I also grew up 2 blocks from there in the 60’s-70’s. Our gang of like aged friends boys & girls explored every inch of that mountain. Daring each other to walk through Frankenstein’s Cave which was a narrow gauge mine train tunnel so the mine train could pass under the Mahanoy Plane tracks, likely from the Colliery just below the Plane Head Houses on the top where the ruins are today. We’d walk the Plane roadbed down to the town of Mahanoy Plane, Ride our bikes down the old Highway and walk the RR tracks down along the mountain to St Nicholas Freight Yards. We’d pack a sandwich and fill our WWII surplus Canteens. Nothing like warm metallic tasting water or Kool-Aid on a hot day. Great times, unfortunately other than strip mines, most mining was gone. Except we didn’t know there were still many active independent coal mines in Southern Schuylkill County still going strong back then. We lived in a Very Historic area and didn’t know it. Our coal powered the Industrial Revolution.
@DeborahPic Same here. I never knew the rich history of the location and how important it was in the building of Schuylkill County as a Pa anthracite powerhouse during that time period
@tadeccleston8879 I watched that video in preparation for this trip! Tell the Coal Cracker we have to get together for a video sometime, I love learning new stuff and he is a wealth of information.
@CoalCountryMedia he totally got out ytube videos. I have been hounding him for a yr now. He hates editing. We did 3 videos around locust gap he hasn't released. And our buddy Bob V did 6 videos with him. He won't return my text's..I don't know wtf is up
@tadeccleston8879 I totally understand that because editing is really difficult and time consuming. Maybe he just needed a break! He'll be back when he's ready I'm sure.
Frackville looks like every other town in Central PA. Ha. Tough place to live for the five months of winter. Nice work with the drone. Interesting. Drive past there quite a bit and never knew of it.
I'm very familiar with this area. Isn't this where the Dorsey Brothers came from? And now I see you're doing even more videos of Schuylkill county. A great reference (if you can still find it) is part of the You Are There series of books called "Around Saint Clair". Schuylkill County, and especially Pottsville was an amazing area in the late 1800's with a lot of wealth and where many of the mansions on Mahantango Street came from King Coal. I knew the author of the book and it was definitely a labor of love.
@teekay_1 thanks for the recommendation it's very much appreciated! I'm not sure about the Dorsey brothers, but I'll have to look into it. Always so much to learn 🙂
He did a video of a mine on that mt in the snow. Killer fan house and shaft. I wana take ktm there in spring and try to find it. I love criss, but I don't know what's up with him. He's got a complicated family which takes it toll on him. I'll grab him up in April and try to remotivate him..lol
@ThirdHandle alot of concrete structure, graffiti and 2 old train cars!! I have POV ground footage, too. I'll be releasing that video probably this weekend!
I also grew up 2 blocks from there in the 60’s-70’s. Our gang of like aged friends boys & girls explored every inch of that mountain. Daring each other to walk through Frankenstein’s Cave which was a narrow gauge mine train tunnel so the mine train could pass under the Mahanoy Plane tracks, likely from the Colliery just below the Plane Head Houses on the top where the ruins are today. We’d walk the Plane roadbed down to the town of Mahanoy Plane, Ride our bikes down the old Highway and walk the RR tracks down along the mountain to St Nicholas Freight Yards. We’d pack a sandwich and fill our WWII surplus Canteens. Nothing like warm metallic tasting water or Kool-Aid on a hot day. Great times, unfortunately other than strip mines, most mining was gone. Except we didn’t know there were still many active independent coal mines in Southern Schuylkill County still going strong back then. We lived in a Very Historic area and didn’t know it. Our coal powered the Industrial Revolution.
So even back then people called it Franky's cave lol. Interesting how the name stuck with us locals for decades.
I lived not too far from the little league field. I loved exploring that area when I was in high school and seeing the old ruins.
@DeborahPic Same here. I never knew the rich history of the location and how important it was in the building of Schuylkill County as a Pa anthracite powerhouse during that time period
Killer drone footage bud. Been there with coalcracker. Awesome history
@tadeccleston8879 I watched that video in preparation for this trip! Tell the Coal Cracker we have to get together for a video sometime, I love learning new stuff and he is a wealth of information.
@CoalCountryMedia he totally got out ytube videos. I have been hounding him for a yr now. He hates editing. We did 3 videos around locust gap he hasn't released. And our buddy Bob V did 6 videos with him. He won't return my text's..I don't know wtf is up
@tadeccleston8879 I totally understand that because editing is really difficult and time consuming. Maybe he just needed a break! He'll be back when he's ready I'm sure.
Frackville looks like every other town in Central PA. Ha. Tough place to live for the five months of winter. Nice work with the drone. Interesting. Drive past there quite a bit and never knew of it.
@cvn6555 Thank you and same here! I grew up around it and never knew the whole story and how massive of an operation it actually was!
I'm very familiar with this area. Isn't this where the Dorsey Brothers came from? And now I see you're doing even more videos of Schuylkill county. A great reference (if you can still find it) is part of the You Are There series of books called "Around Saint Clair". Schuylkill County, and especially Pottsville was an amazing area in the late 1800's with a lot of wealth and where many of the mansions on Mahantango Street came from King Coal.
I knew the author of the book and it was definitely a labor of love.
@teekay_1 thanks for the recommendation it's very much appreciated! I'm not sure about the Dorsey brothers, but I'll have to look into it. Always so much to learn 🙂
Great work!!! Thanks for sharing history with a non-native LOL
Glad you enjoyed it! There's so much history hidden right in our own backyards
Thanks for sharing, have a happy 2025 👍😎👍
@E.T.GARAGE You too brother!
He did a video of a mine on that mt in the snow. Killer fan house and shaft. I wana take ktm there in spring and try to find it. I love criss, but I don't know what's up with him. He's got a complicated family which takes it toll on him. I'll grab him up in April and try to remotivate him..lol
:21…what’s down there yet??
@ThirdHandle alot of concrete structure, graffiti and 2 old train cars!! I have POV ground footage, too. I'll be releasing that video probably this weekend!
@ I live about 1/2 hour from this, would love to hook up to see/ chat/ document some stuff
@ThirdHandle definitely worth the trip but be very very careful!