Fw: [CarrickPA] Re: What's really under our houses? The "Coal Road."

[Karla Voigt]

I sent my dad's girlfriend an e-mail to see if my dad or her had any mine stories.  He is 75 and grew up on Birmingham.  She sent me this e-mail and, although it's not about Carrick, I thought this group might like to read her story.  I will share more if I hear from my dad. 

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "fore...@comcast.net" <fore...@comcast.net>
To: Karla Voigt <karla...@verizon.net>
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 3:14:51 PM
Subject: Re: [CarrickPA] Re: What's really under our houses? The "Coal Road."

Hi Karla,

 

It is so good to hear from you.      Your Dad's e-mail is  ...........  neil...@verizon.net

 

I would like to share a story with you about the mines that I remember.  When I was about 14 years of age I remember Loretta Cemetery being on fire.

It lasted for days, maybe even weeks.  My two sisters are burried there and we were very concerned that it would spread to our cemetery plots. 

Loretta Cemetery is located above Arlington Heights Projects.  You can reach it by going straight back Spring Street.  That entire area is undermined.

The section of the cemetery that was burning was a very old section and perhaps no one was living that could be notified.  We watched from a safe distance as the graves collapsed and the ground caved in.  It smoltered for a long time until the rains put out the fire.

 

I will forward this to your Dad.  It is very interesting.  Thank You very much.

 

Love,

 

Rosie

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karla Voigt" <karla...@verizon.net>
To: fore...@comcast.net
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 9:21:28 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Fw: [CarrickPA] Re: What's really under our houses? The "Coal Road."

Hey Rosie.  This is for my dad.  I just don't have his e-mail right  now.  I am at home and I have his e-mail at work.  I was just wondering if he knew anything about the mines in Carrick or Mount Oliver.  I have been getting into the history of this area and thought maybe he (or you, or Grandma Voigt, or Aunt Audrey) would have anything to share about the history of the mines. 

 

I miss you two. Love you both.   --Karla

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Greenbandman <jru...@yahoo.com>
To: carr...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 9, 2009 10:31:30 PM
Subject: [CarrickPA] Re: What's really under our houses? The "Coal Road."

Thank you so much for this reply. Your mother was a wise woman and perhaps she knew all about the voids under our neighborhood. Wouldn't it be even more interesting to open up "Coal Road" and travel through our underground world?  What mysteries would we discover?  Who would we find?

---

From: Karla Voigt <karla...@verizon.net>
To: carr...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 9, 2009 9:17:46 PM
Subject: [CarrickPA] Re: What's really under our houses? The "Coal Road."

Thank you so much for the history.  I love hearing stories like this.  I've lived in this area all my life (actually grew up on Parkwood Road) and I love it. My mother always worried about us kids playing at the bottom of our backyard because she thought the ground might cave in from the mines below.  Thanks again.

---

From: Greenbandman <jru...@yahoo.com>
To: carrick listserve <carr...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 9, 2009 1:27:11 PM
Subject: [CarrickPA] What's really under our houses? The "Coal Road."

Historical Salutations from the Carrick Overbrook Historical Society:

 

It's time for Carrick-Overbrook-Mt. Oliver-South Side Historical Trivia!

 

"I'll be takin' the Coal Road shortcut to the South Side!" Do you know where the "Coal Road" is? Do you know why those railroad tracks were on South 21st. Street on the South Side?  

 

That lonesome, ghostly, mysterious locomotive and grinding noises you hear at night this Halloween might be actually coming from under your house! We all know that our neighborhood is undermined but do you really know how much? This is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on our own Keeling Coal Company mine site, now Volunteer's Fields between Newett and Colerain Avenues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeling_Coal_Company

"Coal Road"

"After the coal was removed, the mine became part of an underground
transportation system to transport coal from the South Hills to
industries along the Monongahela river. The "coal road" passed under
three hills, under Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania, then a trestle over a
ravine at the present location of Parkwood Road, then under the hill
topped by Fort Jones, later St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church[2] and
St. Clair Village, then over another ravine at the present-day Wagner
Street, to re-enter an underground mine section in Carrick near where
Bruner Street is today.[3][4] This mine connected with the Bausman
Mine in Spiketown, now Carrick, and was still operational in 1899.[5]
Coal was tranferred from Spiketown to the mine entrance on St. Patrick
Street by a steam locomotive that ran undeground. The coal from the
mine was transferred to a narrow gauge railroad that ran down the
middle of South 21st Street from an inclined plane railroad.[6][7]
Although the incline is no longer in existence, its site is occupied
by South Side Park, which was also a location of a Sankey brick works.
When the enginehouse of the coal road burned shortly before the
expiration of Keeling's lease on the mine, the lease was not renewed;
At about the same time, the Pittsburgh and Whitehall Railroad obtained
an easement adjacent to the track in the center of South 21st St.[8]"

Now you know!

