Worthington High School

Worthington-West Franklin
High School

Worthington, PA

1933 - 1984

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Memories

Growing up in Worthington and Yellow Dog (Buffalo Valley)

1941 - 1961

Terry E. Bowser

Sedro Woolley, Washington

What I was told and what I remember about living in Worthington and Yellow Dog.

I was born in Worthington in 1941. When I was six years old in 1947, we moved to the limestone mining village of Yellow Dog. I’ve included also, a summary about my life after I graduated in 1959, from Worthington-West Franklin High School, Worthington, Pa. It’s as factual as seen by my eyes, but sometimes young eyes don’t see the entire picture. I’m sure that I have errors, so I hope that I don’t offend anyone.

I used the high school website to help me with the class years of those much older than me. The class years mentioned doesn’t mean the person graduated that year. For many, it would be the year they would have graduated if they stayed at the high school until their graduation year. Hopefully, to those who left school or moved away, they found greener pastures.

Worthington

I was born in Worthington, Pennsylvania on February 27th, 1941 to Edgar and Katherine (Dickey) Bowser. I joined an older brother, Bill (Class of ‘57). I was born in a little brown shingle house on Bear Street. The house was owned by Mrs. Elizabeth J. Gaiser. Her granddaughter, Allyne Gaiser Shaffer (Class of ’43) stayed over at her grandmothers during school semesters. Her parents lived up the country above Lairds Crossing/Craigsville. I was thrilled to meet Allyne in 2005, and again 2010, at the Worthington-West Franklin High School All-School Reunion.

The house sat two blocks north of Main Street on the right side of Bear Street. Some may identify the street as the road to Cowansville. Farther up the hill and on the same side of the street sat the white Presbyterian Church. (It was demolished in the 1960s.) I do believe at that time, the two story house across the street (on the corner) from where I was born was where the Presbyterian pastor lived, later to be occupied by King and Mabel Bowser and later purchased by Claire Benton.

Within a year of my birth, we moved to Main Street in Worthington. The house sat across the street from the parking lot where the Worthington Post Office now sets. Our new residence as was the old residence was normal for that time in Worthington. We had an outhouse (toilet), and in the kitchen we had a hand pump that we had to prim each time we needed water. This house was owned by Harry "Hike" and Katherine Ruth who lived next door east of us. They had 5 children: Erma (Class of ‘39), Glee (Class of ‘47), Glenn (Class of ‘50), Dean (Class of ‘52) and Dale (Class of ‘58).

About the same time, March, 1942, that we moved there, Omer and Ethel Nichol moved down to Worthington next door, to us from Lairds Crossing where the brick plant was.

They were to the west of us with their 4 children: Jim (Class of ‘49), Bill (Class of ‘54), Bob (Class of ‘57) and Barbara who graduated with me in the (Class of ’59). So we lived between the Ruth and Nichol families. The Nichol family moved to the top of the hill on Cherry Street in 1945.

My first memories of living there on Main Street, was when I was around 4 or 5 years old. After the Nichol family moved, Thomas and Wilma Hawley moved in with their 3 children. I remember their oldest son, Tom. The Hawley children were Tom (Class of ’53), Wilma (Class of ‘55) and Harlan "Bud" (Class of ‘58). Another son, Homer (Class of ‘64) was born while they were still living there. Shortly after we moved to Yellow Dog, the Hawley’s moved into a new house that Mr. Hawley built. This house was just below the High School on the road we called the Franklin Church Road (officially now, Claypoole Road).

Joseph and Elmira LaSitis moved into the house Hawley’s lived in. They moved in with two children. Their daughter, Jean was already out of school. They also had a son, Bob (Class of ‘54).

Living across Main Street and a little (West) from us lived Pressley and Mary Shearer. They were Barbara Nichol’s great aunt and uncle. Press Shearer worked as a master mechanic at the Pittsburgh Limestone Corporation, Yellow Dog. Before we moved from Worthington, I remember a couple other families on the same side of Main Street as Press. Going west were William M. and Twyla Beers. Their children were long gone from home before my time, but their names were: Grace, Winifred (Class of ‘34) and Dick (Class of ‘35). They were the grandparents of Dick Beers Jr., (Class of ‘58). Also right in there was Robert and Bertha Gaiser and their daughter, Faye, (Class of ‘55).

