Sarah Jones, 15, of Pottsville, got her first impressions of an anthracite strip mine operation Tuesday while riding in a tour bus traveling over a dirt road in Wadesville.
"It's dirty. There were puddles. Not my thing," Jones said.
"It was bumpy. I almost spilled my soda," said Kali Brock, 12, of Schuylkill Haven.
"But I thought this was fun. It was a chance to meet new people and learn stuff. I made a friend," Brock said, referring to Jadde McNutt, 13, of Tamaqua.
They were among the eight local students between ages 11 and 15 who took part in the inaugural Schuylkill County History Safari.
"We received funding for this project from the Schuylkill Area Community Foundation, a grant of $1,500," said David Derbes, historical society president.
The two-day event sponsored by the Schuylkill County Historical Society and the Salvation Army of Pottsville will wrap up today.
The group will join Patrick M. "Porcupine Pat" McKinney, educational coordinator for the Schuylkill County Conservation District, to travel the southern part of Schuylkill County, Derbes said.
On Tuesday, J. Stuart "Stu" Richards, Orwigsburg, a historian and a member of the society's board of directors, and Derbes took the students on a bus tour related to the county's anthracite coal history.
The historical society chartered a 21-seat Ford E-350 bus from Ed's USA Rentals, Pottsville. On Tuesday afternoon, the group rode to a Reading Anthracite stripping operation in Wadesville, New Castle Township.
"The first thing we wanted to show them was how surface mining is done," Richards said.
The bus left Pottsville, turned onto Peach Mountain Road and then only a dirt road led to the Wadesville pit.
"Puddle. Almost stepped in a puddle," Jones said.
"This is what they call the Wadesville Stripping Pit," Derbes said as he approached the edge of a cliff to look down on it.
Reading Anthracite employees, including Rich Morgan, security manager, and Jim Seraiva, security officer, were there to offer the students some insight.
"It's at least 500 feet down," Morgan said.
"Is this the Mammoth Vein?" Derbes asked, referring to the thick seam of anthracite coal.
"Yes," Morgan said.
"This 'mammoth' seam of coal was at one time the most important of all anthracite deposits," according to a website for "Mining Artifacts and History" at miningartifacts.org.
Morgan and Seraiva also showed them an earth mover, a "DEMAG" hydraulic shovel designed to lift and deposit soil into haul trucks.
"The good thing about surface mining at Wadesville is they're reclaiming the land after they do their mining, so it's not leaving a big blight on the landscape and it's environmentally friendly. If you grew up in Schuylkill County, you saw a lot of big stripping holes and culm banks. You're not going to see that there. They'll dig the holes but they'll reclaim it so it's much better off," Richards said.
Afterward, the group toured the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland.
"I wanted to show them how deep mining was done in this area," Richards said.
From there, the group visited the Schuylkill Historical Fire Society Museum in Shenandoah, Derbes said.
Derbes said he hopes the program spurs the students toward further study and research.
"If nothing else, I hope some of them will be inspired to do some studying or reading about our county," Derbes said.
"I think this was good because you can learn about social studies things for school," said Jones, who will be a sophomore at Pottsville Area High School when school begins Aug. 26.
Before leaving Tuesday, Ethan Albon, 11, of Saint Clair, asked Derbes if he could borrow a book from the historical society, "A History of Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, Pa.," a 1935 text reprinted in 1975, according to the book's title page.
While four of the students were from Pottsville, two were from Shenandoah, one was from Schuylkill Haven and one was from Tamaqua, Derbes said.