BEAR RIDGE PATCH   
                                                      
I'd like to see that dear spot, 
where the old breaker stood, 
In a place called Bear Ridge 
Where I spend my dear boyhood; 
The hillside and the valley, too, 
On them I long to gaze
In dear old Schuylkill County, boys, 
The place where I was raised.  

It makes me sad and lonely now 
When I think years gone by, 
That I spend at the old breaker, 
When I was but a boy.  
My youthful days are past and gone. 
Old Age is coming fast, 
The only thing that is left to me, 
Is a picture of the past.   

When I first went to Bear Ridge I mean to let you know; 
In eighteen hundred and fifty-six
Nearly forty years ago. 
I had no fear upon me then, 
My heart was young and gay, 
And around the hills of Bear Ridge, boys, 
I spend many a happy day.  

Years have brought on changes, 
To that dear little town; 
The slopes were drowned out 
And the breaker was torn down. 
The grass is growing fresh and green, 
O'er the place were I used to play, 
And the people who were living there, 
They all have moved away.  

I'd like to meet some comrades, boys, 
That were working with me there; 
When the place was shut down, 
We scattered everywhere. 
I moved to New Philadelphia, 
And others they went West; 
Some of them are now dead and gone
I hope they are at rest.  

I came to Luzerne County In eighteen sixty-seven; 
In the month of April, The date it was eleven.  
From there to Carbon County, 
Where I was born, you know; 
But my heart still clings to Schuylkill, boys, 
Wherever I may go. 
I must leave off writing, 
And bid you all goodbye; 
When I think of those happy days, 
The tears come to my eyes.  

I had no trouble on me then, 
No hardships, care, or strife, 
But since, like many a poor workingman, 
I've had my ups and downs in life.  

Department of Environmental Resources
Bureau of Deep Mine Safety
Rachel Coarsen State Office Building
P. O. Box 8463
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8463
(717) 783-7515



Other Mining Links


audenried.txt - May 1933

Pennsylvania Coal Mine Region

Miners Memorial

A tribute to the Anthracite Miner

Index of /projects/coal/

Names of collieries in operation,
Shenandoah District,
Year ending Dec 31, 1880
transcribed by Shirley Ryan

Collieries in Operation Pottsville District 1880
Contributed by Shirley E. Ryan

Historical Coal Mine Disasters in the Anthracite Region
January 12, 1846 to January 22, 1959