Across the street from where we lived and slightly to the East where the Worthington post office now sets was an old dilapidated house that was vacant. One morning we realized we had new neighbors living in that house. We found out their names were Toby and Minnie Shaw, who moved down from the Cowansville Road and the Stumbaugh Rail Road Crossing area. They didn’t appear to be too tidy. They were gone each day gathering and bringing junk home to sell. ("Someone’s trash is someone else’s treasure.") I think they proved to be entertaining to the adults, but I was really scared of them. One night we were setting on the front porch and Minnie came running out to the front of the house hollowing, "Help! Help! My husband is killing me, he is breaking my neck". At a young age, that was frozen in my mind. No one ever heard of domestic violence disputes then. It probably would have been registered as a feud between husband and wife. I don’t remember any more about the situation. I can say Minnie did survive because they were back gathering junk the next day.

During 1946 mother was pregnant with her third child. Dr. Reed was summoned because mother was having labor pains. Since it was the first day of hunting season, November 2, 1946, Dr. Reed showed up in his hunting clothes. Most babies then were born at home, just as my older brother Bill and I were. The Claypoole girls, Sis and Toot (Zelda’s girls) were there boiling water and to help if they were needed. A bouncing baby boy named, James was born. Bill and I couldn’t keep our hands off of him. We introduced him to all the germs.

While living on Main Street, my brother Bill took a bottle of shellac and painted the glass on the gas meter. When the meter-reader guy came to read the meter he couldn’t read it. Wow, were we in trouble! Bill did confess which left me off the hook. In the back yard, we had a rotting tree that had a fungal infection growing on the side. That white brownish growth we called "punk". You could break it off and light it and it would continue to burn for days without a flare-up. Bill and I had some matches and we lit a piece to play with that day. Accessible off our back porch was a door that led into a little storage room for brooms, rakes and things like that. Also in there were the underside of the stairs that went to the second floor bedrooms. The closet had a wood floor. That evening we needed a place to put the punk so we set it on the floor and shut the door. Well, the next morning there was a big burn discovered on floor. It turned out we were really lucky little boys along with our family that the floor didn’t flare up to a big fire. Young brains can’t process what could have happened. We slept on the second floor directly above that closet. If that had hit the flame stage, it could have engulfed the entire house. This put us in deep doo-doo. We were threatened if we were ever seen with matches again our fingers would be burned on the hot tea kettle as punishment. I think we processed this, for a short time anyway. You wouldn’t dare say something like that to a child today.

Living on Main Street, we could watch the annual parade from the front porch. It was a real treat seeing all those big horse teams. My dad worked at the limestone mines. He and Ralph Yockey took turns driving to work. Ralph lived east on Route 422, which wasn’t too far from Worthington. In later years, Ralph turned his barn into Yockey’s Bargain Barn, full of new furniture for sale. When dad was driving he made it a point to pick me up on his way by our house when he was taking Ralph home. I could hardly wait because they both saved me treats from their lunch buckets. I looked forward to this more than riding along. Dad owned a ‘37 Pontiac, 4 door. The back doors opened opposite of what car doors open today. Those doors were suicide doors if opened during traveling. The wind would grab the door and pull it wide open. If you were leaning against the door you could be pulled right out. Well, one day about where Burke’s garage used to be on the right side of the road, I tried it to see what would happen. I was in the back seat on the passenger side of the car and the door flew wide open and almost took me with it. Dad reached back across and grabbed me and saved me. So at this point in my life I learned to not play with matches and don’t open car doors while in travel. I was learning that life is proving to be a continual learning process.

Going west from our house, McNair’s store sat at the corner of Main and Cherry Streets. In later years, Thompsons barber shop was located there. Mr. and Mrs. McNair lived in back of the store in the same building. Mother worked for them in the late afternoon so that Mr. and Mrs. McNair could have a relaxing dinner together. One day about 5:00 in the afternoon, mother ran to the front of the store and locked the doors and pulled the blinds. She had us get down behind the counter. She had spotted a car load of Gypsies (as she called them) that parked across the street and were headed for the store. I remember it scared the "you know what" out of me. Later, I found out what the word Gypsies meant. Still learning! It meant no permanent home with a wondering lifestyle and we have a lot of people like this today and we call them "homeless".

