It always amazes me how much was accomplished back in the 1800's. All the stone work. How many men did it take to bring in all those stones and create all the complicated foundations? Thanks for sharing.
They used child labor in this and every other coal operation in PA back then. My wife's grandfathers and many of friends' went into the breaker room or the mines before they were out of 6th grade.
@@michaelf6232 Victorian society had many terrible examples of children who worked in factories and mines. Charles Dickens wrote a lot about how mistreated children were as well as the poor, and he died in 1870. Up until 1836 in US a law was passed that under 15 couldn't work. So it was only a few decades since child labor was illegal. It was long "a thing" in society and when this was built it was actually a fairly novel concept of not using kids to get into tight spaces or reach into crushing machinery to yank material out of the gears. Children have long been used as very cheap or almost free labor, not just peacefully helping make food in their family farms.
@@michaelf6232 Well neither was child abuse or domestic violence. I understand it was all hands on deck to support and provide for the family. Kids dropped out of elementary to help in the fields/farms etc. A lot of it was good character building work, but lets not act like child exploitation and flat out abuse didn't exist. It did and still does regardless of how you choose to view it
My Great Grand Parents were snatched out of Ellis island / Statue liberty and forced to work there back in 1850s. After getting off their oceon liner. That was the massive migration period when millions were brought over to build our huge Industrial age time ! GP were Italians. All those hundreds of ocean liners were actually slave ships. They cruised the oceans offering free passage to America . On board it was standing room only. The decks we're shoulder to shoulder. What a Hime it had to be.. True story.. Look it up ! Movies about it ! And there was no law and order or rights.. Every town or company had it's own system of Justice ! And in the winter.. as the people were cold and broke working for penny s.. If you got caught picking up a piece of coal to take home.. YOU WERE SHOT ON SITE !! Took long time to get order and human rights instilled.. No school for children.. THEY TOO HAD TO WORK 6 DAYS A WEEK 8-12 HRS.. THEN MY DAD was born.. He joined the army 1943. Went to Europe for ww2.. came back. Married my mom in 1953.. had us 8 kids.. God bless everyone
I live about 45 minutes away and I never knew this abandoned place existed. The things you can discover in the mountains of PA. That’s why I love Pa and the history it’s full of.
I spent the Summers in Mahanoy City. (mack a noy) called by some i usually went in the other direction towards Barnesville. But to do more exploring I remember lakes from mining that had coal equipment laying at the bottom( you could not see). They were deep but apparently when they hit water they would abandon the sites. These were on the other side of town & also on that side there was an East Mahanoy Tunnel that RBMN Railroad still uses that went under I-81 when it was built that has a huge door that could be closed (if necessary).
The Victorians were some of the most inquisitive, dynamic people of history. It is as if a switch was thrown once steampower was invented. Earlier, with sail and water power things were progressing. But until steampower, people were limited to muscle (animal and human) power and water power -- Just as the Babylonians and Romans were limited.
Welcome to the coalcracker region. I live about 30 minutes away and every area pronounces each area/town differently. Lots to explore in Northeastern PA. Keep up the great work.
Very interesting explortion. I used to do this sort of thing with my Dad. He's gone now and my legs are not what they used to be so thanks for this video.
Those 2 box cars are from the 70,s. The were full of oxidite. A company worked out of there. The trucks had 2 tanks one would be full of fuel oil the other full of oxidite,the trucks would go to the strip mines in the area and as they pumed the stuff down a pre drilled hole it would mix and be a very powerful explosive.
The inclined plane railroad transported coal from the Mahanoy Valley up the Broad Mountain to Frackville. Opened in 1862 as part of the Reading Railroad system, improvements in the early 20th century increased its size and capacity, making it an engineering marvel able to meet national demands. After hoisting hundreds of millions of tons of coal, it closed in 1932. How and or why those 70's era rail cars ended up there is anyone's guess.
Steel 50' boxcars where not used until late 60's, so property was used late than 1932. The Coal Cars where pulled by a cable system that was powered by a stationary steam engine using pulleys. Coal Temples used cable system to move cars even on flat yards up though the 60's in some coal regions.
As a next-generation mechanical engineer, places like this make me sad. We ought to preserve our mechanical heritage instead of just moving on, because if that’s all we do, then we’ll have nothing to look back upon, sans a few photographs and decaying ruins. The Anthracite area in PA was a hub for places like this. I remember seeing videos of the old St. Nicholas and Huber collieries; some with very in-depth analysis quite like this on how they operated. Now they’re al gone. It just breaks my heart to see such fine machines and locations with hundreds of thousands of man hours put in just razed. All this aside, thank you for making this great content. I love learning about old places like this (and seeing the urbexing too!). Keep up the great work!
