Really makes me wonder how much of what was which. Specifically, how much of condemning the area (using the power of eminent domain, which I'm fairly convinced should be used ONLY for transportation and other infrastructure) was done to release the insurance companies (homeowners insurance) and mining companies from liability?
Sure, people in the area suffered, but to what lengths did guarantors go out of their way to escape payment? How much of that suffering was caused, not by the mine fire itself nor its knock-on effects, but by the corruption of insurance companies, courts, and law? I'd be shocked if the amounts offered in the eminent domain settlements were anywhere near what the homes had actually been worth before the fire started.
That said, setting fires in rubbish pits dug down into a coal mine seems rather... stupid.
When I was a kid my friends house was heated by coal. The only and last one on my side of town, don't know about other parts. I would occasionally help banking it and taking the ashes out. I don't know why but I used to love that smell of the coal burning as I walked by on a cold winters night. -sammy
Drive through Centralia every week. It’s a ghost town with only two homes left. Once the owners pass away there’ll be none. Streets to nowhere. It’s only 30/40 minutes away. We’ve ridden dirt bikes around there years ago and you’d come to a spot where the ground was smoking. Crazy.
My wife’s great grandparents owned a store in Centralia. A few years ago, we found a receipt book from the store. It was a neat connection to a place that no longer exists in any meaningful way.
I grew up in the mountains of PA. There were a couple of mine fires there too. They tried pumping in CO2 to smother them to no avail. The finally just flooded the one that ran below our home with water. Unusable for a very, very long time.
Really makes me wonder how much of what was which. Specifically, how much of condemning the area (using the power of eminent domain, which I'm fairly convinced should be used ONLY for transportation and other infrastructure) was done to release the insurance companies (homeowners insurance) and mining companies from liability?
ReplyDeleteSure, people in the area suffered, but to what lengths did guarantors go out of their way to escape payment? How much of that suffering was caused, not by the mine fire itself nor its knock-on effects, but by the corruption of insurance companies, courts, and law? I'd be shocked if the amounts offered in the eminent domain settlements were anywhere near what the homes had actually been worth before the fire started.
That said, setting fires in rubbish pits dug down into a coal mine seems rather... stupid.
John G
When I was a kid my friends house was heated by coal. The only and last one on my side of town, don't know about other parts. I would occasionally help banking it and taking the ashes out. I don't know why but I used to love that smell of the coal burning as I walked by on a cold winters night. -sammy
ReplyDeleteDrive through Centralia every week. It’s a ghost town with only two homes left. Once the owners pass away there’ll be none. Streets to nowhere. It’s only 30/40 minutes away. We’ve ridden dirt bikes around there years ago and you’d come to a spot where the ground was smoking. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteMy wife’s great grandparents owned a store in Centralia. A few years ago, we found a receipt book from the store. It was a neat connection to a place that no longer exists in any meaningful way.
ReplyDeleteI’m near Leadville Colorado. Buildings still there on the edge of the cliff next to a slope of tailings.
ReplyDeleteLived within 20 minutes of Centralia all my life. It was a cool town back in the day. Still a cool place to explore.
ReplyDeleteCIII
I have many ancestors buried there. That's where the family settled after coming over from Cornwall.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the mountains of PA. There were a couple of mine fires there too. They tried pumping in CO2 to smother them to no avail. The finally just flooded the one that ran below our home with water. Unusable for a very, very long time.
ReplyDelete