Small World, Indeed!

Yesterday, that would be this past Sunday, my older daughter and her son, Alex, and I took a little drive over the mountain to another little "local" village here -one I haven't been to in many a year now.

The reason for our drive over and down to Karthaus was because my closest friend from high school was down at her family home along with her brother and sister as they were clearing out her Mom's belongings -clothes, furniture, etc. Her Mom, who is now 93 years old, had stopped a year ago from spending her winters in Florida with her surviving son and her summers back here, alone in the family home in Karthaus. But up until 2 years ago, she was coming here usually in late March and staying by herself there and then, returning to her son's home in Florida in/around October or so. Quite a darned good feat for someone in that age range to still be able to be self-sufficient like that up till she was almost 92 years old, don't you think?

Well, last year, it was decided her health, though not terrible, just really wasn't up to the par level her kids felt it should be for her to stay there alone and so, last year, she had gone to Idaho to spend the year with her younger daughter who lives out west there. Apparently she liked the climate and location and such with her younger daughter because she then decided she would stay on out in Idaho.

Back in December, my friend (Cheryl) and her siblings had decided to put their Mom's house on the market. Because this area is a very depressed area and real estate is usually pretty slow to sell here, they figured it would be a long haul before they would get a buyer for the house. However, they got a big surprise when someone bought the place within two weeks after the house was put up for sale!

With the house sale set to close the end of March, Cheryl and her two siblings then were faced with the task of clearing everything out of the house and the only time that the three of them could get back home at the same time was this past week -from March 18th through this Wednesday, the 23rd. They had initially hoped to have an auction sale but that fell through and somehow, within two days of hard work trying to organize their Mom's things and sort through items they each wanted to keep too, they did manage to have a little "house sale" then yesterday.

So, that's why Carrie, Alex and I made the little trip down river to Karthaus.

I was really glad that Carrie (and Alex too) were here and able to go over with me as Carrie is the only one of my kids who really knows Cheryl and her husband, Mitch. Also, the last time Cheryl had seen Carrie -and the only time she'd ever seen Alex -was when he was just a tiny baby, probably only a month, maybe two months old and boy, he sure has changed -and grown -a heck of a lot since then!

It was so nice to be able to visit a little with Cheryl and her siblings as well as to see some folks from down river I hadn't seen in a long while -like another former Classmate, Herb, and his wife Donna. Always good, in my way of thinking, when you can have an enjoyable visit with old friends like that.

While we were talking though, Cheryl's sister told me a story about what had happened recently to her back at her home in Idaho.

Barbara said that she generally attends Mass every Sunday and when she does, she take communion home then to her Mom. A few weeks back, she was unable to get to Mass so had made arrangements with someone at the church to have communion brought to her Mom. Then, last week when she realized she would again be out-of-town over the weekend, she contacted that couple to see if they would be so kind to please bring communion to her Mom in her absence.

The lady assured Barbara that they would do that and no problem, that type of arrangement. Barbara happened then to mention that she was going to be in Pennsylvania to clear out her Mom's home there and the lady asked her where in Pennsylvania she was going. Barb had explained that this is a small village, out in the sticks of central Pennsylvania and most likely the only town near to here that she figured the lady would have heard of was State College and Penn State University.

The woman told Barb then that oh yes, she knew exactly where State College is because they (she and her husband) are from Clearfield County -which is the county where Cheryl's hometown, as well as mine, are located. Upon hearing that, Barb then told her that her hometown is Karthaus and here's where the real surprise came in. The lady then told her that they are from Grassflat -which is where I live!

Barb asked me then if I know any people here in town -now or years back -with the last name of Petro and I said definitely, I do. So she then asked me if I know a Paul Petro and his wife, Karen? Well, I don't know his wife, but Paul grew up about 6-7 houses down the street from my place!

Incredible, isn't it, to be in Idaho, a thousand plus miles away from Pennsylvania and to have someone you've never met before be the person who brings communion to your home for your mother and then, to learn that they just happen to be from the same region in Pennsylvania as you are from! (And from the same school district too!)

Isn't that just amazing though?

As Barb said to me about this event, "The world really is small and getting smaller every day or so it seems at times."

Yes, indeed it is Barb!

And now, tomorrow evening, I get to reunite with Cheryl and Barb, along with their cousin Sharon -also one of my very good high school friends -for dinner over in State College at The Tavern.

And I'm really looking forward to that!

And we'll make the world just a teensy bit smaller during the time we'll have to spend over our meal, you can bet money on that!