St Nicholas was one of my favorite explores to this day. Unfortunately at the time I was only into photography and never filmed the inside. But I do still have my pictures and memories.
Somehow I've only recently discovered your channel, and within the space of two videos, decided you were worth subscribing to, and have since watched many of your previous videos back to back, in an effort to catch up, and have enjoyed every one. Good work my friend, with many fascinating and historical places visited, showcasing much of the amazing industrial and social history of your great nation, and nicely presented too. Hopefully, there are many more to come! Wishing you all the best from the UK.
Always enjoy your videos. Love how you give as much history as you can. I live in PA so this is pretty awesome for me to see this. It's also great to see Jay with you I miss his videos.
It is completely insane and boggles my mind the amount of engineering there was so long ago with minimal resources they had. I really think they were far more advanced then we are today with all our modern technology and equipment
Your videos are just superbly well put together , loaded with a ton of information for the curious minds like myself who cannot travel as much these days.
I Look forward every week, all the way, from Coventry England!!!!! to your videos, you let me travel with you, so far away, you are great!!!!!! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
It would be an explorer's playground in the summer , i've never seen coal underground before . Be careful man when you were at the cave in it was making me have that feeling on the back of my neck 😨🤣👍👍🇺🇸
Great video. I am continuously in awe of technology from the past. Just imagine all the effort behind the design and building. Too bad no one left a written legacy of their time their. Keep putting out the videos and ignore the trolls.
these are awesome sets of ruins, dude. Over here in NJ, I’ve been checking about ruins of the Morris canal’s inclined planes, which were powered by a scotch water reaction turbine instead of steam. they basically operated on the same principle, except instead of train cars they hauled canal boats from a lower section of canal, uphill to the upper section of canal
This place is only about one hour from my house! Watched a few of your videos, love em, couldn’t believe you were near me with this one! There is endless coal industry ruins around this area! I have visited a lot of them and yet had never heard of the Incline Plane!!! Always something new to learn, thank you and keep the history coming!
Another great video showcasing the ingenuity and brilliance of people in an earlier time. How sad that such an extraordinary engineering feat developed by many intelligent, educated and dedicated people is now covered with graffiti by some of the dumbest, least educated and most unnecessary people in our society.
While I agree that tags and smears like that are stupid, it really doesnt matter enough at this place to bust a vein over. These crumbling ruins are whats left after 90 years and in another 90 there wont be anything left to see, so these graffiti dont matter in the grand picture... I get really mad when it happens at places that are somewhat actively being preserved or are still in a condition to be preserved.
@@JMVideos7676 Graffiti is as old as mankind. Look up graffiti in Pompeii for example. You can't eradicate it. Rather have it scribbled on some old abandoned, neglected, beyond repair and hidden away building than something that is actually taken care of.
Can’t imagine the time and manpower it took to create such an enormous structure. And yes the power it took to take those fully loaded boxcars up and down the mountainside. Would be great to go back in time to see it in operation. Thanks for another great story in American history Chris, and thanks Jay for sharing it so it’s story could be told 👍
This was such an interesting location and explore. Your filming skills REALLY shine thru on this one with all of the rough terrain, HUGE shout out to Journey with Jay for sharing this location so all of us could tag along!!! Thank you for the explore! 🔦🔦🔦
Watch channel randomly but more often now, you go so many places I'd love to see, but not having health anymore to do so have Copd,watching you brings new life too me
Hey man, you are so awesome! You hit on everything I love in old forgotten history. I was just wondering when you were here in Washington state, ..I'm from Aberdeen, did you ever look into the old train wreck left in Grisdale WA. The wreck is what's left of a movie stunt, crashing into a ravine. Everything including the engine is there as far as I know, you can find pictures on google. The movie was called 'Ring of Fire' staring David Janson in 1961. Love your stuff and have been sitting for hours watching one after another. Be careful out there.
They used a similar method for logging in the mountains of California. I'm thinking of Yosemite Valley railway. Logging cars pulled up a steep grades via steam mule cable system.
It’s heartbreaking to see graffiti. I can’t help but wonder if these vandals think “Oh, a historical relic.... I think I’ll grab my spray paint and ruin it for anyone visiting.”
I don't remember back in the 80's Ever packing spray paint for any thing especially hiking around . The biggest thing anyone packed was a coat and latter on you were packing it around as the sun was warm out .