Another time while at the store with my mother, I was looking out the front window when the youngest Crissman girl at that time was crossing Route 422. Her name was, I believe Arlene and her father was Roy Crissman. They lived a block behind McNair’s store on Ross Street. She was hit by a large brown army bus. To this day, I can still see her flying through the air. We ran out and over to her to see if she needed help. Her leg was hurt and it had already started to swell. Someone rushed her to the Kittanning Hospital.

Directly across the street from McNair’s corner store was where my dad kept his car in the basement during the winter months. I believe the family that lived there had the last name of Lewis. To the east of that building was Kelly Long’s Mobile gas station. Dad always had Long’s change the oil in the car. I remember it was a treat to be with dad on these occasions. Mr. Long had a Spanish nut machine. It took a penny to receive a handful of nuts. Dad always had pennies for me. After I was older and had my own car, I had my car served at Long’s until I left Worthington in 1961. Mr. Long retired and Chester Neal, (Father of Lucille Neal Class of 57) took over the business. Chester Neal worked for Mr. Long.

To the West of the Lewis home was where Drakes lived. Mr. Drake repaired shoes and leather items. The Drakes built a new house across the creek and up the hill behind their shoe repair building.

John and Betty Henry purchased the building from Drakes and opened Henry’s Market. The building had an attached residence and an apartment upstairs. Henry’s lived in the attached residence with their son, Dick (Class of ’59). Later, they had two daughters, Paulette (Class of ’68) and Donna (Class of ‘70)

While living on main street when school got out each day my brother Bill and I would be out front near the sidewalk. We were waiting for the students to walk by after school dismissal. Maybe the attraction was that the girls would tell us each day how cute we were. Never in the past 55 plus years has a girl told me I was cute. I wonder what happened to me.

It was always a treat in the evening to get in the car and go to my grandpa Erwin and grandma Chloe Bowser’s to get butter and eggs. They churned their own butter. There were also lots of other goodies there too. There was no one in the world that could match the bread grandma baked. WOW!!! Each fall, they made Apple Butter in a big copper kettle in the front yard. The apples were peeled and cored and placed in the kettle. A wood fire was started under the kettle. They cooked the apples until they turned into a sauce, adding sugar to taste as needed. This took all day.

They were always stirring the apple butter so it wouldn’t scorch. They had a few copper pennies in the bottom of the kettle to help it from sticking. They stirred the apple butter with a long wood handle that had a paddle attached at the end. The paddle had holes in it so the apple butter would flow through the holes while stirring.

Grandpa Bowser walked to work each day through the woods to the Craigsville tile plant. Sometime around 1946 or 1947 my grandpa Bowser passed away. They had the viewing in the living room of the home. I remember telling my mother he looks just like he is sleeping. That has been etched in my mind all these years.

Yellow Dog – Pittsburgh Lime Corporation Facility (Subsidiary of U.S. Steel Corp.)

The mines were opened sometime in the 1890's and owned by Pittsburgh Limestone. Pittsburgh Limestone produced some cement, building a plant for that purpose at Yellow Dog in the 1910's. They also sold their limestone to the various steel companies in Pittsburgh, including U. S. Steele. The Limestone was moved out of the Yellow Dog by the Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Rochester Railroad who ran a spur line down from their junction and Passenger station that used to be in Craigsville, Pa. That spur was built 1913 and extended their tracks two miles, almost parallel with Big Buffalo Creek. The capacity of this mine was approximately fifteen hundred tons, later increased to approximately thirty-five hundred tons daily. The major portion of their product went to the blast furnaces in the Pittsburgh district and the remainder generally was used for the manufacture of cement and stone for highway construction. Mr. George Milliron of West Winfield was the first general superintendent and Clifford Weaver was the first plant superintendent, later succeeded by A. L. Aikens, J. W. Baird, and W. P. Druschell.

Soon after the opening of the mine a town of several hundred people sprang up resulting in the erection of a chapel for the purpose of interdenominational services and a large company-owned store, handling general merchandise.

The mine company built the town of Yellow Dog in the late 1910's or early 1920's. It was called Yellow Dog because the miners promised to not unionize in exchange for higher wages and better treatment from the company.

In the 1930's the mine closed for long stretches due to the depression. The mine was back in full operation by the late 1930's and during World War II.

In the Village of Yellow Dog

There was a Chapel that doubled for various religions. On the Chapel side of the town (east side of Buffalo Creek) there were 7 single houses, 12 double houses and one multi-family house with the first floor for a family and the second floor was for boarders. This would be 32 families along with some boarders. On the company owned store side of town (west side of Buffalo Creek) there were 5 double houses, 5 single houses and a house back in the woods with a couple families. This would be about 17 families.

