A Look into a Small Town’s Past.
Excerpt
INTRODUCTION
IT CAN BE SAID that each day is a drive through history. Ghosts of the past can be seen all around us if we just look deep enough. Clues can be found to link us to the past through locations, buildings, artifacts; even street names can point us to our rich past. This book is a labor of love for each of
us involved.
We realized that as more time passes, more buildings and sights of historical significance are being knocked down or built over. When they are gone, sometimes a bit of their memory escapes with them as well.
In a way, the purpose of this book is to reconnect the reader to the past. So many people are not fully aware of just how culturally rich our area is. Our intention is to show some significant buildings, events, famous residents and visitors of Olyphant, Pa., the “Queen City,” through the years – a town built upon by the famed anthracite mining industry.
Most importantly, it was built by the blood, sweat, and tears of countless hardworking coal miners. Many times, these very men gave their lives to those mines. As we see it, their sacrifices and hard work should never be buried and forgotten.
Therefore, this book is a testament and tribute to them, along with the monument that we have erected in their memory. Donation cards kept coming in to help us fund our memorial statue, and some included personal stories, which affected me deeply. I found myself tearing up as I read how so many fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and uncles were lovingly remembered by their families. If anyone gains knowledge and a deeper respect for the hard work that this town was built upon, then we have accomplished our goal. So, we encourage you to follow the clues, search the leads, and find the link to the rich culture of the “Queen City” – Olyphant, Pa.
Jay Luke
August 2009
CHAPTER ONE: ORIGINS OF THE QUEEN CITY
THE AREA KNOWN AS OLYPHANT HAS SURELY SEEN an abundance of culture since its inception. It has not been easy to track down the first people native to the area. One thing is certain; the very earliest settlers were undoubtedly the Native American Indians. How long they were settled in Olyphant is up for debate. We do know that long before the first white settlers roamed the area, there were tales of Algonquin Indians, along with the Iroquois, Lenape, and Munsee tribes living in the richly-wooded areas along both sides of the Lackawanna River at one time or another. They did not leave much tangible evidence aside from archaeological finds, such as arrowheads, pottery shards, or the occasional discovery of a campsite during random excavations. They did however leave us with many names that we still use today.
CHAPTER TWO: THE BEGINNING OF THE ANTHRACITE INDUSTRY
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON HOW THE GRAVITY RAILROAD BEGAN proves to be interesting reading.
During the War of 1812, two clothing merchants from Philadelphia made their fortune by supplying the U.S. Government with military uniforms. These men were the Wurts brothers. Maurice and William Wurts decided to travel north when the war was over to hunt for wild game. They found more than wild game when they discovered anthracite coal, or as they called it, “black rock.” William Wurts is widely credited for the first anthracite discovery in Lackawanna County. The anthracite was taken from the old Anderson farm, which was located close to the junction of Marshwood and Underwood Roads in Throop in 1814. The farm was a working farm until it was destroyed by a fire around World War I in the late 1920s.
The Wurts brothers founded the town of Carbondale, which is the fourth-oldest city in all of Pennsylvania. After some mocking from the locals, the brothers kept on searching for coal through the rocks and wilderness. They quickly realized these anthracite-rich grounds would be very valuable. Previous town names were “Ragged Island” and “Barrendale” before it was named Carbondale, which means “coal valley.” The Wurts brothers would eventually purchase thousands of acres of land. Here is where the story gets tricky; they used a man named David Nobles as a pawn.
While on a hunt in the woods, the Wurts brothers met Nobles, who was traveling with his dog and gun. Nobles, a hunter as well, was fleeing from doing jail time for his failure to repay debts he owed to a neighbor in Wayne County. Maurice and William struck a deal with Nobles. If he would point the brothers to areas of large coal quantities and help them to purchase the lands, the brothers would give Nobles the money he owed his neighbor to pay off his debt.
The Wurts brothers were anything but foolish. They realized the local folk were always reluctant to sell property to city folk, so that was where Nobles came in. The scheme was that Nobles would approach landowners and ask if they would consider selling some of their property in order for Nobles and his two “brothers” to start a farm. When the landowners were agreeable and ready to sell the property, Nobles called the Wurts brothers to seal the deal by putting up the funding.
