes and such. This was just a path.

Hays Creek Branch nearing Buck Mountain

We continued along through very pleasant woods. The rail bed was just great for walking. After a little while, there were homes appearing below us to the left. This was the little settlement of Buck Mountain, which dated back well before the railroad.
Buck Mountain was home to one of the earliest coal mines, and the first railroad to serve it was the Buck Mountain Coal Company’s gravity railroad, which was later used by small locomotive, between Rockport on the Lehigh River and the little town. That

Buck Mountain map

That little railroad was abandoned about 1862 when the flood destroyed the Lehigh Canal, because it interchanged with it at Rockport with an inclined plane. Most of the mines of the area apparently served from the north out of Eckeley for some time, except there was something on old USGS maps called “Buck Mountain Railroad” coming from generally the same direction as we were headed. On USGS maps until the 1950s, the line is shown as a rather straight shot, so it’s possible that Hays Creek Branch just improved this line, but it’s also possible that it built parallel and there could be an older right of way.

Historic image of Buck Mountain Colliery, collection of Mary S. Hinkel

Buck Mountain was the site of one of many collieries of the area, and we could see to the right of us the evidence of coal mining of the past as we continued along the rail bed.

An old junction at Buck Mountain

To the right, we spotted what appeared obvious to be another railroad grade and junction gradually ascending to the east, probably to serve the area coal mines. Historic aerials suggest that this was a short siding for loading cars with material.
We continued ahead, and took a nice break at a waterfall made from the runoff from the mines. It was obvious that this was not a natural waterfall because it would have been far more eroded.
After our break, we continued on ahead and reached where the railroad once crossed Eckley Road. Not even the abutments remained of this bridge site.

Little waterfall at Buck Mountain

Fortunately, this section was still really easy to walk because the ATV path continued from where we were up to the other side.
It was a nice easy walk along more of the settlement, with a few more homes bordering the right of way to the south. We continued along to the next road crossing, which was at grade, at Buck Mountain Road. It’s likely there were more rail grades at a higher elevation from this which served the mines, and maps show that there might have been a connection to the Ashmore Branch, which was what we were headed to, to the west from here. The entire area begs so many more questions I don’t even know where to begin.
We crossed over Eckley Road, and beyond the rail bed took on a different character. There was apparently no more ATV traffic on it, or very little anyway. We passed one house and were then in deep woods again.
Most of the right of way had a very grassy surface as it weaved to the south, southeast. It did look like someone was using it as their own private nature trail or something.

Rail bed in Buck Mountain

We continued along and saw mowed side trails opening up to the right of us. I was a bit nervous in this section that we’d end up in some private hunting estate or something. As we continued, there was soon a house well off of the rail bed to the left, so we were still back in the trees. The rail bed became clearer and more well used as we walked. Soon, the driveway to this house emerged and became one with the railroad bed. We hurried on and passed a couple more houses to the right, but had no problems.

Hays Creek Branch

The right of way went from two tire tracks with a grassy swath to being used well enough that there was just a wide cinder pathway. Just before we reached Buck Mountain Road again, we came upon the former site of Gara Junction. This was where the Hays Creek Branch apparently ends, and joins with what I believe is known as the Ashmore Branch.
Ashmore Branch goes to the north to a settlement, apparently just another little patch town, just to the east of Hazleton. To the south, it leads to Hazle Junction on the still active branch between Hazleton and Weatherly.

Historic image of Ashmore Station

Gara Junction, unlike many other junctions we come across, was very obvious because both sections of the wye, both north and southbound, were used as accesses to the driveway we were walking. We turned to the left to follow the branch toward Hazle Creek.

1895 Luzerne Co Railroad map showing Buck Mountain spur

When we came out to Buck Mountain Road from Gara Junction, the northern leg could probably have been walked, but the southern part was rather inaccessible because it went much to close to people’s homes.

Gara Junction

I figured we would walk to the south on Buck Mountain Road a short distance, then cut into the woods and back to the railroad by using, if nothing else, the nearby power line cut. While we walked the road, an old guy with a beard rode by on the road on his ATV.

Heading to Hazle Creek

We didn’t even have to wait that long, because there was a good path cutting into the woods from the road to the right prior to the power line. We followed it as it weaved through the woods. There were giant piles of debris to the right of us, as if the nearest land owners had moved every bit of rock and undergrowth to make their property look immaculate, and piled it near the boundary. We continued to the edge of a field section where the path joined with the railroad bed heading south. A car was going up a nearby driveway to a big house to the west, and so we kept low as not to bother any of them.

