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 former site of Kalmia Colliery – Schuylkill County
A recent visit to the site of Kalmia Colliery in Schuylkill County reveals life in an abandoned patch town.
An early historian’s description of Lykens and Wiconisco at conclusion of Civil War
Richard Nolen helped build the mining communities of northern Dauphin County. In 1865, he described how much they had changed.
“Wiconisco Marine killed on Saipan” – July 7, 1944
Corporal Raymond Holwig died during the fight for the strategically important Pacific Island in July 1944.
A New York Times correspondent’s 1874 visit to Wiconisco Township
A dispatch to the New York Times from August 1874 details life and work in the thriving Dauphin County mining community.
World War I draftees paraded through Elizabethville in 1918 before marching off to war
On a sunny Saturday in August 1918, more than 150 young men prepared for entry into the U.S. Army at the town park in Elizabethville, PA.
“The sweet strains of music were heard” – Memorial Day in Williamstown
Photographs taken on Memorial Day 1907 in Williamstown, Pennsylvania show a community commemorating its war dead.
“They died for you and me” – Captain John T. Boyle’s 1879 Memorial Day Poem
The veteran of the 96th Pennsylvania read his poem at Memorial Day festivities in Harrisburg on May 29, 1879.
When the Klan came to Williams Valley – 1924
A recent visit to a cemetery in Schuylkill County inspired an examination of a dark chapter of local history.
“A reign of terror” – A violent 1838 election riot provoked outrage in central Pennsylvania
Workmen on the Wiconisco Canal assaulted poll workers in Halifax, threw out votes, and started their own election.
