Huber Breaker Preservation Society Has Plans for Park

This is worth a read....it's a very worthy project at a difficult economic time.

http://citizensvoice.com/news/huber-breaker-prese ... k-1.604113

The Huber Breaker restoration project may be on life support but planning is in high gear for a mini-anthracite living history park on land in front of the breaker on South Main Street, Ashley.

Members of the Huber Breaker Preservation Society hope to begin the first phase of the park development this summer. Completion is targeted for December 2011.

This breaker, what's left of it is incredible. My husband and a friend of ours sneaked in...ummm I mean "took a self-guided tour" of the breaker a few summers ago. It is massive. We entered at the lowest level and climbed to the top. Some of the stairs were caving in, so it is dangerous.The boiler room had piles of asbestos as tall as a man that had fallen off of the boilers. It was eery. There were windows from floor to ceiling, most of which have been broken by vandals over the years. We "toured" the coal silos (not sure that that is the correct term) which were about 30 feet high. We were on a catwalk at the top of a boiler building looking down. To get there you had to walk on angle iron that crossed 20 feet with nothing but air below you. Definitely not a place for clumsy people. There are conveyor belts and huge motors everywhere.You get easily get lost in the place .

Dave has a file on it somewhere and video, but I can't promise he'll ever find the video. He might have photos also, and if he does and can find them I'll try to post them.

It would be wonderful if it could be restored, but I don't see that happening with the economy the way it is and the condition it's in.

That's great news! I really hope they can make it happen.

Please get a hold of Ray Clarke or myself if you are interested in buying a brick for our fundraiser for the Memorial Monument that we are raising funds for right now. They are only $2 a piece and they are recycled pavers made out of mine drainage that has been recovered and treated. My organization will be helping to harvest and dry some iron oxide locally to mix into the base footer of the monument as well. We are looking at many different ways to make this small 3 acre area a "green park" for the public. We need volunteers desperately. We'll be having a cleanup in the Spring at the site and could use people to help for sure. It's a tragedy if this only icon that is left to the industry falls, however, we need to memorialize it while we can before our entire Anthracite History is forgotten. I'm sorry to say it, but our youth and students do not have a clue about Anthracite History and it is NOT taught in the schools. You can get a hold of me at http://www.orangewaternetwork.org I am also a member of the HBPS Board, along with Ray. Thanks for the positive comments.

Not the only one left there are a few Like the worlds largest breaker Reading Anthracite Old Saint Nichoals it still stands

http://www.undergroundminers.com/mahanoy.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jblough/sets/72157609315036765/