U.S.

Department of the Interior Scientific Investigations Map 3507

U.S. Geological Survey
75°30’ 75°29’ 75°28’ 75°27’
EXPLANATION OF MAP SYMBOLS field investigations that were conducted as part of historical research about Conversely, the gentler slopes appear as shades of lighter brown, with

SUSQUEHANN
the mining in the Forest City region (Walsh, 2015). Most mapped point white areas representing flat areas with zero percent slope (for example,

WAYNE

k
ABANDONED RAILROADS AND RELATED FEATURES

Broo
171
Stillwater locations show places where evidence remains of the past infrastructure ponds or level roads). The percent-slope base map was generated from a
cliffs
Stillwater Gap [Not all narrow-gauge rail lines were mapped; only the main lines associated with related to the collieries. Additional information on each location can be digital elevation model with 3.2-foot horizontal resolution (Bureau of

ace
Waste 247
the coal industry are shown]

Br
rock found in appendix C of Walsh (2015). The locations of features that could Topographic and Geologic Survey, 2006), which was created from

A
Abandoned
mines 41°40’ Rail trails (formerly major railroads) not be verified during field work are indicated by open circles. Linear 2006–2008 lidar data.
Stillwater
41°40’ Anna Kate tram traces of most abandoned railroads and tramways are visible, to an extent, A detailed history of coal mining in the area is described in Walsh
loading ramp O&W Rail-Trail (Ohio and Western railroad)
Stillwater tram
Stillwater tram pier on the map; however, in some places the locations are inferred where (2015) and is briefly summarized here. In the Forest City area (fig. 3),
Brace Brook
unloading site
stone bridge D&H Rail-Trail (Delaware and Hudson railroad) subsequent surface mining removed these former transportation corridors. underground mining took place from 1874 to 1945. During this time, coal
CLIFFORD Historical mine sheets (Lesley and others, 1888) were an important companies and railroads were the largest employers in the region.

ek
Turntable
Approximately located rail or tram lines

Cre
junction
source for names and locations of infrastructure. Historical black and Approximately 45 million net tons of anthracite were extracted during

rks
Abandoned railroad or tram white aerial photographs from 1939 and 1969 (Penn State University, this period. The difficult and dangerous work of mining cost the lives of

Cla
FOREST CITY 247
Browndale
Clifford Railroad Carbondale Traction Company broad-gauge trolley line 2008) were used to visibly check locations. Google Earth was also used 282 men and boys; the names and ages of the casualties are documented in
breaker Street
for modern aerial imagery, but most features were not visible. Digital files appendix A of Walsh (2015).
breaker Leek A.J. Hoole narrow-gauge line
Forest City breaker for the mapped features are available from Walsh (2023).
washer Clinton Falls
s Water breaker
Hillside Coal & Iron Company narrow-gauge lines The mapped features are compiled on this modern, lidar-derived base
tank
41°39’ map that depicts steepness of slopes as percentages. This percent-slope
d

Feed lot Railroad turntable

n

41°39’ Forest City Station map shows slope in a gradational scale from dark brown to white. The
a

Breakers and related features steeper slopes appear as shades of brown, with the darkest shades
l

Clinton Creek
247
bridge
representing the steepest slopes (for example, steep cliffs or quarry walls).
e

Location determined using a Global Positioning System

rie

E Forest
n

CLINTON
City
(GPS) and verified in the field
i

ke

breaker O&W Klondike

La
m

trail junction 76°30’ 76° 75°30’

Rogers Brook
Approximate location inferred from historical documents
SUSQUEHANNA (Walsh, 2015) and not verified in the field
d

stone bridge 41°45’

Rogers Map area
LACKAWANNA Figure 3. Photograph of Forest City looking north. The Lackawanna
e

171
Hudson Elevation,
o n

Street Klondike OTHER FEATURES in feet River enters the Lackawanna syncline through Stillwater Gap (center of
line
Klondike Br 3,000 the photograph) in the Moosic Mountains. Photograph by G.J. Walsh,
Waste rock ook Active stone quarry—Not related to coal industry
n d

narrow gauge Forest City

IVER

Richmondale
”The Fingers” Clinton U.S. Geological Survey.
breaker
Site of photograph (fig. 3)—Tip of arrow at point of
A b a

ANNA R

41°38’ 2,000

E
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

N
G
ca ray observation; arrow shows direction of view

LI
41°38’ VANDLING
ble Slo
Richmondale
We thank the members of the Rail-Trail Council of Northeastern
KAW

