One night, Steve was watching The History Channel. "Weird US" was on and it's one of our favorite shows. I wasn't watching it this particular night, however. About an hour later, I noticed he was completely engrossed in the Internet and it turns out he was researching another adventure. I never heard of Centralia or the underground mine fire that ravaged it.
In May 1962, a landfill fire was started over an open coal seam and was apparently put out seemingly immediately. What no one knew for a while was that the fire continued underground. This whole area was/is mining country and the fuel for this fire is nearly endless. According to the people who lived there, the local government made several costly errors in trying to contain this fire and all efforts were stopped in the 1980's. The fire is left to burn itself out which may happen within the next hundred years or so.
The following information is taken directly from the website I have posted on my page:
"On May 22, 1969 the first three families were moved from Centralia. A trench was dug north of the Odd Fellows Cemetery where fly ash and clay seals were used in am attempt to put out the fire. According to Tony Gaughan (quoted in "Slow Burn"), if the trench had been dug in three shifts per day instead of one and if they had worked through the Labor Day holiday, the fire would have been contained. He said the project was $50,000 short of completion."
"In 1980, the U.S. Bureau of Mines "Red Book" said, "The Centralia mine fire has not been extinguished and has not been controlled." In the year twenty-seven more families were moved at a price that was comparatively less than later buy-outs."
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On February 14, 1981, the ground collapsed under Todd Domboski. A hole about 4 feet in diameter and roughly 150 feet deep had opened under him. He clung to exposed tree roots and was pulled to safety by his cousin. The heat or the carbon monoxide in the breach would have been sufficient to kill him instantly if he had gone just a little deeper. This incident provoked the first national media attention."
"By 1983, the government said the fire was advancing on three or four fronts. Proposed trenching of the area might cost as much as $660 million with no guarantee of success. One of the larger trenches would have bisected the town roughly from east to west. A government buy-out was proposed instead of the trenching and there was a referendum held. The homeowners voted to accept the buy-out 345 to 200. Only those whose names were on the deeds could vote. From 1962 to 1984, $7 million had been spent. In November of 1983, $42 million was voted for the buy-out."
"In 1983, there was fire under about 350 surface acres. By 1991, this area had been increased by about three-quarters. Worst case scenario would be about 3700 acres and possibly a hundred years. Finally 26 homes along Route 61 west of town were bought in April of 1991. There were no further plans to fight the fire. The population of Centralia as of 4/18/97 was 44 people and has dwindled since. There are just a few scattered homes today remaining in the town along with the borough hall. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania owns the remaining homes. The monetary value of each property is in escrow or tied up in the legal system. Until the remaining people move, the future of this town is unknown. The State is being very lenient at this time. The State owns the homes but the remaining people are still paying the property taxes on the houses."
After reading this, Steve and I were immediately interested and decided to take a side trip this past weekend when we went to NJ to see my family. Centralia is located in central PA just off Interstate 81N. There are no signs to alert you that you've reached Centralia because it "doesn't exist" anymore. The only way we knew we had arrived is from the old PA road map Steve had and by passing the Municipal Building. This is one of maybe five buildings left in all of Centralia. It wasn't a large town to begin with, just a few blocks altogether and those streets remain although many of them are being slowly reclaimed by Mother Nature. You can still see foundations of sidewalks and front steps where the houses used to be. The telephone poles still stand although the lines are frayed with insulation because they no longer carry current. Time has weathered them as well.
The only church left in all of Centralia is a Russian Orthodox church. They have services there only once per month now.
They keep it well maintained and there is a cemetery in the back. I hope to get back there the next time because it was SO COLD, I couldn't stand more than a few minutes outside.
This is what the church looks like today. But here is what it looked like years ago:
All warning signs are down now. According to the website, the government does not want this former town to be a tourist attraction because although it seems safe...the chances of an overzealous explorer getting seriously hurt here are great.
I've put up a new album on my page of all the pictures I took while in Centralia. I'm going to try to give detailed descriptions of each one so if you don't see the album right now, check back in a few hours. If you are ever in the central PA area and feel like seeing a little bit of weird US history, get out your map, good walking shoes and bring a camera. This was worth seeing.
Oh and Lynn...I'm posting a couple of videos just for you, darlin!
