Of course, the boys are long gone. But it's amazing to think
about all the voids that are underneath this city. Someone said
it's as though they built a city on toothpicks. These mines extended
all under the city. Notice what appears to be gas lamps on the boys'
helmets. When they excavated the site for the Royal Theater, they
exposed one of these mine voids. Mining activity in Northeastern
Pennsylvania dramatically decreased after January 22, 1959. On this
date, the Pennsylvania Coal Company illegally mined too close to the Susquehanna
River, causing the river to break through the mine's roof. This breakthrough,
of course, flooded this particular mine. But apparently, many of
the mines connected underground. So, this flood reportedly wiped
out a large portion of the then-existing mines. This disaster is
generally referred to as the Knox Mine Disaster, being named after the
mine which caused the flood. Twelve miners lost their lives in the
disaster. The photos of this breakthrough and resulting flood are
pretty dramatic. The breakthrough caused a huge whirlpool in the
middle of the Susquehanna River. In an attempt to plug this hole,
they quickly ran a rail line to the site and pushed empty railroad cars
into the void. In the end, these attempts were futile. [Click
here to read more about the disaster]