Portion of Lost Creek #2 demolished for mining
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - The remnants of foundations along Lost Creek Road in West Mahanoy Township on March 19, 2023.
LOST CREEK #2 – About a dozen homes were recently demolished for strip mining activity in this West Mahanoy Township village.
The homes, along the north side of Lost Creek Road, were on leased ground, meaning the property owners owned the structure, but not the ground it was on.
That practice was commonplace for patch towns across the coal region, and led to the demise of villages like Colorado in West Mahanoy Township and, more recently, Wadesville in New Castle Township.
The recently demolished homes are on land owned by the Estate of Stephen Girard, more commonly known as the Girard Estate.
The estate is administered by the City of Philadelphia’s Board of City Trusts, which owns the majority of land in West Mahanoy Township and runs Girard College and a tower block in downtown Philadelphia.
Keystone Anthracite, of Girardville, conducts strip mining operations east of Lost Creek #2 and west of Brownsville for the Girard Estate.
Late last year, Keystone filed an application with the PA Department of Environmental Protection to transfer the permit that authorizes the operation, called the Bear Ridge operation, from the estate to themselves, as well as to nearly double the size of the permit area from 397.3 acres to 638.7 acres.
Keystone also requested permission for coal refuse reprocessing and preparation plant operations in the permit area.
The Sentinel filed a right-to-know request seeking information on Girard Estate operations in northern Schuylkill County on Dec. 30, and the city did not respond.
According to the Schuylkill County Parcel Locator, some of the homes were purchased by Keystone last May.
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