In December 1873, a 4,000 foot tunnel was completed through Big Lick Mountain in Dauphin County. Williamstown Tunnel opened up Bear Valley for profitable coal mining.
The completion of Williamstown Tunnel – 1873
A visit to the Coal Region in the summer of 1873 – The Atlantic Magazine
A writer's visit to the Coal Region and his fascinating, but scathing opinions about what he found - Summer of 1873
“In the Depths of a Coal Mine” – Stephen Crane’s 1894 visit to Pennsylvania’s Coal Region
Author Stephen Crane made a visit to a coal mine near Scranton in 1894 for an article in McClure's Magazine.
“Children of the Coal Shadow” – A haunting report about the children of the Coal Region from 1903
A gripping, harrowing story documents the lives and struggles of Coal Region children shortly after the Great Coal Strike of 1902.
Interviews with women during the 1900 Coal Strike reveal details of hardship and struggle in the patch towns near Hazleton
A women reporter documents the lives and struggles of working class women on the outskirts of Hazleton in 1900.
Remembering the local emergency response to the Porter Tunnel Disaster – March 1977
On March 1, 1977, water poured into the Porter Tunnel mine in western Schuylkill County. Emergency crews raced to the scene.
Charles Miner’s description of the mining industry in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley – 1830 (Part One)
Early industrialist and political power broker Charles Miner describes the opportunity for the future of the mining industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The Coal Region’s economic woes featured in book: “The Year of Peril: America in 1942”
In Tracy Campbell's 2020 book, the author uses the examples from the anthracite coal fields to show how our national myths about World War II often miss the mark.
A colorized postcard of the West Shenandoah Colliery
This image from Schuylkill County is among the new additions to the Wynning History image collection.
Photographs from 1938 document the damage done to homes by mine subsidence in Schuylkill County
Sheldon Dick photographed damaged homes in Gilberton, Schuylkill County in 1938.
Wynning History 