Moved from Worthington to Yellow Dog

In the spring of 1947 we had the opportunity to up-grade and we moved to Yellow Dog. WOW!!!! Finally running water, indoor toilet and a bathtub that had water piped to it. We moved into a house that the Kolar family had lived in. They had an opportunity to move into a better home in town with a full basement and a furnace. The house we were moving into had a basement under one room with a coal stove in the dining room, but it was like paradise. Dad could walk to work each day and each day at quitting time we would meet him on the bridge and walk him home. There were goodies still left the lunch pail.

We lived there maybe a year and my parents went through a divorce. Bill and I stayed with dad and Jim moved with mother to Kittanning, Pa. I think because of the divorce a lot of great families in Yellow Dog really watched over me. Dad hired a good housekeeper and life went on as normal as possible.

I wish my memories were etched in stone of the families living in Yellow Dog from 1947 until the mines closed in 1954. I’ll try my best to name the families living in the different houses.

I’m going to begin at the east side of Buffalo creek. There were four rows of houses all on an uphill grade. The first three rows were basically double houses. From the bridge, I’m going to say you are facing the first row of double houses. Slightly to the left of the first row of houses sat a small single house sort of behind the first double house. The family of Magimore’s lived in this single house for a short time. They had two children just a little older than me, Kathryn (Class of 56) and Paul (Class of 58). Both attended school in Worthington until the mines closed. When the double house where the Henry Foringer family lived came up for rent, the Magimore’s moved to this double house. Chuck and Ida Bofinger and their dog Blackie moved into that single house. Chuck was a 1942 Worthington graduate. He would have been about 23 years old then. I spent a lot of time at their house because I loved cars. Chuck too loved cars and he had bought a new maroon 1949 Ford. Many times I used to help him wash and wax the car. When the mines shut down in 1954, they moved to Michigan where he was able to get hired on with the auto industry. They were one family that I was sad to see leave when the mines shut down. Many more families moved out after they found work in other places and some in other states. It seemed that life was being ripped right out from under me. Many years later, I heard that Chuck and Ida had retired to Florida.

Back to the first double house in the first row: In this house, lived William and Margaret (Hazel) Edwards. Most families I will be naming their children even though the older children had already moved out from under their parent’s roof by the time we moved to Yellow Dog. The Edwards family originally consisted of 5 children. Mary Elizabeth, (Class of ‘40), William, (Class of ‘43), Paul, (Class of ‘45), JoAnn, (Class of 47), and Theresa Kathleen, (Class of ‘51). Mrs. Edwards taught school before she started to raise their family. She was just a little short lady that walked with a limp. Everyone in town sat on their front porches in the evenings swinging and I put many miles on that swing with Mrs. Edwards.

In the upper half of the first double house: In this house, lived Barnell "Barney" and Beulah Wolfe with two children. Doris Jean (Class of ‘48) and Donald (Class of ’56). Barney enjoyed working on cars and was good at it. Across the road and down over the bank behind the first few double houses, there was a row of garages that were rented out. This road continued up over the hill and came out along the Shearer farm on the Slate Lick Road. Barney rented one of the garages and built a ramp. He could run his car up on the ramp to work underneath it standing up. He changed the oil in his car. He taught me about oil changes and tune-ups which came in handy later in my life. Cars are so complicated in today’s world, it is impossible to work on your own vehicle. Barney and May moved to East Butler in 1956 after Don graduated from high school.

The second house up, lower side: Victor (Vic) and Gladys Fullerton family. They had three grown girls, B. Jayne (Class of ‘50), Bette L. (Class of ‘43) and Patricia, (Class of ‘45). Vic was on the school board along with being in the Worthington Volunteer Fire Department and Lions Club. Mrs. Fullerton never was outside much so I never had the opportunity to get to know her. I think Vic retired after the mines shut down and they lived in Yellow Dog many years after that. I believe the girls all ended up in the Butler area.

The second house up and the upper side: This is where the Walter Pence family lived. They had a son, Clarence (Class of ‘49). Walt was a technician type guy. He and dad always had something going to improve their TV signal. One time they had an antenna at the top of the hill near the baseball field. This again, was the road going up and out of the village toward the Slate Lick Road. The two of them had run the TV wire overhead all the way down the hill to Walt’s house. Then from Walt’s house they ran it across the street over to dad’s house. Falling tree branches raised cane with that project. Pence’s moved right after the mines closed.