C
breaker -d pe 1,000 Scranton
ra m

N
wn in BASE-MAP FEATURES Pennsylvania, the Forest City News, and the Forest City Area Historical

Y
Vandling lin e
LAC

1000%

S
tunnel e
A.J. Hoole Percent slope—Steeper slopes are darker Society. Local residents Tom Nograsek and David Racht assisted with the

A
Outlook Abandoned-bridge 0 N
narrow-gauge line abutments N
breaker 0%
A field identification of mapped features. Clifford Dodge and Gale Blackmer
Buffalo breaker O&W North West Spur Gray Slope Abandoned Lackawanna River A
W of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey and Jeffrey Mauk and Mary
Richmondale line A.J. Hoole mine area mine lands 41°15’ K
C DiGiacomo-Cohen of the U.S. Geological Survey provided helpful
loading Stream LA
chutes reviews.
A b a

Shickshinny
Simpson D&H bridge State road
no. 4
REFERENCES CITED
A

Stone Quarry
Local road
n d o
b a

Abandoned
41°37’ Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, 2006, Pennsylvania
Rail-trail Township boundary 0 10 20 MILES
n d

m i ne Truck bridge spatial data access—The Pennsylvania geospatial data

n e

41°37’
Elk Cree

crossover
Building 0 10 20 KILOMETERS
North East breaker clearinghouse—PAMAP program—3.2 ft digital elevation model:
INTRODUCTION
o n

foundation
d

l ands
Truck scale D&H bridge no. 3 Figure 1. Shaded-relief map showing the map area within the Penn State University database, accessed December 1, 2021, at
k (Wils

1923 tunnel
Abandoned railroads and infrastructure from the anthracite Lackawanna syncline, a large, canoe-shaped fold. Figure modified https://www.pasda.psu.edu/uci/DataSummary.aspx?dataset=1247.
e d

Brick-arch
i n

Northwest Northwest Junction

No. 2 breaker firebox coal-mining industry are significant features in abandoned mine lands and from U.S. Geological Survey (1999). Lesley, J.P., Hill, F.A., Griffith, W., Branner, J.C., Lehman, G.M., and
on Cree

Abandoned-bridge
e

abutments are an important part of history; however, these features are often lost and Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, 1888, Mine sheets
m i

l a

77° 76° 75°

masked by the passage of time and the regrowth of forests. The
k)

D&H bridge XXI–XXIII, in Ingham, W.A., 1889, Atlas, northern anthracite

n

no. 2 NEW YORK

n e
A

application of modern light detection and ranging (lidar) topographic 42° field—Part 4, in Ashburner, C.A., 1883, First report of progress in
d
ba

D&H bridge
s

FELL no. 1 analysis, combined with field verification, enabled the mapping of these the anthracite coal region—The geology of the Panther Creek
nd

Susquehanna
171
historical features. Waste rock piles and abandoned mine lands from Basin in eastern end of the southern field: Harrisburg, Pa.,
l a n

Tioga

Delawa
on

Elk Creek
LACKAWANNA

breaker
Bradford Map area Wayne
historical mining locally appear as distinct features on the landscape Geological Survey of Pennsylvania Report of Progress, 3 map
ed

WAYNE

Northwest No. 1 41°36’ WESTERN NORTHERN

depicted on the percent-slope base map. Abandoned, and in many places

r
(Simpson breaker) ANTHRACITE FIELD Wyoming Ri sheets, scale 1:9,600, p. 509–511. [Also available at https://

e
m

d s

41°36’ ver
in

Lacka-
demolished, infrastructure such as breakers, turntables, rail beds, water Sullivan wanna digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/pageol/id/40723.]
e