 

John Rudiak

[terryann michel]

Burning mines have been going on forever.  I remember when I was in High school 1968 we lived on Penn Street in Baldwin.  If you walked all the way to the end of the street and went straight down over the hill you had to stop because of the burning mine.  You can still see the remnants of it when you come down Wagner to Becks run road across Becks run down toward Carson on the right you can still see the plastic that they used to put it out.  It took forever.  We would wake up and smell the burning coal and sulfur all day long we had our own cloud of pollution.  No amount of rain put it out.  Another was in Hays where my dad grew up.  He told of a story where a small boy fell into one and they tied a rope around my grandfather and lowered him down to try to get the boy out.  That had to have happened in the 1930's.  My grandfather was fine the boy was not.  My dad could not forget about it all his life. One of the openings of the mines around here is in the middle of a cliff on Streets Run Road by Benomi's ( Spelling is not my strong suit.)  The opening has only been closed for about 40 years.  My husband lived in Brentwood and remembers that as kids they would go into the mine all the time.  That was one of the entrances for this area of mining tunnels.

 

Terry Michel

[Greenbandman]

I thought the plastic off Beck's Run Road had something to do with the once proposed Race Track up there since it appeared at the same time.  One reason they said the race track and coal excavation was to extinguish the mine fire that was burning there on "40 acres" as it was called.  Was it their efforts to put out the fire the reason for the plastic wrap?

---

From: terryann michel <tam2...@msn.com>
To: carr...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:56:35 PM

[megan casey]

I don't have any mine stories, but I just want to thank everyone who has contributed.  It is fascinating to read about all these mines that were literally in our backyards.  Please keep them coming!
Sincerely,
Megan Casey
 

---

From: tam2...@msn.com
To: carr...@googlegroups.com

Subject: [CarrickPA] Re: What's really under our houses? The "Coal Road."

Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:56:35 -0400

<BR

[terryann michel]

The knoll up from Wagner is the burning mine the excavation further down I think was for another reason.  When it was burning you could actually see smoke coming up from the ground on a regular day and steam when it was raining or snowing.  The other site I remember them putting drainage pipes and everything. 

 

 I remember 40 acreas as being on the other side of the mountain up from Hays.  You accessed 40 acreas from the end of Agnew road past what used to be westinghouse research, now the academy for troubled kids.  We also called the areas the towers since the channel 4 towers were there.  40 acreas was where we watched the submarine races in the 60's It was one of the major hang out places like China wall in South Park.....

 

Also another piece of info... I don't know if it is really true or not but it was said that St Wendelins' Church Steeple is the highest point in Allegheny County.  The Church I believe is in Carrick.  It is cool to look out on a clear day from the steps and see forever.

[Greenbandman]

Thanks Terry, and I think you are correct about the white tarp farther down Becks Run Road and, from your recollections, you have a unique knowledge with 40 acres.  I never saw the other site burning though looks like another field view.

 

A lot of people think that one church or another is the highest point in Allegheny County.  For instance every time a old timer from work would drive out to the Greater Pitt Airport with someone from my office he would remark that the church on Rt. 60 in Robinson Township is the highest point in Allegheny County, and he would be corrected every time.  Not true about St. Wendelin's and sorry to say neither is St. Basil's (both of which it seems you can see from everywhere around here).  Here is from a web site http://www.pghbridges.com/  "From the highest point in Allegheny County, 1,401 feet at River Hill in Forward Township. . ."  This is true by the way. I had elevation maps and saw it for myself.  

 

Want to know the highest point in Pennsylvania?  Just nearby on Mt. Davis in Somerset County http://www.salisburypa.com/MtDavis.html.  It's an easy ride and a great day trip and you can walk up the fire tower, if you're not afraid of heights that is. 

 

By the way, from where I live I can see St. Wendelin's and have seen lightning striking the steeple. Fantastic show on stormy nights! 

---

From: terryann michel <tam2...@msn.com>
To: carr...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:07:08 PM

[terryann michel]

Hey that is very interesting,   I love reading about all of this stuff.  And I stand corrected.

Thank you

Terry