The third house up and on the lower side: Here lived the Ted and Frances (Peterson) Bono family. They had 2 daughters. Mary (Class of ‘55) and Rose (Class of ‘54). Ted went to school in Worthington but would have graduated before the (Class of ‘33) which was the first graduating class of the new school. His 2 younger brothers and 2 sisters graduated from Worthington. Ted was good to me. I remember he took me to a Pittsburgh Pirates games several times. One time on the way home, we stopped at the Elks in Tarentum. He bought me an orange crush pop and a bag of potato chips. I wore glasses then and they must have received grease on the lenses from my hands and I removed them. When we got home I didn’t have my glasses. I replaced the lost glasses when I was 47 years old. When the mines closed Ted and his family moved to New Castle, PA.

(Fast forward to about 1980, I was long gone, but dad moved again. This time he moved into the house where Ted and Frances Bono had lived in during the ‘50s.)

Third house and upper side of Bono’s: The Mike Relich family lived here. I can only remember that they had one boy Mike, from the (Class of ‘50) and one daughter Diane. Diane would not have been in high school when they moved.

First row, fourth house, lower side: The Elton and Mildred Snyder family who had 5 children lived here. Their children were, Doris (Class of ‘46), Jim, (Class of ‘52), Joan (Class of ‘54), Allen (Class of ‘58) and John. John was much younger than me by about 4 to 6 years. The family moved right after the mines closed. They were a neat family and were leaders at the chapel. I think they moved east near Philadelphia.

The fourth house and on the upper side: Calvin and Beulah Crawford that had six children lived here. They were Louise (Class of ‘46), and twin sisters, June and Jean (Class of ‘49), Rich (Class of ‘56), Robert (Class of ‘59) and Pat (Class of ‘62). They were a great family. I remember one year for Halloween I dressed up as a girl and I went to Crawford’s house. After all of us were identified Mrs. Crawford said to me "my, you would make a beautiful girl" and you know I never dressed up as a girl again. Calvin liked to go to the tavern on Saturday night and sometimes on his way home he would stop along the Buffalo creek road for a nap. Some of us kids were always on the look-out. We would tie tin cans to his car. When he would wake up and drive the rest of the way home you could tell then when he was arriving home. Bad boys!

The single house at the very top of the hill: This was the mine superintendent home that faced down over town. Mr. Baird was the Superintendent of the mines when we moved to Yellow Dog. As far as I know, they had one son, Robert, (Class of ‘45) who attended Worthington High School.

I remember the next Superintendent was Mr. William Pascal and Verna Druchel. The Druchel’s had two children, William (Class of ‘52) and Marilyn (Class of ‘56). They too moved right after the mines closed.

Move now to the second row, first house and lower side: Living here was Luther and Delilah Bowser. They had two girls Velma (Class of ‘35) and Mary (Class of ‘38). When I arrived in Buffalo Valley, Luther and Delilah’s girls were both married and with children that I was going to school with. Luther was a strict Democrat and he was always trying to tell us kids about the Democrats. In Yellow Dog it seemed like the ladies raced on Monday mornings to see who had their washing out on the line first. Also I heard through the grape vine that the whiteness of the cloths was factored into that weekly Monday morning contest. Delilah was always the first and her white cloths always won the white contest. Delilah was a large lady. Her underwear would be hung there on her line in full view and some of us "bad boys" would use them for target practice with our BB guns. Hard to miss one of them! I am sure being that far away if we could have hit them they would not penetrate the material. Oh, my boys would not have lived if I had ever caught them doing something like this.

In this second row of houses, first house and upper side: Oren and Ethel Cooper lived here. They had 4 boys, Clyde, James (Class of ‘38), Charles (Class of ‘37) and Dean (Class of ‘45). There also were 3 girls. Lucie (like her older brother didn’t show up in any class after the high school opened), Norma (Class of ‘40) and Mary Lou (Class of ‘47). All I ever got to know was Dean and Mary Lou. The others had moved on before we moved to the Valley. Coopers were really nice to me too and Mrs. Cooper was always giving me candy. This kept my interest. We had a TV and Coopers didn’t. Oren would come up to watch the baseball games with dad at our house. Oren chewed tobacco and every other person I knew always was spitting tobacco juice. I was really impressed as a kid that he never had to spit. I guess he swallowed it. Ouch!!!

