In 1877, a mine fire in Lykens, PA did more than just rage out of control underground. It threw 800 men out of work, left families destitute, and occurred amid one of the most explosive years in American labor history. This new video explores the human cost of disaster in the Coal Region. Watch the Video.
On New Year’s Day 1877, fire erupted deep inside the Short Mountain Colliery and would not be easily contained. It burned for months, idled hundreds of miners, and shook the communities of Lykens and Wiconisco during a national depression. This new video traces the disaster and its aftermath. Watch the video.
The Pennsylvania Inspectors of Mines report details findings about the devastating mine fire in the Short Mountain Colliery in Wiconisco Twp.
A collection of the most popular stories from Wynning History in 2017 all in one place.
In Lykens, Pennsylvania the year 1877 was spent in economic desperation after a devastating mine fire.
On a cold and snowy day in 1877, a fire began at the bottom of Short Mountain Colliery in Wiconisco, Pennsylvania. Two communities would be forever altered by its flames.