CHAPTER THREE: LIFE IN THE MINES
AS YOU MAY NOW REALIZE, LIFE IN THE COAL MINES was anything but glamorous. The working conditions always left a lot to be desired; from long hours to low pay, and the very real threat that a gas explosion or mine cave-in might take a life at any time. In this section, we will try to shed light on what occurred in the darkness below the earth. As the industry flourished, mines were popping up all over. Coal was mined in the Underwood area near Marshwood. The Pennsylvania Coal Company controlled three shafts at the Underwood location, a breaker building, and the Eddy Tunnel. Mines were cultivated by forging passageways and air shafts. Many of the passageways were dug as close to the surface of the ground as they were permitted. The result would often be cave-ins. Another cause of cave-ins resulted in what was called “robbing the pillars.” As miners dug, they left pillars to support the roofs between chamber passages. These pillars ranged anywhere from 10 to 15 feet thick. After a mine had been used up years later, miners would come back to remove some of the coal that made up the pillars. This was a very dangerous practice and many men found themselves injured and often killed due to the ceiling coming down on them. To the miner, danger was ever-present and some men even worked in claustrophobic areas that were just 18 inches high.
CHAPTER FOUR: THAT SINKING FEELING
WHEN A MINE SHAFT WAS TO BE SUNK INTO THE GROUND, it was not done with machine power, but rather by the most skilled workers in the industry, called Sinkers. These men were the bravest to be found and courageously went headfirst into the worst conditions possible. In time, as they delved into the rock face, their lungs would slowly fill up with the coal dust they breathed, resulting in many early deaths brought on by the disease called Black Lung, sometimes known as “the curse of the mines,” and was the biggest risk to the miners. Some notable sinkers to the area were Pat McKenna, Mike McNamara, Frank Nichols, Dave Wasley, Joel Wasley and Frank Shanley.
Miners’ lives are detailed in stories and songs that were universally understood. Songs like “My Sweetheart’s the Mule in the Mines” were nationally popular and told the story of these rugged men and their daily lives. While some may seem like cheerful melodies, they depicted the hardships, dangers, and tragedies that went on during a hard day’s work shift. Tom Kearney of Olyphant penned “The Pancoast Disaster,” a song that recalled the famous mine disaster that occurred on April 7, 1911. A fire which originated in the engine room of one of the main gangways of the Pancoast mine suffocated 72 mine workers employed in that section of the mine. Copies of Kearney’s song were sold for 25 cents a piece.
CHAPTER FIVE: FIRE COMPANY HISTORY
compiled by Stephen Klem III
BEFORE THE ORGANIZATION OF FIRE DEPARTMENTS in the late 1800s, there were fire teams or fire brigades. Fire teams or brigades were small groups of men, resembling old style American Gangs. Men of these fire brigades were usually from the same ethnic backgrounds and wanted to protect and serve their individual communities. Coincidentally, they would also help put out fires in neighboring villages with the help of local villagers.
In 1887, a small group of men held a meeting which resulted in the formation of Olyphant’s first volunteer fire team. The first fire team consisted of a few men but would later grow to 50 in number. Three years later on May 14, 1890, the Olyphant Volunteer Fire Team changed its name to Excelsior Hose Company #1. These founding men have the honor of being the architects of the county’s first volunteer fire company.
CHAPTER SEVEN: FAMOUS RESIDENTS & VISITORS
OLYPHANT MAY BE CONSIDERED A SMALL TOWN by some, but it is not without its famous residents as well as famed visitors through the years.
NESTOR CHYLAK
National Baseball Hall of Fame umpire
AS MENTIONED IN THE STREET NAME SECTION, one of Olyphant’s proudest sons is Nestor Chylak. Born May 11, 1922, Chylak was of Ukranian heritage. After attending the University of Scranton, he joined the Army. During the Battle of the Bulge in Europe, shrapnel from an exploding bullet shell seriously wounded him. The injury almost cost Nestor his vision. For his time and heroism in the service he was awarded both the Purple Heart and Silver Star. Around the time the war ended he pursued a career in baseball as an umpire and also went back to college. His first games in the minor leagues were in 1947; it would not be until 1954 when he got to the American League.
CHAPTER NINE: THE OLYPHANT COAL MINERS MEMORIAL COMMITTEE
NEVER HAS THERE BEEN A CASE OF DIVINE INTERVENTION such as the collaboration of the minds involved in making Olyphant’s coal mining monument stand where it does today in Olyphant.
CHAPTER TEN: FRANK WYSOCHANSKY:MONUMENT ARTIST
compiled by Steve Lichak
Frank Wysochansky, 1915-1994
BETWEEN POST-WWII UNTIL HIS DEATH on September 14, 1994, Frank Wysochansky “Wyso” produced over 5,000 works of art and thousands of cartoons. He painted the life around him using a multi-media approach of pen and ink, watercolor, oil paints and crayon.
Copyright 2008 Jay Luke. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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