Saturday, March 1, 2003

Get digging for websites on mining

What do you think of when you hear the word "coal?" I mean BESIDES the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme. Just kidding!)

Chances are, you think first of our own neck of the woods, long known simply as the Coal Region. As most of us know, it has a long and interesting history, which most of us would love to explore further, but our busy schedules often won't permit getting out and about.

That's where the Internet comes in. Why walk when you can click? And right here in Schuylkill County is the place to start.

The Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society has created its own website (www.shenandoahpa history.org), and it promises to be full of fascinating facts about mining history.

There will be more on the cooperative effort between the society and Schuyl Inc., a technology solutions provider, in a coming edition of The REPUBLICAN & Herald, but for now the site deserves to be added to the roster of neat venues for coal mining lore.

Looking a little further afield, I decided to see what's out there on coal mining in our region, and coal mining in general. Look out it's substantial.

My search brought up a web ring (http://www.coolguitars.com/coalinks.html) which helped a great deal to narrow the field. This site not only contains a large number of sites devoted strictly to Pennsylvania (at 28, by far the largest number of sites in the nation, even more than Kentucky) but also coal mining sites around the country AND around the world.

General sites of interest include the Coal Miner Stamp Website, a site on Welsh miners' lamps and, of course, sites on the Molly Maguire era.

There's even a coalspeak dictionary site (http://www.coalregion.com/Speak/speakA.htm). You'll find all the goodies in there, from "buggy" (shopping cart), "youse," "Mockanoy City" to "pizza pie." Fun stuff!

Stay tuned for more on the Shenandoah site - and if you hear of any neat sites worth visiting on coal mining history, do drop me a line.

(Nusbaum, a copy editor, can be reached at mnusbaum@republicanherald.com)