[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_J6r-Tqk-s?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=http://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=250&h=141]

There are some people in the coal region who have come to despise the sight of coal mines, coal hills, and coal breakers. For them, they are a sign of what the barons did to the area: Create a scorched earth while they got rich quick, leaving behind ‘company store’ towns to fend for themselves once they moved out, creating a generation of poverty, dilapidated housing, and old signs of a once booming infrastructure. The video in this post shows the St. Nicholas Coal Breaker in Mahanoy City, PA. It is there today but is going to be demolished very soon–the last of its kind in the area, where coal was once king and had the wealthy families to prove it.

There is initially some apprehension on my part about this.. demolishing something like this? Maybe this one last breaker should be preserved and restored. Maybe it should not. 
Varied opinions on the matter.
The decision has been made, though.
This sign of the past will soon be a memory. Just like lots of other structures, train stops, and memorials that are either smashed away by progress or overgrown in an area that often seems to be the place time forgot..