Gravity Lycoming Pike

tanks, tram piers, and bridge abutments, for example, were identified in NORTHERN
Levine, J.R., and Eggleston, J.R., 1992, Field trip guidebook—The
la

d railroad ANTHRACITE FIELD

n

s Gate on O&W
Simpson
the field and located with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. anthracite basins of eastern Pennsylvania: U.S. Geological Survey
CANAAN Luzerne Monroe
This percent-slope map shows the locations of many of the abandoned Clinton
Mon-
Columbia
EASTERN MIDDLE Open-File Report 92–568, 72 p., accessed December 2, 2021, at
75°30’ 75°29’ 75°28’ 75°27’ features from the coal-mining industry near Forest City, Pennsylvania, and 41°
Union
tour ANTHRACITE FIELD
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr92568.
Centre Carbon
preserves a time that was an important part of the industrial revolution and North- Penn State University, [2008], Pennsylvania spatial data access—The
SCALE 1: 40 000 umberland North- NEW
1 1/ 2 0 1 MILE
a way of life that has been quiet for over half a century. Mifflin
Snyder
SOUTHERN Schuylkill
ampton JERSEY Pennsylvania geospatial data clearinghouse—PennPilot (historical
ANTHRACITE FIELD D aerial photo library): Penn State University database, accessed
Lehigh
DISCUSSION Juniata

ela
12° 1 0 1 KILOMETER
Dauphin
December 1, 2021, at https://www.pasda.psu.edu/uci/

wa
.5
The location of abandoned anthracite coal-mining infrastructure near Berks
DataSummary.aspx?dataset=1078.

re
Perry Bucks

Ri
NORTH AMERICAN VERTICAL DATUM OF 1988 Lebanon

ve
Forest City, Pennsylvania, has, in many places, been lost to view by the U.S. Geological Survey, comp., 1999, Digital shaded-relief map of

Sus
MAG

qu
TRUE NORTH

r
eh
N E T IC

PENNSYLVANIA Montgomery
demolition and removal of structures, the passage of time, and the na Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., map 65,

an
Cumberland Ri Lancaster
regrowth of forest. The map area is located at the northern end of the scale 1:500,000, accessed December 2, 2021, at http://
NORT

v
40°

er
canoe-shaped Lackawanna syncline (fig. 1) in the Valley and Ridge Adams
maps.dcnr.pa.gov/publications/Default.aspx?id=742.
H

MAP LOCATION York Dela-

APPROXIMATE MEAN Chester ware Philadelphia
DECLINATION, 2023
province of the Appalachian Mountains. This area encompasses part of a Walsh, G.J., 2023, Database of historical anthracite coal-mining
coal field called the Northern Anthracite field in Pennsylvania (fig. 2), MARYLAND
DE infrastructure at the northern end of the Lackawanna syncline,
which is the northeasternmost exposure of the largest anthracite deposit in Wayne, Susquehanna, and Lackawanna counties, Pennsylvania:
Lidar data used to generate the percent-slope base map are Mapped by Walsh and Walsh in March 2010 and April 2011 0 25 50 MILES
the United States (Levine and Eggleston, 1992). U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/
from Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, 2006 Edited by Zachary P. Younger
Other base-map features are from Pennsylvania Department The Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation of the Pennsylvania 0 25 50 KILOMETERS P992K6GB.
Cartography by D. Paul Mathieux
of Transportation, variously dated Department of Environmental Protection maintains a database of Figure 2. Map of eastern Pennsylvania showing the map Walsh, M.C., 2015, Primeval—The history of four anthracite towns and
Albers Equal-Area Conic projection abandoned mine lands and that information is not updated nor repeated area, counties, and anthracite fields (shaded in red). Figure their struggle for survival: Forest City, Pa., The Forest City News
North American Datum of 1983 here on this map. Instead, this map shows the features identified during modified from Levine and Eggleston (1992, p. 3, fig. 2). Company, 242 p.

Percent-Slope Map Showing Historical Anthracite Coal-Mining Infrastructure at the Northern End of the Lackawanna
Syncline, Wayne, Susquehanna, and Lackawanna Counties, Pennsylvania
Suggested citation: Walsh, G.J., and Walsh, M.C., 2023, Percent-slope map showing historical

By anthracite coal-mining infrastructure at the northern end of the Lackawanna syncline, Wayne,
Susquehanna, and Lackawanna Counties, Pennsylvania: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific
Investigations Map 3507, 1 sheet, scale 1:40,000, https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3507.
Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply
endorsement by the U.S. Government Gregory J. Walsh1 and Mark C. Walsh2 1
Associated data for this publication: Walsh, G.J., 2023, Database of historical anthracite
coal-mining infrastructure at the northern end of the Lackawanna syncline, Wayne, Susquehanna,
U.S. Geological Survey; ISSN 2329-132X (online)
2023
For sale by U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25286, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225; and Lackawanna counties, Pennsylvania: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/
2
https://store.usgs.gov; 1–888–ASK–USGS (1–888–275–8747) Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3507 10.5066/P992K6GB.