| Just north of Pittston, Pennsylvania, sits a long | | | | Polish immigrants, were killed there one hundred |
| abandoned train yard, right near a part of town | | | | and fourteen years ago. Not one body was ever |
| known as "The Junction". The rails have sat | | | | recovered. |
| rusting, quiet and unused for decades. When we | | | | Now Northeast Pennsylvania,for the first time in |
| were boys, we played in the old round houses | | | | 60 years, is again on the international map for its |
| and climbed on top of rusting locomotives, always | | | | resources. This time it is natural gas. Massive |
| watching out for trainmen who, it was said, would | | | | energy companies which never heard of us |
| shoot any trespassing kid with shotguns loaded | | | | before are mustering enormous resources to |
| with salt pellets. We got chased often enough, but | | | | take the gas out of the ground and to market, |
| never shot. No adult is going to catch a scared kid | | | | no doubt to take the profits far away, just like |
| in a three square mile playground. | | | | the coal industry did. |
| At the Main Street entrance to the site, a | | | | To service the natural gas operators, Coxton |
| Historical Marker bears the following legend; | | | | Yard has again been activated. Train whistles blow. |
| "On June 28, 1896, fifty-eight men were killed in a | | | | Large earthmoving equipment clears the land, |
| massive cave-in of rock and coal here, in the | | | | removing the scrub trees and garbage that |
| Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Colliery. An | | | | always builds up on old black deserts. Triaxles roll |
| investigative commission, appointed by the | | | | through, within sight of the historical marker, from |
| Governor, reported on Sept. 25. Although its | | | | early morning until late at night. |
| safety recommendations would often be ignored, | | | | If we forget the dead, we will lose where we |
| the disaster was a factor that led to a stronger | | | | came from, and lose who we are. Our people |
| unionization of this region under John Mitchell after | | | | need to analyze this "gas rush" through a lens |
| 1900." | | | | which will permit us to see 100 years into the |
| Our region was for a century home to one of the | | | | future. We need to respect the spirits of the |
| largest mining operations ever known. The | | | | Twin Shaft miners. So run those excavators |
| industry was absolutely brutal in its treatment of | | | | quietly and keep the locomotives from waking |
| its employees. The Coxton Yard rests on top of | | | | those who sleep in deep mine shafts below the |
| a tomb for the men, mainly Irish, Hungarian and | | | | ground. |