"The Billy Marks." Paddlewheel Coal Diggers on the Susquehanna River. documentary by Van Wagner
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- A documentary about the era when anthracite coal was dredged from the Susquehanna River. Also, the building of a replica coal digger / paddlehweeler in 2012 in Danville Pennsylvania.
![History of the Susquehanna River bridges in Lancaster County [video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vkfY4rPpnCA/mqdefault.jpg)
Awesome work on preserving north eastern Pennsylvania;s rich anthracite history !
Hey Van. Great video. They also dredged coal on the Swatara creek in Schuylkill and Lebanon counties. They didn't use boats since the Swatara is small. There was one such operation still partially visible in the Swatara state park. The location is called sand siding across from Twin Grove camp ground.
Great research. Commented too soon - amazing project management - great job organizing all the participants - really impressive
Great job and thanks for teaching. Since I was young I've been fascinated by the history of coal dredging as it relates to the Holtwood Steam Generating Plant. The thought that they dredged enough waste coal to fuel a power plant blew my mind and still does. Nearly 1000 tons a day was dredged processed an burned. Use of dredge coal didn't end there until 1972. On the Lancaster County side of the river you can find waste coal fines in the woods where they processed the dredge for the plant.
That was extraordinary!!! I've never heard of the Susquehanna coal diggers before. I learned a lot from your film. My only regret is that I came across your video three years too late to go to the festival in Danville.
You and your volunteers did a great job in both your replica and your narrative of what "coal dirt" is and how it was dredged.
I'm 80 and grew up near Stien's Landing south of Middletown where the fleet of dredgers worked out of. We were below the "riffles" just above the York Haven Power Dam where the river widens and slows. We got mostly black sand size coal, not the big chunks, and after winter you could find pure bars of coal dirt that were over 4 ft. thick.
Thanks for the comment Ray. I heard up until the flood of 1972 PPL had a coal dredging crew down your way. Maybe for the holtwood? Ever heard of that?
Very interesting Piece of History. Thanks for sharing.
Really great...I learned a lot and love to watch people build something!
This was fantastic. Bravo and well done! So much work went into that 35 minute video, and I walked away educated. It also speaks volumes about the type of people in PA, who shared their experiences and assisted. So many other stories that could be told as well. Hope you will consider making more! (Ie: Knox Mine Disaster, Molly Maguires, etc)
Awesome! I just happened to ran across this video... I've always dreamed of building myself a little paddle wheel like that. Not from the area myself, I'm over around the quad city area in Illinois on the Mighty Mississippi... I am familiar with the history of Pennsylvania coal in that area, thank to one of my favorite channels I subscribe to, JP Video... Who has really brought a lot of curiosity and interest to me of that area, and It's history. I really enjoy seeing this small little flat bottom sternwheel... Almost exactly size of what I would build if I ever get the chance. I really enjoyed thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the post!
vanwags , hello. What an interesting and unique boat. Is it possible to obtain dimensions of the boat for modeling purposes please?
Thanks for the kind words and feel free to ask any questions about building your sternwheeler if you get in a jam. we learned a lot from our project and I'd be happy to share. Van
WOW, Just WOW Van! Very Impressive. I realy would like to thank you for everything you do to keep the heritage and History alive in your part of the world. Please, Please Keep it up, For some reason the Susquehanna River managed to flow it's way into my soul during the time I did two business projects in Muncy!
Thanks Tom! come to Danville for a visit next summer and I'll take you out on the River for a day. Bring your banjo.
dude. what an awesome video. I had NO idea this was even a thing. What a great lesson in the history of our country. How your channel doesnt have more views and followers blows my mind. This video, the ice house video, the charcoal pit series. All amazing and extremely educational stuff. Love it. Im a bushcrafter and very interested in learning about more primitive skills and historical ways of manufacturing and such, and accidentally stumbled across this channel. Amazing work. Thank you very much for all of this.
Can you imagine the amount of fines there must be down there? That was considered waste for hundreds of years. Really valuable stuff now. If you give it a bath in magnetite in the water it all floats to the top
Well done! Very educational.
I grew up in Pennsylvania and this is the first I have heard of the coal diggers' part of history.
You did a great job, and obviously got a lot of your community involved. As a result of your work, this bit of history will not get lost. Thanks for a great video ! ! !
Thank you for your good work to bring history to life. This is a project worthy of the Smithsonian.
above the Clarks Ferry Bridge in the area of the Ranch House along 11/15 they used to dredge coal up into the 60s yet .used to catfish off the anchored barges at nite
What a great project. I didn't know this coal dredging by boat ever existed. Congrats to all for all the hard work and the historic information that now will not be lost by time. I am building a sternwheeler as my retirement project and appreciate your work. Thanks for sharing.
Earl
Very nicely done. I'm 35 and grew up in Kingston Pennsylvania. I spent countless hours hunting and fishing with my brothers and father on the Susquehanna river and never knew there was such a thing as coal dredging until today. I do recall seeing random black piles of coal on the islands or when the water got low.
This is a great effort, very well done. It's interesting most of this coal was from mining operations which considered it not commercial and yet these small dredging operations for six months a year apparently made a good living off it.
man i love this. my is a box paddle wheel too....in the starting..have a look..
what subject do you teach in school? My guess is History....and I can tell by the video you really enjoy what you do. Very nice history lesson. Keep up the good work.
Hello, and thanks for a very interesting documentary. Is it possible to obtain dimensions of the boat for modeling purposes please?
teach youngin's how to make money and the coal diggers will be back fast pronto fast!!! just saying Old One Legged Joseph T. Columbia Pa GREAT JOB is it still floating, and running?
she was a great boat but she is no longer river-worthy. We retired her last year after 5 great years on the river. On to the next project in life. thanks!
@Oyveyowitz Shekelstein Nostrilberg We did not want to wait until that happened. Some of the pine lumber was starting to get soft. We did not paint the board as well as we could have. So while she was still sturdy enough to hold her own weight we used a toe truck to pull her up on land and dismantled her. All of the lumber was salvaged for other projects. The paddlewheel is on display by the river on my uncles land here in Danville PA. thanks!
@Oyveyowitz Shekelstein Nostrilberg White Pine was excellent lumber, we just should have painted it better. We only painted the bottom. the top was left exposed to rain and air. if I were to do again I would still use white pine but I would paint everything top and bottom with several coats. good luck!
@Oyveyowitz Shekelstein Nostrilberg we had kiln dried wood that then sat out in humid air for a few weeks. we ran them pretty tight together. they swelled tight. no issues. some older guys I interviewed said in the old days they would put a coin between the boards when they nailed it to allow for swelling.