Ties still in place heading to Hazle Creek

The rail bed skirted the power line for a bit, and when it came nearest to the house, the ATV path dipped off to the left to follow it instead, which kept us out of sight a bit better.
We got back on the rail bed and the power line moved off to the left, while we entered a good section of woods that was a bit more private and hidden. We moved around a large fallen tree in a cleared area, and then crossed another power line. Just beyond, a beautiful little pond was to the right of the rail bed, with it’s outflow draining beneath us to more wet lands to the left. This area was heavily used by ATVs, and seemed to be a bit of a party spot, but there wasn’t really a lot of trash.
We went into deeper woods, and a lot of the rail bed had the ties still in place up the center. There was a small stream to the right of us, which soon joined the Hazle Creek as we approached Hazle Creek Junction.
The junction was an interesting place, and I wished I’d known as much of it now as when we were there. Of course, we still had a look around at everything, but it turned out to be more substantial than I’d thought it was.

Hazle Creek crossing

The active tracks still had a low deck girder bridge spanning the Hazle Creek, which at some time was apparently known as Black Creek. A second abandoned bridge also spanned the creek adjacent to the active one. I didn’t know it at the time, but this second bridge wasn’t as necessary for the main line, but for the junction just on the other side of the bridge, which was a branch that turned west to head to Beaver Meadows. Somewhere in this vicinity must have been the right of way to one of the earliest, the Beaver Meadow Railroad, which connected the Lehigh Canal at Penn Haven with the mines to the west.

Hazle Creek Crossing

The Beaver Meadow Railroad ws washed out early on and replaced by later modern railroads, but we’ve in the past found remnants of the original. It would be a cool hike to try to trace just the Beaver Meadow Railroad as a single hike.
I actually think that line came out of Weatherly by way of one of the present day roads, but I’m not totally sure.
Just to the south of the bridge site, another right of way broke off to the left, gradually ascending. This was the Lehigh Valley line that went to the top of the Penn Haven Planes.

The line to Penn Haven

We had followed some of the right of way between Penn Haven places and the areas to the west on a previous hike as well. That’s a lot of exploring we have to do from just this one spot.
I was pretty hot, so I got right down into the creek and plopped down in the water. James and Amy also both sat in it.
This area, with the confluence of both the Hazle Creek and Beaver Creek, has historically been the site of many derailments, probably due to major washouts like that which destroyed the Beaver Meadow line.

Wreck at Hazle Creek, 1913

One such notable incident in 1913 was caused by a “runaway train” according notation on historic photos. They also indicate that the site once had a tower, which we didn’t know to look for.

1913 Hazle Creek wreck

A higher elevation grade seen in these historic photos might be that of an already abandoned branch, such as the one to Beaver Meadow, or maybe the branch to Penn Haven.

1913 Hazle Creek wreck

Once we were all cooled off, we got back on the tracks heading toward Weatherly. The old guy we had passed on the Buck Mountain Road sped by us on his quad yet again. I wonder if he was out monitoring what we were doing.

1913 Hazle Creek Wreck

I had thought to follow one of the other routes like the old route to Penn Haven, but it would have taken a while longer, and wasn’t along the creek, so the former second track site on the line heading into Weatherly was just fine.

Black Creek (Hazle Creek) Junction, William Rapp Collection 1910

We continued along the right of way as it turned from eastbound to south, with the creek surprisingly close to the right of us the entire time.

Hazle Creek junction area, Jim Shaup Collection

We were fast approaching Weatherly, and we’d be done quite a lot earlier than anticipated. The route I had figured might be complicated and require a lot of bushwhacking to get around certain spots ended up being not so bad after all.

Historic postcard image of the Hazle Creek Junction with it's earlier name

We followed along Wilbur Street to the railroad crossing with adjacent Hazle Creek crossing, with it’s weirdly fanned out shape, and we were parked right across at the Dollar General. Rather than just go back, we opted to do a little bit more exploring from here.

1913 Hazle Junction derailment

Weatherly is a very interesting town to explore due to it’s industrial past. It was originally called “Black Creek”, first settled in 1825 by a man named Benjamin Romig. The name was changed to Weatherly in 1848 at the request of clock maker David Weatherly.

Weatherly Station in 1951

Weatherly, an executive on the Beaver Meadow Railroad, made an agreement that he would built a clock for the town if it were named for him. However, he skipped town without the promised clock and the town kept the name anyway.

Weatherly Station, 2017

The clock tower on the top of the school was instead funded by Charles and Eurana Schwab, and so the school has that name in their honor instead.
The old school is a beautiful structure, and we were going to try to go in it after a hike in the area a few years back, but too many people were around. It’s unused now, and the town is trying to fund it’s restoration, as seen on signs next to the bridge where we were parked.

