Pennsylvania Anthracite – Caleb Savage – A documentary photography project taking a close look at the coal communities of Northeast PA

Lou Huber, Mahanoy City, 2014

I photographed Lou Huber, Vietnam War veteran and member of the Mahanoy City Borough Council, while he was distributing flyers on the symbolism of the American flag.

St. Nicholas Coal Breaker

United Mine Workers of America office, outside the St. Nicholas Breaker

The Beginning: Centralia

Centralia was the beginning of my fascination with Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Region.

In 2012, I traveled to Centralia to work on a documentary photography assignment during my spring break as a freshman photography student at NYU.

Barack Obama was gearing up for his second election

At eighteen years old, I was fascinated by American iconography and I got what I was looking for.

I’d heard of Centralia years before, did some research, and got in the car early on a cold March morning. I left my cell phone back home in Carversville and hit the highway in my Hyundai Elantra with a stack of mapquest printouts for guidance.

Driving northeast, the suburbs turned to farms which turned to industry as the counties passed: Bucks, Lehigh, Schuylkill, Columbia.

Locust Ridge Wind Farm viewed from Centralia (Digital)

A sign created by one of the last remaining residents protesting ongoing efforts to force out Centralia’s residents. In 2013, they won a lawsuit allowing them to remain in their homes for life, however the population has continued to decline. (Digital)

Panoramic view from Centralia’s “graffiti road,” the abandoned section of Pennsylvania Highway 61 that has been melted by the fire. The strip is frequented by local teenagers and tourists alike. It’s one of the most visible signs of the fire today. (Digital)

Active strip mining operations to the east are visible from Centralia (Digital)

Odd Fellows Cemetery, Centralia. The fire began in this vicinity before spreading underground. (Mamiya 7, medium format color negative film)

The stone structure in the background was the site of a time capsule, placed in Centralia in 1966 and designated to be opened in 2016. In a strange sequence of events, the time capsule was opened early in 2014. Its contents had severe water damage. (Bronica SQ, color negative film)

Demolition debris in Centralia. (Bronica SQ, color negative film)

Looking east from Centralia (Mamiya 7, Fuji Provia 100)

Downtown Centralia (Bronica SQ, color negative film)

Demolition debris, Centralia. (Bronica SQ, color negative film)

Approaching Centralia from Ashland. (Pentax ME Super, color negative film)

A visitor surveys Centralia’s martian landscape. (Bronica SQ, color negative film)

A couple from Connecticut arrive for a visit to Centralia. The Internet has prompted a dramatic spike in visitors to Centralia. (Bronica SQ, color negative film)

Mahanoy City

In the latter half of the 19th century, Augustus Salasavicius immigrated from Lithuania to the United States. They settled in Mahanoy City. The name became Savage. Some other things happened, and here we are today.

This project is guided by a desire to understand how my ancestors in the region lived, and what things might be like for me if they never left.

Mahanoy City has been hit harder than most surrounding communities by the decline of Anthracite mining. Abandoned shops and rowhouses almost rival the number of solvent businesses and lived-in homes. This photo from 2012 shows an empty supermarket– the building has now been demolished. Although there are a few smaller markets and discount stores, the city lacks a full-service supermarket. (35mm film, Pentax ME Super)

Miner’s boots on display in a vacant Mahanoy City storefront

Mahanoy City once had the highest density of drinking establishments in the country.

Occasional Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern trains still pass through town.

Coaldale & Mother Jones

Coaldale, just outside Lansford, is a small patch town with a distinct identity.

Bus stop, Coaldale PA. Ektar 100 4×5 // Wista Field Camera

A nearby historical marker commemorates Mother Jones’s march of 2,000 striking miners from McAdoo to Coaldale. The experience is recounted in a section of her autobiography. (PDF via Hazleton Area School District)

Part of a historical exhibit in Coaldale PA. An active strip mine lies just behind this mine car.

A Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern freight train waits for goods at Coaldale.

colors and lines in ashland and mount carmel

october 2012 • bronica sq • color negative film

Number 9 Coal Mine Museum, Lansford

The Number 9 Coal Mine Museum in Lansford is one of three museums which offer tours of underground coal mines in the region. The others are the Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland and the Lackawanna County Mine Tour in Scranton. The Eckley Miners Village also offers visitors a chance to see a preserved 19th century patch town.

Former guide Chris Opresko gives a tour of the No. 9 Coal Mine in Lansdale, PA.

Interior of the No. 9 Coal Mine in Lansford, PA. Shuttered in 1972 due to plummeting coal prices, the mine was restored as a museum by local volunteers.

Northeastern Power Cogeneration plant, Audenried

Northeastern Power Cogeneration plant, Audenried PA (outside McAdoo). This power plant burns previously discarded low-quality anthracite coal waste (culm) which is mined on site. Much of the current mining activity in the Anhtracite region employees similar remining techniques.

The 1869 Avondale Mine disaster was a pivotal point in labor history. It inspired some of the first labor unions and workplace safety regulations.

View of Avondale valley, the site of an 1869 disaster in which 110 miners were killed by an underground fire. The disaster sparked some of the first safety regulations for coal mines and caused early labor unions to gain strength. 4×5 B&W Film

Tunkhannock Viaduct & Nicholson

I visited Nicholson, PA– just north of Scranton– in late October to finally see the famous Tunkhannock Viaduct, originally part of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western system but now owned by Norfolk-Southern.

This contact sheet from October 2017 has some images from Nicholson and its famous viaduct as well as shots from the Jeddo Tunnel discharge.

