Coal Miners' Statue

Coal Miners' Statue. Minersville. , This monument is to honor the Anthracite Miners of Schuylkill County - past, present, and future, and to commemorate in a very special way the many men and boys who lost their lives in the mines., The Miners' Statue was placed here by the Rotary Club of Minersville, Pennsylvania. The project committee was chaired by Joseph Walacavage who donated the land and whose fondness for his native region and loyalty to his fellow miners were the inspiration for this monument. Mr. Walacavage was born on March 12, 1930, and died on July 2, 1997, just four days after witnessing the unveiling and dedication of this statue., The Miners' Statue was created by Pottsville native and sculptor Jim Ponter, who described the project as a labor of love. Mr. Ponter is a 1941 graduate of Pottsville High School. At the time he created the statue he served as Senior Sculptor at the Franklin Mint in Media, Pennsylvania., The statue was cast in Chester, Pennsylvania, at LARAN Bronze Company, owned by Larry and Randy Welker., The Rotary Club of Minersville especially acknowledges the assistance of Vincent J. Land, Colonel, US Army (Ret.), who became chairman of the Rotary Miners' Statue Committee upon the death of Mr. Walacavage, and the support of Earl W. Kieffer, President of Independent Miners and Associates., This Monument was dedicated on June 28, 1997. , The Rotary Club of Minersville, Pennsylvania , [Officers names not transcribed] , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , The Miner. , As a boy he worked in the breaker picking slate out of the coal., As an adolescent he worked the doors, or led the mule teams, or threw spragues between the wheels of the coal cars., As a young man, he helped the miner dig the coal, and he loaded it into the cars supplied by the mule drivers., As a Miner he drilled into the coal, set the charges, and blasted the coal loose., As an old man, as a miner with injuries, he returned to the breaker to work beside the boys picking slate., Twice a boy, they said, and once a man when you worked inside the mines., Anthracite - hard coal - was known and used by the Indians and local settlers well before Necho Allen "discovered" coal on Sharp Mountain outside of Pottsville in 1790. The discovery by those outside the region that anthracite would actually burn led to boom times in Schuylkill County starting in the 1820's and 1830's. Locally mined coal heated the homes of Philadelphia, fueled the Industrial Revolution, and helped win the Civil War and two World Wars. Although there are not as many mines as there were years ago, the industry continues to be a vital part of the region's culture and economic life., Schuylkill County and the nation would be a different place today if the miner had not toiled above ground and in the depths to extract anthracite from where it formed so many millions of years ago. Many lost their lives and even more were injured over the years. This monument is dedicated to the memory of all who have worked in the mines. Let us thank these miners, for they have touched our lives., Dr. Thomas E. Graves, President, 1996-1997 , Rotary Club of Minersville, Pennsylvania