Crawford County, Pennsylvania

I'm going back to my working class roots for this one. I am, after all, a former member of the Laborers and United Mine Workers unions. This is a 19th century albumen print taken in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Crawford County is the home of Titusville, and the first commercial oil well in the United States. The mechanism seen right at the left edge of the photo and the bar in front, are probably from an oil well. Written on the back, "JOHN W. WRIGHT ON LEFT."

Coal

I grew up in a coal mining town in western Pennsylvania, and I'd love to add a lot more coal themed images to the collection. In addition to the usual spaces for address and message, printed on the back of this post card, "Published for The Union News Company. 1414" and, "Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal has stood the test in all foreign markets and is now a world-wide recognized standard. The coal is brought from the mines in small cars and then loaded from the tipple to the railroad cars as shown in this picture." There is also a logo for the card's maker, G.V. Miller & Co. Scranton, Pa. No date on this image, and while I'm sure it's fairly old, when I was growing up, this scene would still have been pretty common.