Ashland, Pennsylvania
Today I am sharing some slides from Ashland, Pennsylvania. "Let's call our town ASHLAND!". Not a very flattering moniker, but maybe it was named after Sir Reginald Ashland III. I knew nothing about Ashland, even though I lived in Pennsylvania and am not allowed (by law) to return. Long story. Ashland is only about six miles southeast of Knoebels amusement park. Here's a map:
While we know that these photos are from Ashland, I did not know specifically where these images were from. But I found out! I sure like the "Henry Clay Jr." push train thingy. Walt Disney could have saved a lot of money if he'd built his trains to be propelled by guests, but he didn't have the VISION. In the background might be large chunks of coal. Coal?? In Pennsylvania?
Now little Henry Clay is in the foreground, but a full-sized locomotive named "The Henry Clay" is to the right. According to one website, The engine known as "Henry Clay" is a working, coal-burning, narrow-gauge 0-4-0ST steam locomotive used to pull passenger mine tourist trains almost a mile along the side of Mahanoy Mountain at the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Pennsylvania. It turns out that "Ashland" was originally the name of Henry Clay's estate (the real Henry Clay was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state).
And hey, what do you know, another slide (dated "August 1966") that I'd just scanned showed a group off people waiting to take a ride into the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine! What are the odds? Wikipedia says that Pioneer Tunnel is a tourist attraction featuring a tour of a coal mine on mine cars and a separate 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge steam train ride. It still has an official website HERE. "If you look to your right, you'll see some coal. Quick! To your left! More coal". You could buy a souvenir hat that looked like a piece of coal.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Ashland, PA!
12 comments:
Major-
What a fascinating little place this is. And we received a U.S. history lesson in today's post. This IS a full-service blog-!
Thanks, Major.
So, the "Henry Clay Jr." is a glorified stroller? But I agree, it does look pretty neat. I'm guessing it was hand-crafted to resemble the big train.
Unless I'm mistaken, those clumps in the background are Kryptonite. At night, it glows green.
In the last photo, we can see the mine train engineer's lunch: A carton of Chinese take-out on the left and a Philly cheesesteak wrapped up in paper on the right. I believe the fire extinguisher is needed to quell the engineer's heartburn.
An informative and fun post, Major. Thanks.
@ JB-
"...and a Philly cheesesteak wrapped up in paper..."
That's one hellava cheesesteak-! "Did you bring enough for EVERYONE-??!!"
Normally, I would love this kind of attraction. However, I can't help but think of the people who were stuck during a tour of a Colorado mine last month, for over six hours. And someone died! I think I'll stick to the "fake" Calico Mine Ride/tour at Knott's!
Thanks for the edutainment post, Major!
First of all, sweet map of the great state of Pennsylvania!
I've been here. It was chill. I didn't get a chance to ride the Henry Clay though. What made an impression on me is that the mine was abandoned for over 30 years before reopening as a tourist attraction in the early 60s as a hope to rejuvenate the town. I think we were the only two people on our tour.
Afterwards, you can go check out Ashland's second greatest tourist attraction, the Mother's Memorial.
In the last photo would be the Mancha locomotive. Which would be the same unit that powered the Nature’s Wonderland trains. As we all know, it was disguised as the coal tender.
Little known fact, Ashland was named after a big fire.
The park designers had lots of ideas that Disney borrowed, see the themed trash can in photo one. No bottles please. The benches look recycled from a theater or auditorium.
The Ashland mine later became the exclusive purveyor of bespoke coal to North Pole Enterprises, Santa preferred their anthracite as gifts for all the bad children. Eh, it’s a living.
Thanks Major, I learned a lot today!
JG
Back from hiatus...glad to be back in PA, where coal is king (apparently here in Ashland). Home of mines and coal ash. The land of ash. Ashland. On Match Game '73 Ashland could have been referring to something else, and that is another blog. I would so be into going into a coal mine, and although I am frequently in Chicago, I've never been to the coal mine in the museum of science and industry. I grew up in a house with a coal fire, as did the rest of the village, in houses from the 17th and 18th centuries...and there is nothing like the smell of coal during a cold North Sea driven winter. A coal fire is kind of magical when you throw a handful of sugar on it, and it is like a mini color fireworks show. A coal fire is also super hot and without proper ventilation: super toxic. I got some coal from PA to burn and it was quite delightful until someone told me it may kill everyone in the house. So....I stopped, but it wouldn't stop me from the exploration of a coal mine. It seems that this sort of tour would not be good in these times...and I'm sure that coal dust is spinning about in the air deep in the recesses of this Ashland attraction. From a measurement perspective there is probably more coal dust in NYC than in the mine...that is for another blog as well. Thanks for the history tour, and the many rabbit holes to be explored regarding Ashland and it's Pioneer Tunnel and tiny train strollers...thanks Major!
