A coal town here and another one there. Once the mines closed, we were in such a giant hurry to close the mines and rush to the revolution of the 21st century and shed our reputation. The Wyoming Valley and most of the areas that make up Northeastern Pennsylvania are still sometimes considered a big old bunch of coal towns. It’s just the way it is.

Coal miners were dirty. They were poor. It was long hours and a dangerous way of life. But what doesn’t kill you makes you strong. Those coal miners were strong in character, strong in humor and strong in their support of each other. Today, believe me when I tell you, we have an abundance of strong people living here in the Great Northeast. They are like the anthracite coal they mined. We all know what happens to coal under pressure, it becomes a diamond!

There are not many mines (or miners) left. But the industry shaped our area. It’s hard to believe that the breakers are gone. For those of us who lived here all our lifes, we barely noticed them as different or even out of place. Seems like they were just always here, these huge skeletons dotting our landscape. And now, there is one, the Huber Breaker. Anyone driving north on Interstate 81 from Hazleton will see the breaker off to their left.

Looks like this old skeleton just might stay. The Luzerne County commissioners are acting to try to prevent the breaker from being dismantled, like all the others in the area.

We can see the way miners and their families lived to the south at the Eckley Village. North of the Huber Breaker, we can visit the Lackawanna County Coal Mine to tour a real mine. These are both fine examples of successful restorations that have promoted tourism and interest in our history. Now, we might be able to see what happened to the coal when it came to the surface.

My neighbor’s son is an architect major at PSU. She told me that he presented a project about restoring the breaker into a visitors center. He was given a tour of the breaker and she was able to accompany him. She said it was just an awesome experience. Who knows? Maybe he will actually have a part in its restoration.

I hope we’re not going to destroy yet another thing we’ll regret later. I can’t bear to number my disappointments for things that were knocked down in the name of “progress”. There’s no point. They’re gone. But this old breaker just might have a new life! Who would have ever thought!

Click on the links below in case you’d like to learn more.

http://www.huberbreaker.org/index.html
http://www.thecoalminetour.com/
http://www.eckleyminers.org/