I got to know Oren and Ethel Cooper’s son, Dean well when he would come visit his parents. Life moves on and Dean and his family moved to Arizona for work and I moved to Seattle, Washington. Maybe around 1978, the Worthington graduates from the classes of 1958/1959 scheduled a reunion. I booked flight tickets and headed for Pa. for this reunion. I had a 2 hour lay-over in St. Louis, Mo. While I was setting there putting in the 2 hour lay-over, I could hear a voice that sounded familiar. Dream on!!! Not here!!! The person I heard sounded like Dean Cooper from back home. Couldn’t be! It had been 25 years or so since I last saw Dean. I got up to investigate and there was Dean and his wife waiting for the same plane. They were on their way to Pa. for a vacation. We had a nice reunion right there at the airport in St. Louis. I kept in touch with Dean and his wife from then on. We lost Dean on December 25, 2012. It was a sad day for me when Dean passed away. Dean’s parents retired when the mines closed and moved. They bought a house on Route 85, the Kittanning/Rural Valley Road.

Second house up, lower side: This is the house that I was raised in. We had a basement under one room, a coal pot belled stove in the dining room, but the most important thing that I remember at the time was "in-door plumbing". The "out-house" was finally out of my life forever.

We stored coal behind the house in a coal shed out next to the alley. One of the chores was bringing coal in with the coal bucket a couple times a day. The houses with full basements had a coal furnace in the basement with a coal storage room in the basement next to the furnace room. Oh what a dirty mess. I wonder if coal buckets are still made. I’m sure there would not be much demand for them anymore.

After dad’s divorce in 1948, he had to get a live-in house keeper to help with us boys. Her name was, Dorothy Goodgasell. She had daughter Dotty, (class of ‘60). Looking back Dorothy was a good asset to our family as we were growing up. We had a clean house, ate well and she was just a sweetheart. Dorothy passed away around 1963, so I never got to see her again after I moved out West in 1961.

In the upper side of our house: Here lived the John Sebastain family. They had one daughter Catherine Louise Sebastian, one son, Frank (Class of ‘55). I never forgot their cat. It was black and they called it, Inky. I think John was from Italy. He did what he could, but his accent was difficult to understand. They were a quiet family and I never got to know them very well. When the mines shutdown they moved to West Kittanning where John bought an Atlantic gas station. I remember right after they opened the station that Dorothy, our housekeeper took her 1949 automatic Pontiac in for an oil change. She paid him for the oil change and started towards Worthington. After about a mile or so, her car stopped and wouldn’t move. She had to have it towed to a repair shop. She found out that the transmission oil was drained instead of the crank case oil and 5 more quarts of oil was added to the crank case. I am not sure she ever went back there for service.

The second row and third house up: In the lower side lived, Albert and Edith Bofinger. They had three sons. Rich (Class of ‘36), Orville, Sr. (Class of ‘37) and Chuck (Class of ‘42). They had three of their grandchildren living in Yellow Dog also. Donna (Class of ‘65), Orville Jr. (Class of ‘66) and Dick (Class of ‘60). Mrs. Bofinger was a special person to me. I spent a lot of time on their front porch too. Their house was also a candy stop. She made the best popcorn balls with nuts. Her pigs-in-the-blanket, I would kill for, which is (meat/rice rolled in steamed cabbage leafs and baked in a tomato base). Every time she made them I was there for dinner. After I came out west in 1961, I sent them a box of candy, (Frango Mints) every year for Christmas. They both were moved to Creekside Rest Home as they got older. I continued sending mints until I received word from the home that they both had passed away. They weren’t telling me to stop sending the candy, just telling me they had passed away.

The second row and the upper side: In the upper side lived the Magomore’s. When we first moved to Yellow Dog, the house was occupied by Henry Foringer, (Class of ‘33) and his wife, Mary Foringer. They had two children, Nancy and William. They moved out not long after we moved to Yellow Dog. I believe Henry was transferred to the Boyers mines (Butler County). The Paul Magimore family moved in here when Foringer’s moved out. They moved over from the first row of houses from the little single house. Their children were Kathryn (Class of ‘56) and Paul (Class of ‘58). I remember Paul Sr. was a tall guy and he loved to play baseball. I remember Mrs. Magamore kept their house super clean with nothing out of place. I think the family moved to Ohio when the mines closed.