Wow, this brings back childhood memories. My mother's family came from this area. A few still lived there in the 80s and I went out there a bunch of times over various summer breaks. I went on that Pioneer Coal Mine train - they take you down and talk about mining and then turned the lights off for a minute. It was darker than any place I've ever been since. I also remember the guide talking about the self-rescuer they carried in case of gas. I may even have a few souvenirs. I remember getting a souvenir track spike from the train, my brother got a wooden train whistle from the Henry Clay. I also remember a a tiny coal pail full of black rock candy that we were to share - we never finished it.
Side note - Mahanoy is pronounced Ma-ha-noy and not Mahoney most people get it wrong and locals were particular about it. Nearby Mahanoy City was also the place where Ma href="https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/wired-cable-tvs-unlikely-beginning">cable TV was first created when the local appliance store put an antenna on a hill to carry signal down to the valley where the city sits.
Nanook, you get some good learnin’ here!
JB, yes, it’s a glorified stroller, but they didn’t have to make it - they could have just provided a store-bought, boring stroller. I appreciate the effort - and it looks good. Kryptonite, I had no idea that there was so much of it on Earth. Can you believe that I have never had a Philly cheesesteak? I really want one, but they aren’t so readily available in SoCal.
Nanook, maybe it was two cheesesteaks?
TokyoMagic!, I hadn’t heard about the people stuck in the Colorado mine for over six hours, what a nightmare! I’ll bet teenagers with long hair were to blame.
Andrew, I wondered if you’d ever visited the Pioneer coal mine (and thought that the odds were pretty good)! Bummer that there were not many people there, hopefully it was the “off season” and things get busier when school’s out? Also, was the Henry Clay not operating that day? I would have definitely wanted to experience that!
TommyTsunami, oh, very interesting! I would have never guessed that there was any sort of Disneyland connection in these photos. That’s a bit of trivia that not many people would know!
JG, most people want to name their estates after beautiful things, so “Ashland” sounds pretty grim. I guess those trashcans are themed? I can see that one as a Star Wars droid. The benches reminded me of an old baseball field that I visited in Virginia when I was a child, I was so used to the more familiar seats that you might find at Dodger Stadium. Anthracite is the good stuff! No soft coal for Santa. He cares.
Bu, when I lived in Pennsylvania, we loved to go to old coal mining sites (not tunnels, more “strip mining” areas), you would always find trilobites, bivalves, crinoids, and other fascinating fossils. We still have some. Oh, we’d also find lots of fossilized ferns. I miss that a lot! Match Game ’73, there was no show that was naughtier. It revived the phrase “make whoopie”, which, even as a child, I thought was dumb. The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, I love that place! I’m not sure if I ever saw the coal mine exhibit, or if I am just thinking that I did because I saw it on a Viewmaster reel. I had no idea that throwing sugar on a coal fire was magical. Definitely do not burn coal in a house that does not have proper ventilation! I’m not so sure that a half hour (or less) taking a little train through a disused coal mine would be so hazardous to one’s lungs, but I could be wrong. Glad you enjoyed these!
Major, the Henry Clay is still going strong, but we didn't have time to ride it while we were there. I saw a video on YouTube of someone driving the train, pretty impressive.
Dean Finder, nice, very cool that you’ve been to the Pioneer coal mine! I wondered if the little train just took you partway in, staying relatively horizontal, or if visitors eventually went down a few levels (or more). I’ve been in caves when the lights have been turned out, and it really is a special kind of darkness. Makes me think of the end of Tom Sawyer, when they realize that Injun Joe had been trapped inside the caves in the dark. I don’t think I would have pronounced “Mahanoy” as “Mahoney”, but maybe I would have! Interesting about the cable TV origins there.
Andrew, you’ll just have to go back and ride the Henry Clay. Just in case it goes away someday!
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