Sight Seeing

Last week, if you recall, I mentioned that a group of four people from Sweden are going to be coming to this area for a very short visit the latter part of this week. The one lady in the group and I have been communicating for about eight years now about family tree data she has been able to secure for me from Sweden. In her note to me about their pending visit, she said she and the others would like very much to see the "sights" in this area and that got me trying to think what on earth would I show them that would or could constitute for "sights" here. That is, until my friend, Jeff Feldmeier sent me some photos today from his visit to the area last week. So I thought maybe I'd show you, my readers some of the local "sights." (Because these photos were all posted to Jeff's webshots, in order to download them, I had to download an "image converter" thing but being el cheapo that I am -or is that 'el broko' - the free version puts a watermark on the photos and that is what you will see in the right hand corner. But these photos are all courtesy of Jeff Feldmeier's fine photographic skills and I hope you can appreciate the beauty of these hills anyway.)
The first photo here was taken at Karthaus - a little town further back in the mountains than where I live. It's about 10 miles or so from my home and is situated along the banks of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. This photo shows the bridge across the river between Karthaus and the road that leads to Pine Glen. I think it's surely a beautiful sight and from this angle though, is one I won't be able to get to this location upstream along the railroad trackage there to give the Swedish visitors this particular view as I can do here for you.
This picture, to the left, is of the Black Moshannon Creek just outside the little village of Moshannon which is about eight miles from my home. This stream, a really great mountain stream, noted too for being a good fishing stream, joins up with the Red Moshannon Creek (the stream used for the Big Red Mo Canoe Race the last Saturday in March every year) shortly before the waters then empty into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
To the right here, is another view of the Black Moshannon Creek. According to Jeff, this is located near "Meyers Run" and to be honest, I don't know where the heck Meyers Run is! There are many little rills and runs around these mountain streams that feed into them and they all run through some really heavily wooded areas, deep in the boondocks here beyond my accessibility. But I really think you have to agree on the beauty of this picture though, don't you agree? This is back in the hills in an area that is frequented mainly by hunters and trout fishermen - people accustomed to trekking in the wilderness and not necessarily a place easily accessed by old ladies who don't know their way around the forests here very well - like me.
The stream shown in the photo on the left here is of Black Bear - the mountain stream that runs sort of "behind" the small village of Winburne about five miles from my home. This stream is the feeder stream from which the majority of folks in the are get our water supply for our homes and most visitors to the area usually think we have some of the best water around. Where this photos was taken of the stream, it's doubtful I can get my Swedish visitors up exactly to this location but I can get them to a crossroads between Winburne and Black Moshannon State Park where they can see the stream - a little bit wider at that spot than it is in this photo. This stream is also known for being a great place for trout fishermen to try their luck too in this area.

The photo to the right is of Winburne, where the railroad tracks used to cross the highway and near where the old train station used to be in that village. This old train station, along with one that used to exist many, many years ago up in the mountains of Peale - the ghost coal mining town - were points of disembarkment for many new immigrants to the vicinity around the turn of the century. There also used to be a trolley that ran between Winburne and Philipsburg too - Philipsburg being the closest town to this area of any size, with a couple of stores still existing there now too.
On the left here, also in Winburne, this is where the railroad trackage used to be as it went between the train station and north of the village towards the coal mines and the old tipple sight in Winburne. This is the intersection of Church Street with Main Street - Church Street is the one veering off to the right. The smallish building you see in the front of this photo is of the old office of what used to be the Winburne Water Company - a now defunct corporation that is part of the Cooper Township Water Authority today.
And finally, on the right, this is just north of Winburne and is of Wells Run - a stream until viewing Jeff's photos today, I didn't even know existed either.
Imagine that! I've lived in this neck of the woods for well over 50 years and this stream is only about four, maybe five miles from my home and yet, I never knew this is its proper name - Wells Run! If I am following Jeff's descriptions properly, this is probably what locals tend to refer to as the "sulfur creek" that runs through Winburne. We have the equivalent to it here in Grassflat, where I live too - what we call the "sulfur creek" here is actually named Moravian Run. It, and the stream through Winburne both were heavily polluted many, many years ago by the old coal mines that brought these towns in to existence in the late 1800's and will probably never carry water again that could be used to support fish or for drinking purposes either. Which is really a shame because when you view them in the light of Jeff's camera lense, it really is a quaint scene, isn't it? Almost calls you to pack a picnic lunch and sit along the banks on a quiet, sunny spring or summer day, doesn't it?
And there you have my very short tour of some of the beauties of this region. How often I have gone by some of these areas for one reason or another and never really looked closely at them, never really saw how pretty these places are, most of the time. When I worked in State College and when I was attending Penn State, I generally drove by the Black Bear stream almost every day but I was usually in too much of a hurry to get over the mountain to work or to classes to really pay close attention to how pretty it is out in the wilderness here.
And now, later this week, I'll try to take my four Swedish visitors to attempt to show them a little glimpse of some locations here that really are quite lovely to behold if one takes the time to look at the beauty of the area for a change.
Perhaps later this week, I'll take you all on a little "look-see" around a bit of what is left of the ghost town of Peale - a place one of the Swedish visitors has expressed a desire to see. From it's birth in 1884 and for maybe a decade, Peale was quite a little boom town until the mines there began to be disbanded and folks moved up the road about a mile or two into Grassflat or were sometimes also transferred to another coal town in Indiana County - adjacent to Clearfield County -to Clymer or Commodore, PA.
One thing I find quite fascinating though about Peale is how many people who immigrated to this area in the late 1800's, and their entire families have left the area completely now for work in the cities of Cleveland, Detroit, Erie, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia -even to Chicago and New York -and so many people then have roots to this tiny area in the hills of central Pennsylvania.
A cousin of my Mom's who lives in the Cleveland suburbs told me a couple years ago about how when he worked for Sears in Cleveland that rarely a day went by that he didn't encounter a customer whose family had migrated to Cleveland from this small section of the state. He said it was like having old home week almost on a daily basis.
There are times I've thought perhaps I made a mistake -after having left this place in the mid-1960's only to return in 1972 - by coming back here because work is not plentiful and what work there is, often is not the caliber that pays very well. But those times when my mind wanders off in that direction usually dissipate quickly as I look around and think of what the area does have to offer. A good place, generally relatively safe by most standards, with its own unique charms and links to the past. I love the fact that many of the people who are my friends, my neighbors, I've known two, even three generations of their families from my childhood to today and I like that - knowing who people are by who their ancestors were, you see. For the most part, it is a friendly community and I appreciate that aspect of this region very much, indeed.
Come visit us here sometime and explore the mountains, the streams, the coal mine ruins today in some parts of the region because there really is a lot to see, to be learned, about the way things once were, how many of our ancestors existed when they first arrived in this country a century ago.
Who knows - maybe you'll decide it looks like a very inviting place to settle, even today.