The fourth and last house in the second row: In the lower side lived Malcolm (Bill) and Lillian Ernst family with their two children, Judy (Class of ‘56) and John (Class of’ 57). I am sure Malcolm went to Worthington school but never went to the new school that opened in 1933. When the mines closed, Bill bought a Sunoco Service Station in Butler. Judy and John graduated from Butler High School. Their daughter, Judy Ernst Welden, went on to be a singer and she sings from her heart. Judy brings so much feeling from the lyrics of her song that her audience can identify with whatever emotion she's projecting at that moment. I remember Bills wife, Lillian, was a classy lady. In 1955 she drove a 1955 Dodge La Femme, Pink and white. The La Femme was a special edition built for women and she looked good driving that car.

In the upper side of the second row (last house): Here lived the William Sr. (Class of ‘35) and Carolyn Morgan family. They had three children. Betty (Class of ‘56), William, Jr. (Class of ‘59) and Patricia (Class of ‘61). Bill and Carolyn were neat people and well respected. Fast forward to, I am guessing around 1990 and Albert Croyle, (Class of ‘59) and his wife, Joyce lived in this last house in the second row. They had three children that went to WWFHS. Amy (Class of ’83), Jeffrey (Class of ’84) and Eric the (Class of ’85) who graduated from Kittanning High School, due to the closing of Worthington West Franklin High School.

Several years after the mines closed, the camp group started renting out the houses. The Morgan family moved from the second row, fourth house on the upper side to across the alley to the third row of houses, second from the top. After I left the area in 1961, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan bought a house on the Kittanning/Cowansville road.

The third row and first building: The bottom building was the chapel that was shared with the Protestants and Catholics. I went there faithfully. The Robinson’s, Strobel’s, Dilley’s, and the Snyder’s were kind of leaders at the chapel for the Protestants. I remember how we made several trips to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh to listen to, Billy Graham, the evangelist. I remember our Bible School classes in the summer. The chapel provided a good foundation for many people. A Priest would come once a week to lead the Catholic Services.

Third row of houses, first house in the lower side: In this first house lived, Audley and Irma Cunningham. I don’t remember much about this family. They raised four children with the last name of Aiken. John (Class of ’37), Stella (Class of ’38), Jane (Class of ‘40), and Jim (Class of ‘45). Jim married a girl from Yellow Dog. Doris Snyder (Class of ‘46) who lived with her parents in the first row of houses and at the top of hill. I remember a boy staying with the Cunningham’s for about a year. He would have probably been with the class of ’58. He was probably about 8 or 9 when he was there, so he would have gone to school in Worthington. I remember he had blonde wavy hair. I can’t remember a thing more about this boy. The Cunningham’s were an older couple compared to the age of my father. Mr. Cunningham retired when the mines closed. I can’t remember where they moved too.

After the mines closed and the Cunningham’s moved the house sat empty for a few years and then Frank Bono (Class of ‘34) and his wife, Sarah with their family moved from the east side of Buffalo Creek (company store side of town) to the Cunningham house. They had three boys, Bill (Class of ’58), Ricky (Class of ’63) and Ron, Class of ’67.

Third row of houses, first house and the upper side: When we moved to Yellow Dog, the Samuel and Esther Keller family lived here. They had three boys. Homer (Class of ‘47), Earl (Class of ‘51) and Keith (Class of ‘52). I’m thinking that the mother, Esther, had passed away before we moved to Yellow Dog. I think Homer was graduated and gone by ‘47 because I don’t remember him. The rest of the family moved soon after the mines closed.

Third row, second house, lower side: This house was occupied by William and Isabelle Waddell. A couple of their kids had already moved from home when we moved to Yellow Dog. Their three children consisted of, Ruben (Class of ‘39), Jean (Class of ’42) and Robert (Class of ‘47). I was told that Ruben was in the Air Force. Bob went into the service and when he was discharged he went back to work in the mines.

On the upper side of the third row and second house: In this side of the house (and I guessing) lived, James and Florence Swigart. There were two girls in this family. Norma Jean (Class of ‘48) and Mary Alice, (Class of ‘50). I never really knew this family. They moved as soon as the mines closed.

