The 1877 Lykens Mine Fire | A Forgotten Coal Region Disaster

Описание: On New Year’s Day 1877, a spark deep inside the Short Mountain Colliery at Bear Gap ignited one of the most dramatic - yet forgotten - disasters in Pennsylvania’s Coal Region history.

In this video, Jake Wynn takes you inside the Lykens Mine Fire of 1877, a subterranean inferno that burned unchecked beneath Wiconisco Township and sent smoke pouring from the mountains above Lykens and Wiconisco. Newspaper reporters described it as a “volcano.” The ground cracked and smoke billowed from the earth. Panic swept through communities already struggling through one of the worst economic downturns in American history.

At the time, nearly 8,000 people depended directly or indirectly on this single colliery. As water was poured into the mine to fight the flames - eventually totaling hundreds of millions of gallons - families feared not just the fire itself, but the collapse of their livelihoods. The Long Depression was already underway. The Molly Maguire trials were unfolding. Labor unrest simmered across Pennsylvania. And now, the industry holding these towns together was burning underground.

This video explores:

• How the fire started nearly 1,000 feet below ground
• What witnesses saw as the mountain cracked and smoked
• The desperate effort to flood the mine
• The $1 million loss in 1877 dollars
• How long it took to recover
• Why this story ended up on the front page of the New York Times

Part One focuses on the fire itself — how it began, how it was fought, and how the mine was eventually restored after pumping out more than 280 million gallons of water.

Part Two, coming soon, will examine the human cost: hunger, displacement, and the social impacts that lingered long after the flames were extinguished.

Coal Region history is filled with dramatic moments that rarely make it into textbooks. This is one of them.

Read the full story at Wynning History:
👉 https://wynninghistory.com/2017/01/01...

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