Big Pow-Wow - well sort of!

Got a call this afternoon from Teresa - my editor/publisher of my favorite little newsletter. She was on her way over for coffee and to bring me a copy of the latest issue of the West Branch Review! Terrific! Mandy stopped yesterday to try to get me a copy at the nearest distributor spot and they had been sold out since two days after this issue hit the stands! Yippee!

Over coffee, we discussed many things - some even dealing with plans for when the next issue will surface and ideas for topics to go in that one too! Gonna have to do some research on New Years type celebrations, history of that, anything pertaining to New Years. So.... if any of you have any suggestions on that topic, feel free to bombard me with ideas! (Guess who is gonna try to do an article about that?)

Mandy picked up the Christmas photos she had taken about two weeks ago at K-Mart of the two little ones together - all decked out in the "holiday" finery. Gosh, they are beautiful! The pictures and the kids!!!! Still can't believe they are actually related to me!

Since no disc was given along with the photos - rats - I will have to scan these in then but would love to be able to figure out how to post photos here then so I could put their picture up here and anyone reading this then could see I am not bragging about how terrific they are for nothing that way!

I see by the "table of contents" thing Teresa puts on the front page of the Review that yes, she has my article titled "Small World" in this issue. Hmmm - leaves me wondering there how my cousin missed seeing that. She lives in Alabama but has a subscription to the REview and had e-mailed me on Tuesday that she had just received the latest copy but hadn't seen anything in it by me! Gonna have to write and tell her where it is - what page it is on - whole nine yards, I guess! Or, maybe if she is reading this posting, she will find it herself located on PAGE 7, Ruth Ann! Go read it now, please!

This issue also contains two articles that pertain a lot to Peale - the recent fire there, the old railroads in that village at one time, plus more about Peter Karthaus - who founded a little local town down river from me and a Christmas story, written by Teresa - the editor. Oh, and there are a few other pieces of good interest for those readers of this neat little newsletter!

Other topics Teresa and I discussed for potential stories in upcoming issues: The Philipsburg HIstoric Association; Underground Railroad in Philipsburg; the "Screw Factory" of early Philipsburg, a soda bottling place that used to be located in the township where I live along with hopefully getting a piece done about a 14-year-old in our school district who plans someday to run for President of the old U.S.A. That boy - just happens to be my cousin's grandson - has his platform all worked out, along with a game plan he has too about college, major in school, future employment and then how he will eventually pull all this together and run for President! This kid absolutely amazes me and really is neat that he is also my cousin! Good genes there, maybe?

So there's a little bit of what those who subscribe to (or purchase individual copies as they hit the stands now) The WBR (West Branch Review) and what we will be trying to write about in coming months.

The topics outlined all sound really interesting to me. How about you? Let me know your thoughts about this, please.