Introduction: The Coal Region

1958 High School Yearbook

I’ve always been a pack rat and I have many things from my youth, my tour in the Navy, my IBM career, my family, and retirement. This story is about my youth and growing up in a small coal mining town. I asked classmates if they have any memories they would like to share that I can include. What follows are memories I have and some from several classmates.

One thing we all had in common was being grateful for having lived in Frackville during the 40s and 50s. None of our families had much money but as I look back on that time I don’t recall wanting much more than we had. It truly was the best time.


Coal Region

We were "coal crackers" and many friends and relatives worked in the coal industry in one way or another. My grandfather worked in the mines and my father drove a coal truck. For most of the 1940s coal was the primary fuel in home heating. I’m talking about anthracite coal, or as it was called, "hard" coal. It was much cleaner burning than bituminous, or "soft" coal. The decline of the anthracite industry started in the early fifties when heating homes by oil took over. But until that time, coal was king and Schuylkill county had some of the richest anthracite coal fields in the country.

Frackville’s location was between the Western Middle Coal Field and the Southern Coal Field. The Mahanoy Plane was the valley below the north end of Frackville. The Plane House was built on the highest point in the area on which was referred to as the "hump." Coal that was mined nearby was hoisted from the valley below by cars pulled up an inclined plane powered by steam engines. They were allowed to drift south of town to the St. Clair railroad yards and then by train to major cities.

If you’d like to see a complete list of coal region patches go to http://www.coalregion.com/ and click of Towns & Patches. This is a really cool site for someone who has left the area to bring back old memories. I especially recommend the "Coal Speak Dictionary." The recipes section is pretty good too. It brings back memories of Mom making a big pot of halupkies when I came home on leave from the Navy. Bleenies, oh my goodness, I miss bleenies.

The sad news is they’ve closed the forums and guest book as of June 2009 because of so much hatred expressed by a few. That is a sad commentary about people these days. The guest book is how I first got back in touch with John "Sib" Sabol, one of my neighborhood friends and a classmate that I had lost touch with for a long time. I remember how excited I was when I e-mailed him and found out it really was him that signed the guest book.

I'll continue this later about what I remember about those times but if you grew up in Frackville back in the 1940s and 1950s and you have a story to share - please do.