“The slow match is lighted… and suddenly the powder flashes, a deep, heavy sound sweeps throughout..." Hundreds of feet underground near Mahanoy City, PA, a journalist witnesses miners lit their fuses, stepped back, and waited as if it were routine. This 1871 account captures the danger, the noise, and the hardened world of work inside the Coal Region’s mines. Read the Full Story.
In May 1871, fire swept Pittston’s Knight Shaft. Eleven-year-old mule driver Martin Crahan turned back from safety to warn miners, was refused behind their barricade, and chose to die beside his teams. Nineteen others perished. A poem immortalized his courage in the face of a disaster similar to one that ravaged Avondale, PA two years earlier. Read the full story.
On October 8, 1871, Peshtigo, Wisconsin vanished in a wall of fire, leaving more than 1,200 dead. It remains the nation's deadliest wildfire. This podcast episode traces the disaster’s origins and its eerie legacy that lingers today. Listen to the latest episode of the Public History podcast.
On November 30, 1871, Lykens quietly marked Thanksgiving: businesses closed; Lutheran and Episcopal services thinly attended while railroads and collieries worked. Read the full story of a 19th century Thanksgiving in a mining town.
In a vivid 1871 illustration, striking workers and families jeer non-union miners walking through the crowded streets of Mahanoy City. Explore the early days of labor organization in Pennsylvania’s anthracite region and the conflicts that shaped coal country’s future. Read the full story.
Discover how a brief 1871 civil war ignited Paris, leaving smoldering ruins and shaping France’s future. Follow my December 2024 travels through Paris and learn how this dramatic chapter still resonates in the City of Light. Read the full story.
In December 1871, a devastating fire nearly claimed lives at the Kalmia Colliery in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Flames swept through the breaker, trapping miners and sparking rumors of arson by the Molly Maguires in this turbulent era of coal industry violence in Pennsylvania history. Read the Full Story.
A visitor from Pottsville describes a rapidly expanding community in upper Dauphin County in 1871.