I'm a transient, i live in a vehicle and I've noticed that in towns and areas that are 90+% Anglo you hardly see any grafiti, but placea that are ethnically diverse you see graffiti everywhere.
I Like All Your Work. Glad to see you exploring my area. I'm From Southwester PA Learned alot from you in the past and now something from my area I knew nothing about. THANK YOU
You go to such interesting places!!!!! I really enjoy the work you do on these videos!! I will be joining Patreon here next week when I get paid!!! Thanks so much!!! Pat
It’s amazing to see history right in front of you, thanks to RU-vid your making history alive again...... Good work buddy keep them videos coming.....🙂
If I was a kid & we knew about a place like that that we could get 2 u couldn't keep us out of playing in it. I was about 8 me & 2 of my sisters & some neighborhood kids found a pond with a huge drain pipe so we went in & followed it till we found rebar steps we claimed up waited till a few cars passed then 3 of us pushed off a man hole cover & came up 2 blocks from our house. Summer time was great 4 kids in the 70s out doors was our play pen. We would come home dirty hungry eat lunch then go back out side & play.
Even the pyramids of Egypt have ancient graffiti on them (quite interesting at that). Maybe in a thousand years the graffiti on this site will be more interesting?
They've mostly moved to Seattle and Portland now and are working on active businesses these days. Tearing up and destroying older history nust of got too tame for them, much more lively when mad business owners come running out of their burning buildings. They don't deserve to live there either. Seems like places that happens the law would lock them up but the mayor's and DA's in those cities can't bail them out fast enough.
I have been binge watching your videos and staying up to 2 am, so addicting to see your travels. So cool to follow you video's and find one you just uploaded yesterday. Stay safe out there, some of your explorations don't look too safe.
Hi Chris, the construction was very good for it's day, that's when people built things to last and withhold the test of time. A very interesting place, but I agree that the best time to go would be Fall and Winter because of the foliage. Thank you for sharing, much love. xx 🙏💖
Thanks 😊 great technology for the time ,there are two inclines in operation in Pittsburgh with a view of the whole city and surroundings they are not used for industry now like this place your showing us .but as a look out ,view of Mt whashington Pittsburgh pa. If you never seen it's view , I'm telling a story ,my grandmother visited us in the past we though she would enjoy the amazing view ,and she asked is this the grand cannon ,(astonished by it's emmenceness.)I never heard about the massive industrial outfit in your great documentary ,thanks again for a great video of the past. Mahoney is named this for some reason ,Pittsburgh's is named after the river Monongahela incline ,it's the rivers name at it's base ,the ones in Pittsburgh were freight operating and also horses with carriage to get up to hill to that in now a developed place thanks to early freight use. You are showing old coal storage ,I'm amazed 👍 it's not needed now there is no need to burn coal ,with natural gas and electric ,karosine ,these are not relivant but for excellent exploriing ,there were 33inclines in Pittsburgh,now two ,a leader in steel production at one time looking up the past of coal burning you will see how bad the air was polluted with coal burning .
"those people that get a tummy ache and get upset because I don't know how to pronounce every name of every place I go to..." 😂😂🤣🤣😂🤣 Good Lord those people need hobbies.
So interesting. I was there when I was young to explore with my family. My brother in law's family lives there. It has really deteriorated since last I was there. Thank you for sharing.😊
Your work chronicles and pays homage to the forgotten lives of hard men doing hard work. My Grandfather was a Pennsylvania coal miner in the early 20th century, I think Pittsville or Pottsville. Since he was only 9 or ten years old, he would have been a breaker boy.
I don't think the chutes dumped coal into more train cars, I think the coal cars dumped into the chutes as you said, which then just fed the boilers that powered the giant engines you described.
When I get the proper financial stability, I aspire to do the work you are doing. As a kid I felt like exploring lost places was the amazing thing, and that feeling never subsided even today.
If coal was hauled up the mountain for the town then the coal dropped into those stone bins could be unloaded into trucks via the chutes with the steel doors in the bottom of the bin. The immobilized railcars with the chutes attached were probably also used for coal storage.
If you're ever back in Pennsylvania, and want to explore a whole mess of history outside Gallitzen, where multiple means of transportation through the Allegheny mountains occurred throughout the last couple hundred years. There's tons of evidence that still remains, and I haven't even explored it all yet. Just give me a shout if interested.
Was there any railroad tracks there? Usually there’s a date in printed on the inside of rail road tracks but that only tells when they made the track. Like 👍 you’re videos. Keep ‘em coming and stay warm.
