Top: This park bench is the only place displaying the town’s name. Bottom: Smoke is coming from an underground coal fire.

The Little Town That Was
by Donald Hollinger

Contributed by Donald Hollinger and the publication HIGHWAY NEWS And Good News.  Published in the JULY 2008 issue of HIGHWAY NEWS And Good News

You have heard of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, but do you know that Pennsylvania has a real smoky mountain? The mountain is in Centralia, along Pennsylvania Route 61 in Pennsylvania’s east central coal region, which was at one time a worldwide coal supplier. The mountain has been on fire since May 1962, when someone lit a trash fire at the edge of town in the pit of an abandoned strip mine. That pit happened to be over one of the world’s largest anthracite coal veins running near the surface. The fire was thought extinguished, but every few days in would flare up again. The government got involved and spent millions of dollars trying to put out the fire, or at least contain it by flushing the mine with water and fly ash, drilling, and excavating. Some say the government waited too long to take action; by the early 1980s, carbon monoxide in the air around town was reaching dangerous levels, and smoke, fumes, and toxic gases were coming up through basements, backyards, and streets. Today, you can still smell sulfur and see smoke coming out from the earth at various points in the area. By 1990, the federal government stepped in and bought the whole town for forty-two million dollars. Over one thousand people packed up and left some five hundred homes that were later demolished. Evacuation was not mandatory, so about six homes and eleven people decided to remain on the condemned land. It’s been estimated there is enough fuel for the fire to burn for another century or more and could even threaten nearby towns.
 

When I visited in November 2007, I saw only two occupied homes near what once was the center of town. There are many warning signs for trespassers on the condemned land, but there has been no loss of life due to the fire.

Several years ago, a twelve-year-old boy had a close call when he fell into a sink hole and caught himself on some roots; he was rescued by another boy. The hole was one hundred feet deep and filled with carbon monoxide gas. There are no children living on the condemned land today. On Rt. 61, north from Ashland, is a detour around a section of the highway where the road developed a huge crevasse just a few years ago. When I was still driving truck hauling gasoline several years ago, hazmat loads were not allowed on that section of Rt. 61 — and now I understand why! If you ever attempt to visit this ghost town, don’t look for a sign that marks your destination; the only Centralia sign is on the back of a park bench on a side street. Some maps no longer list the town. To find out more about this fascinating story, visit www.offroaders.com and search for Centralia.