Glen Alden Colliery Today

Hello:

First of all, allow me to say "Hi" and to also say "Thank You" for creating this fine forum, which I came across quite by accident earlier this evening. To say I was quite elated is indeed an understatement!

I've long had a great fascination in the anthracite coal mines of northeastern PA, as a number of my mother's uncles (who then lived in Hanover) worked in the mines, and her maternal grandfather, John Frederick, was the superintendent at Glen Alden, and, from what my mother (and my great aunt's journal) has told me, he was very much respected and admired.

Mom (now 93) was born in Hanover in 1917, and lived there until she was three, when her parents moved to Hudson County, NJ. They made frequent trips back to Hanover (via the DL&W from Hoboken), and Mom recalls "the mines" being very much a topic continually discussed.

One story she still tells was of her Aunt Mary, whose friend lost her life when her cellar collapsed from a mine tunnel underneath, when she went to retrieve some homemade preserves.

Glen Alden, as you might know by now, is a facility that, for obvious reasons, holds a great deal of fascination for myself and my family. The last I heard about a breaker that was threatend with demolition, but had historic preservationists and historians seeking to have this last remaining relic of Glen Alden preserved for history. That was about a year ago.

I certainly would love to see this piece of anthracite mining history preserved, not only as a piece of living history, but also, quite fittingly, a memorial to all of those hard-working men who worked.....and often died......in the mines. Again, I thank you.........

John