Thanks Brenda, How interesting that is, thanks. When did these fires take place? Marcia > > Yes, Marcia, the story of the mine fires are true. My > great-uncle, William Hoy, owned one of the mines that was on > fire. My mom tells me that my grandmother sold tickets to > view the mine fire from his mine. And my mother also tells > me of the days she couldn't go to school because the road > from Old Town (Straitsville) to New Straitsville would be > steaming/collapsing from the fire........ > > I thought Angela had some things on her website about the > mine fires, but it appears to be down at the moment. You > might try it later: http://www.perrygenealogy.net > > Brenda Van Dyke > bjvd@columbus.rr.com > > > > > > > > ______________________________ >

Marcia: It is believed that the fires are still burning to this day. The fires were intentionally started in summer of 1884 by a group of striking miners. The Columbus and Hocking Valley Coal and Iron Company had brought in replacement workers for the striking miners and they didn't take too kindly to that. Fire was set to about 7 mines in the area, forcing the coal company to seal the mines. The fires have continued to burn; I believe I saw something in the newspapers in the early 1990's about some land in the area caving in from the burning fire. Found a page of New Straitsville pictures; some mine fire pictures are included: http://spsd.k12.oh.us/lc/Towns/NewStraitsville/newstraitsvillepictures.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marcia " <moose@surfnetinc.com> To: <OHPERRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 8:10 PM Subject: [OHPERRY] Mine fires-was Dixe Coal mines 1900 > > Thanks Brenda, > > How interesting that is, thanks. > > When did these fires take place? > > Marcia > > > > > Yes, Marcia, the story of the mine fires are true. My > > great-uncle, William Hoy, owned one of the mines that was on > > fire. My mom tells me that my grandmother sold tickets to > > view the mine fire from his mine. And my mother also tells > > me of the days she couldn't go to school because the road > > from Old Town (Straitsville) to New Straitsville would be > > steaming/collapsing from the fire........ > > > > I thought Angela had some things on her website about the > > mine fires, but it appears to be down at the moment. You > > might try it later: http://www.perrygenealogy.net > > > > Brenda Van Dyke > > bjvd@columbus.rr.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ______________________________ > > > > > ==== OHPERRY Mailing List ==== > *** Perry County, Ohio Resources: *** > Perry Co. Ohio USGenWeb: http://www.perrygenealogy.net/ > Genealogy & Historical Info for Perry Co.: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~tfisher/tefishermain.htm > OhioBicentennial.com: http://www.ohiobicentennial.com/ > >

Thank you ALL for the great links and interesting information on this subject! Wow, I had no idea!! As a small child, I really thought Gramma and Grampa were "telling me stories", but I see that the story was very real! I can't imagine how scary this might have been, not knowing when or where the fire would appear above ground again. Thanks all, Marcia