Historic postcard image of Schwab School

The handsome railroad station, built in 1889, still stands and is in good condition along the tracks. I believe it now houses the local police.
With the coming of the railroad came a lot more industry to Weatherly including a candy factory, cigar factory, bicycle factory, silk mills, foundries, and a fabricating plant.

Early 1880s view of Weatherly

The silk spinning mill became the largest in the country at one time, and it employed 1,500 women. The mill created the inaugural dress for the wife of Theodore Roosevelt as well.

Weatherly Museum in an old station building

Due to it’s good location at the heart of Coal Country, Lehigh Valley Railroad set up it’s engine shops adjacent to it’s Round House in Weatherly in 1869. Master mechanic Philip Hoffecker designed and built about seventy 4-8-0 engines, known as “dirt burners” at these shops between 1872 and 1890. After his retirement, only eight more engines were built in Weatherly before Lehigh Valley Railroad closed the site in 1894.
In 1913, new life was breathed into the site when it was purchased and renovated as Weatherly Iron and Steel Company.

Koehler's Crossing

Pete told us about a guy by the name of John “Jack” Koehler, who was a former letterman and the life behind a lot of the local historical society activity. He wrote a book on the history of Weatherly, and was apparently the go-to guy on the subject. The foot bridge over the Hazle Creek, which still stands, is named in his honor. The planking on the deck has seen better days, but it’s still a nice remnant, because pictures show that this bridge was apparently in place during the days of the iron works operations.
We followed the old spur tracks to the former engine house/iron works.

Weatherly Steel Company in June of 1967

The handsome stone structure that was originally the engine houses dominated the view as we headed over near it. The old masonry structure is a behemoth even by today’s standards.

Weatherly Steel Co today

The roof had been removed from the old building around 2010, because it was deemed by attorneys to be unsafe. It reportedly had good wooden floor prior to that, and was considered to be the best preserved nineteenth century locomotive works since the destruction of another one in Troy, NY.

Old locomotive works

We walked into the now open-air structure, and it’s easy to imagine what the place must have been like. Sadly, it’s very unlikely that a new roof will ever be fabricated to fit on this place. It’s more likely that the municipality will end up turning it into an open air garden type of thing, maybe move some stationary old engine displays to it. They can’t even muster enough money for their school house rehabilitation, and I’m sure countless other historic sites.

Historic view of the Weatherly Roundhouse, 1912

We walked through every former room of the place, and looked out the south side, which might be where the roundhouse used to stand, and then turned back through another part of the building. The giant doorways that were intended for locomotives were crumbling. Even this masonry ruin would have to be stabilized and re-pointed if it is to last much longer.

Engine house ruins

We headed out of the building, and back over toward the historical society building where there was a section of steel framework still in place for moving stuff around. It was rather surprising that it was left with ladders in place, all too welcoming to climb.

Of course, I had to climb it. The ladder was enclosed partially by a steel round conduit that gave the illusion of safety, and I could lean back with my back against it if I wanted.

View from the steel

I could see to the south right across the old engine works ruins, which looked even more skeletal from atop the tower. James came up the thing to join me for the view.
To the left of me, there was a little office or control room for moving stuff around, surprisingly still in place. There was no safe flooring to stand on, so I didn’t move around too much up there. I didn’t see signs saying not to climb any of it, but I’m sure it wasn’t really allowed. With the police station right there, I didn’t stay up too long.

Climbing James

The historical society’s station building still had a Lehigh Valley Railroad car parked on an intact piece of trackage, as well as another little car. We walked by these heading back toward the cars, and past the old station, but then decided we were hungry.
We turned back around and went up 1st Street, then turned right on on Carbon Street down to Original Italian Pizza. This place is actually a chain, although in the past we had thought it was a mom and pop place. I ended up finding out through my travels that there are a lot of these.

View from the top

We had ourselves a pretty good meal, and while I was there I took my Metrotrails flask out. I think I must have left it on the table there, and didn’t realize it till we left. When I called them to ask if they had it, the girl who answered said “yeah! Hang on!”. I heard her say “Hey remember that flask we found?” to someone else there. There was some sort of voice I could not tell, and then the girl came back on the phone and said “No, we didn’t find it”. I knew that was bullshit after what I’d heard, so I’ll just simply have to get another from our cafe press account. Oh well.

Box on top of the steel

We left the place and walked back past the station to where we had all parked at the Dollar General to finish the hike, and got rides back to the Lehigh Tannery lot.
This was just a great hike to answer a lot of questions and ask a whole lot more. We could very easily spend a life time exploring Coal Country alone. The industry was so important, and the processing and transportation built up the area, and the ease and perfection of the process led to it’s downfall. The remnants seem to never end and there’s always more right from where we left off. We’ll be doing a lot more in the area in the near future.

Historic image of Weatherly PA