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Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
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Miners are pictured with a coal car.

                                                                            Courtesy of the 
                                                               Museum of Anthracite Mining

The anthracite deposits located in the Wyoming Valley Region provided much of the industrialization and urban development throughout the area.  The region was shaped by this development and much of the future technology was created to further enable the movement of anthracite over the vast and rugged region. 
 
 

Front view of locomotive Number 40 with trainman.

Completion of the railroad systems became a key component to transport the anthracite coal to the Lehigh Canal and on to the market. The region is now crisscrossed with largely abandoned anthracite lines. 

A view of the Huber breaker in Ashley.

                           Pictured here is the Huber Breaker in Ashley, Pa. 

The Huber Breaker (above) stands as the largest coal breaker ever built. It operated from 1937-1974. Coal breakers were often targeted by workers who felt they were being treated unfairly by the industry executives, particularly the Molly Maguires. The rationale behind the attacks by the Molly Maguires was to halt the productivity of these enormous breakers.  Without them, the  coal could not be processed, loaded, and shipped to the world, affecting the industry's  progression.  Efforts are now being made to preserve and interpret the site. 
 
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