The viaduct shot on 4×5 Ektachrome 100VS in a Crown Graphic

Superior Coal Prep

I visited the Hegins area on July 2, 2017 in one of my more productive trips to the region. Hegins (pronounced Higgins) is home to some of the last remaining small-scale producers and underground Anthracite mines in Pennsylvania.

Superior operates underground mines and a homebuilt breaker which several small mines use.

The owner of Superior Coal Prep leaves work in his truck.

Culm piles behind the Superior prep plant

Acid Mine Drainage

The Old Forge Borehole is the largest single point source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Old Forge Borehole discharges up to 100 million gallons of polluted water per day from the mine pool under Scranton.

Eckley Miner’s Village

A fake coal breaker constructed by Paramount for the filming of The Molly Maguires (1968)

Shooting the breaker with my Crown Graphic 4×5 view camera

A couple sits outside the gift shop at the Eckley Miner’s Village.

A coal shed and garage at a home in the Eckley Miner’s Village.

St. Clair, April 2017

The view from above the Coal Creek Shopping Center, located in a reclaimed strip mine. I shot this on 35mm film with a Canon FTb in April 2017, while I was waiting for a tow truck after my car broke down in the parking lot below.

Knox Mine Disaster Memorial

I attended a memorial event for the Knox Mine Disaster on its 58th anniversary, January 22 2017. The Knox disaster occurred when the Susquehanna river broke through an illegal coal mine tunnel, flooding the extensive network of tunnels under the Scranton area. This event was singlehandedly responsible for killing the Anthracite mining industry in the Northern field (the Scranton & Wilkes-Barre area) and was a significant nail in the coffin for anthracite mining as a whole.

Twelve miners were killed in the disaster.

scanner glitch

i love how these images came out…. the film (35mm color slide film) got stuck in the Pakon scanner and made a beautiful accident.

This trailer is parked across the street from the Saint Nicholas Coal Breaker . It bears a fading message “All Gave Some, Some Gave All”

behind the old high school, mahanoy city

Palo Alto (outside Pottsville)

Blaschak Coal plant, outside Mahanoy City

underground in the No. 9 Mine

Interior of the No. 9 Coal Mine in Lansford, PA. Shuttered in 1972 due to plummeting coal prices, the mine was restored as a museum by local volunteers.

thermometer, superior coal prep

If you look closely, these thermometers are everywhere in NEPA.

Wilkes-Barre, 2014

May’s Drive-In, Ashland PA

Self Portrait, Jim Thorpe

Self Portrait, Jim Thorpe PA. October, 2012.

Mamiya 7 on color negative film

Originally called Mauch Chunk, the town was a transportation hub for coal products on the Lehigh River. In the 1950’s, the town purchased the remains of Native American athlete Jim Thorpe and renamed the town after him.

My car in Jim Thorpe

Wildflowers at the St. Nicholas Breaker

Summer 2017, Fuji Provia 35mm slide film

Flag House, Old Forge PA

This shot is a scan from an 8×10 negative shot with a Deardorff view camera in October 2014. It hasn’t been color corrected yet.

The Strippins’

Location unknown

Bronica SQ, color negative film

Most likely 2013

Dragline

Possibly Jeddo Borough

Aristes, 2012

American flag planted in a large block of anthracite coal

Locust Ridge Wind Farm above an active strip mine

Miner’s boots in a vacant storefront window, Mahanoy City

Behind the St. Nicholas breaker, 2014

Rick Bender leaving work at the Superior Prep Co-Op Breaker

The Kaier Brewery building, October 2016 (a few months before it was demolished).

Byrnesville

Byrnesville, a small village adjacent to Centralia was condemned at the same time due to the underground fire.

Bathtub Shrine, Byrnesville, 2014

Graffiti Highway, Centralia (2016)

location unknown

Inside a crumbling outbuilding in the shadow of the Saint Nicholas breaker (2016)

Highway 61, Centralia

Cracks in the abandoned portion of Highway 61, melted by the Centralia fire. (Digital)

Susquehanna River

Lackawanna & Susquehanna

The orange water of the Lackawanna River, polluted by acid mine drainage from the Old Forge Borehole, meets the Susquehanna. The Old Forge Borehole is the largest single point source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Womers were a few of the last die-hard Centralia residents. They’re mentioned in the This American Life episode “Fire” which features a story about Centralia. The house was abandoned in the summer of 2017.

Yuengling Brewery, Pottsville

Coal Keeps The Lights On

A conveyor belt crosses Highway 54 outside Mahanoy City. The lettering was added in 2013.

Blue Mountain from bridge over rail yard, Jim Thorpe.

Coal Creek

Coal Creek Shopping Center, St. Clair PA
Spring 2012– my second trip

A bottle of water collected at the Old Forge Borehole

The Old Forge Borehole is the single largest point source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay watershed (via the Susquehanna River)

Centralia Aerial Photos

Old Forge, PA

Shot on 8×10 Large Format film

The Anthracite King from above

Google Earth view of two massive draglines in a strip mine near Jeddo Borough

Saint Nicholas – January 2018

Demolition in progress on the Saint Nicholas Coal Breaker – the last of its kind. Gets a little smaller every time I go back. #pennsylvania #america #coal #postindustrial #anthracite

A post shared by caleb (@calebsavagephoto) on Jan 14, 2018 at 2:42pm PST

Coal Township, January 2018

A strip mine and culm bank tower over the outskirts of Shamokin