Heading off to Buffalo, the long way...
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| We arrived early in Jim Thorpe, so went to view the Jim Thorpe Tunnel, also known as the Turn Hole Tunnel (1866, by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company for its railroad line, the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad) |
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| The tunnel was condemned in 1910, and closed in 1956, and totally abandoned in 1965 |
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| It was named Turn Hole Tunnel because of its location at a turn in the Lehigh River; now the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway crosses the river farther downstream |
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| The other end of the tunnel has signs to keep you out; the tunnel can be found in Lehigh Gorge state Park |
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| A Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway (2005) train takes tourists for a ride from Jim Thorpe at the Mauch Chunk station to Penn Haven Junction and back (total of 16 miles) |
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| Hibiscus moscheutos/"Dinner Plate" Hibiscus |
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| We were here to see the Tiffany windows at St Mark and St John's Episcopal Church (1867-1869, by Richard Upjohn in Gothic Revival style) |
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| St Mark & St John's is located on a narrow hill-climbing street |
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| The main doorway has a pediment in memory of Asa Packer by his wife |
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| Tolman House (built as a carriage house) is now the rectory of the church |
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| Is this the exterior of a Tiffany window? (We never found out because no one showed up to give the scheduled tour!) |
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| Chain locker for the miners, where items or a basket were suspended from a high ceiling on a long chain attached along the walls and secured with locks |
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| Displays of all sorts of tools |
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| The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was known in the Lehigh Valley as the Old Company |
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| Model of the Weigh Lock of the Lehigh Canal in Mauch Chunk, PA |
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| Display of a miner's kitchen; in this town the housing was provided by the company and rent came out of the paycheck |
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| An example of the company store, the only place miners could shop and with prices that quickly depleted their paychecks |
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| Miners' headlamps; Thomas Edison developed a safe electric camp lamp (1912) by developing a rechargeable battery pack that attached to the miner's belt with a cord connected to the lamp on the cap |
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| Miners' lunch pails and boxes |
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| Time for the 13:00 tour into the number 9 mine, the world's oldest continuously-operated anthracite coal mine, from 1855 to 1972 |
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| A coal train leaves the tunnel in a fog of condensation created from the cool air of the mine hitting the warm humid air outside |
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| This mine is unique in that they were able to dig horizontally into the mountain, and then access the coal above and below |
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| The battery-operated mine locomotive |
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| Once inside the mine, we walked through both wood-supported and steel-supported mine tunnels; here you can better see the cable wheels for the lighted "Go Devil," a machine used to move heavy carts of coal into a train to leave the mine |
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| Storage rooms were carved along the sides of the tunnel and this one served as the foreman's office; the foreman would have dealt with workers speaking about 17 different languages |
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| Two elevators in the elevator shaft to reach levels both below and above; note the subway-like handholds for the miners |
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| A large coal car can carry tons of coal |
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| Rusting bell (KSS) |
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| A mule and its perhaps 10-year old handler; mules were used to pull the coal cars, and they could handle the weight because the rails were on a slight downward grade |
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| A chute brought coal down to this level ... |
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| ... and haphazard steps allowed the miners to access various levels |
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| A very basic "hospital" was added in "modern times" |
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| We were reminded that anthracite coal burns cleanly, because it is hard and has low sulfur content, unlike bituminous coal that gives coal all the bad press |
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