The Legacy

[Joel Bolden]

Back when coal was king here in the mountains of Pennsylvania, a large number of creeks had their aquatic life destroyed when mines too close to the water collapsed and flooded; releasing toxic amounts of iron/sulfur and killing all the life in them. Decades later they're still around; it's called Abandoned Mine Drainage. Yesterday I took a long drive and stopped by one of them. The 57 mile long Moshannon Creek is better known as the "Red Mo" these days. It's famous for it's White Water Race which has been held the last Saturday in March since 1967. As you can see from the pics, the creek is aptly named. Due to the drought it's also really low.

Unfortunately, it flows into a major river, doing damage there also.

 

[Winona]

That’s sad. I didn’t know about this. Never really thought about it. Nice history lesson.