I could not find the location, but this large structure is worth noting anyhow. Part of my confusion is that Williamstown is now in Wood County instead of Dauphin County.
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| Jake Wynn - Public Historian posted "Where now stands the large and prosperous town of Williamstown, with the largest coal breaker and the most, productive colliery in the country, within my recollection there was but a single little log house, with chimney outside made of wood. Now there is a population of nearly two thousand souls, with churches, schoolhouses, stores, spacious hotels, handsome brick buildings, and comfortable homes for all. We see the inhabitants of the valley now, instead of undergoing the labor of climbing the mountains cutting the white pine to make shingles, with its small remuneration, and that after much labor in transporting them to Gratz, Berrysburg or some other neighboring place – instead of that, we behold them now entering the bowels of the earth, with their lamps attached to their caps as pathfinders of the way, and there converting the treasure hidden for centuries into a much sought after fuel, with labor commanding a reward commensurate with the danger and hardships expended." - Richard Nolen, 1865 (Photograph: The large coal breaker at the Williamstown Colliery in northern Dauphin County in the late 1860s, Williamstown Historical Society) |
The breaker couldn't be near downtown because the railroad is not close enough to the hill. Did the B&O use the "ELECTRIC R. R." to access the breaker? The B&O owned the railroads on both sides of the Ohio River, but the northern route was just a branch.
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| 1904/23 Marietta Quad @ 62,500 |
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