Events & Responses:

Luzerne County is taking possession of the Huber Breaker site, for development as a monument of anthracite history.

Vulcan Pride, Ltd., headed by Attorney George Spohrer, is restoring a diesel engine  made at the Vulcan Iron Works in Wilkes-Barre.

Diane Rooney, principal speaker at the Avondale Disaster memorial events the weekend of September 10-11, 2005, wrote us recently about her explorations of Wales, at Beaumaris Castle, Conway Castle, Caernarvon (both castle and nearby Roman site), Portmeirion, the Ffestiniog Railway and slate mines, and Cardiff.  On the subject of New House, she noted that she has "always loved reading about the Celtic monasteries, whether in the British Isles, Ireland, or those on the continent down to Switzerland and Italy."

Mary and I were unable to attend the conference of the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History held at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV, July 15-17, 2004, but Megan Lloyd agreed to present my scheduled paper for me.  It is titled, "Guto'r Glyn in 1492," and is now being published with New House.  For information on the organization that sponsored the Morgantown conference, click NAASWCH.

In Wyoming Valley, we help raise funds for the Huber Breaker Preservation Society. A benefit program for the HBPS, consisting of readings of mine titled "American Inventions," was held at King's College on December 10, 2004.  The current HBPS officers include President, Bill Best; Vice-President, Jim Cornelius; Treasurer, Ray Clarke; Secretary, Linda Nowak.  Join the Society and attend Huber events.  To see its website and print out a membership form, click Huber .  

The Plymouth Historical Society sponsors lectures and concerts.  The Anthracite Living History Group, founded by Joe Keating of Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania, inaugurated a public memorial service for victims of the 1869 Avondale Mine disaster, on Saturday, September 11, 2004, at the Avondale Colliery Grounds, off Route 11 in Plymouth Township.  Members of the St. David's Society of Wyoming Valley participated.  On January 15, 2005, there was a tour of the colliery grounds, followed by a panel discussion of the Avondale Disaster, held at the American Legion in Plymouth.  In September 2005, memorial services were again held, this time at both the Avondale site and at the Washburn Cemetery in Scranton, where many victims of the disaster were buried.  Visit the website of the Avondale Living History Group, www.avondale69.org

For more links, go to Resources.





The Glen Alden Coal Company's Huber Colliery in Ashley, PA, begun in 1938, this photo showing installations from the 1940's.  The view is  toward the Susquehanna River, with downtown Wilkes-Barre on the right.  Main Street angles north, past the Ashley planes, toward the city.  (Huber Breaker Preservation Society archives)