Third row, third house and lower side: In this lower side of the house, lived John S. and Louise Perine along with their son, John A. (Class of ‘59). John S. was the town maintenance man. He took care of all the problems concerning the company owned houses. The family moved to the Cabot area when the mines closed. John A. graduated from West Winfield High School, Cabot, Pa. There was a huge oak tree in the back yard on the lot where Perine’s lived. Many hangouts took place here when kids gathered to play knife games under that tree in the shade.

Third row, third house and upper side: The family living here was Clarence and Margaret Renwick. They had 2 girls and 2 boys. Pearl was in the (Class of ‘46), Helen (Class of ‘53), Bill "Quanny" (Class of ‘58) and Bob (Class of ‘61). I hung out with Bill some. He was a neat popular guy. All the girls loved him. I remember Helen was my Sunday school teacher. She played the piano some at the chapel also. As kids we all wanted to look like "Quanny" and be popular like him. What a great family!

Third row, fourth house, lower side: Living here was Vinko and Mary Kolar. They had three children, Robert (Class of ‘51), Katherine (Class of ‘55) and John (Class of ‘58). I got to hang out with John some before the mines closed. They were another family that moved when the mines closed! They were a neat family too.

(Several years later Glenn and Elsie Beckett moved from the company store side of town over to where Kolar’s lived when the mines closed). When they started renting out the houses families that were moving within the town meant that they weren’t moving far away.

Third row, fourth house, upper side: Andrew and Pearl Olszak lived there. They had a family of 5 girls and 3 boys. The older children had already moved from the family residence, but I did get to know of them in later years. Gertrude (Class of ‘38), Martha (Class of ‘40), Frank (Class of ‘40), Catherine (Class of ‘44), Andrew (Class of ‘49), Cecila (Class of ‘51), Mary Ann (Class of ‘52) and John (Class of ‘54). Fast forward to, June, 1961. I rented this house for 6 months before I moved out West.

Third row, last house, lower side: James and Florence Giff family lived here. They had 3 children that had moved on before we moved to Yellow Dog. George (Class of ‘42), Grace (Class of ‘43), and Louis (Class of ‘47). Jim was a really nice guy. After the mines shut down Jim was the only mines employee around there for a number of years. He became the caretaker. After that ended he bought the old company store building on the west side of the creek. He opened up a grocery store. After he left the store profession and retired, the store became a church. I mentioned this prior that the William Morgan family moved from the second row to the third row here where James and Florence Giff lived before they moved over to the store.

The upper side of the last house: This was a family by the name of Stiffler. I can’t remember anything about them. After the mines shut down and a number of years later the church camp started renting the houses, Rocco Bono (Class of ’36) and his wife, Twyla from the store side of town moved into this house. They lived there probably 40 more years. In my eyes, Rocco and Twyla was a neat couple that displayed their love for each other anytime I saw them.

Finally the fourth row of houses on the east side of the creek. All these houses were built as single family homes.

First house at the bottom: Tom and Velma (Bowser) (Class of ‘35) Robinson lived here. They had two sons, Jim (Class of ‘56) and Luther (Class of ‘60). Tom and Velma were important people that kept the chapel alive for us young ones. Velma played the piano and sang. They had Bible School in the summer. Tom cut hair. I received my haircuts in their basement. I hung out a lot with Luther. The Robinson’s had one of the first TV’s in town. A gang of us would go there after school most every day to watch, Hop-along Cassidy and It’s Howdy-Doody-Time in our younger years. The TV was black and white with a round picture tube. Thinking back about old TV’s, the brand could have been a Hallicrafter with a magnifier glass in front of the tube that was adjustable, in and out. I bet that thing ruined many eyes. I have lots of good memories from the Robinsons.

Second single house up: Hubert and Mary Wilcox and their son, Hubert Jr. (Class of ‘63) lived here. I remember the family well but never got to know much about them.

Third single house up: Living here was Rich (Class of ‘35) and Evadell (Bowser) (Class of ‘38) Bofinger. They had one son, Richard (Class of ‘60). I was getting into cars by now and Rich had a 1951 Ford, 2 door that I loved. After that car, he got a new red and white ‘55 or ‘56 Ford that was also beautiful. Evadell was a neat lady. Her and her husband made a neat looking couple. Later when I was in high school and during the summers, Rich and I worked together at the tile works in Craigsville. It was tough to work and play basketball at the high school too.

Fourth single house up: In this house lived, the Earl Smith family and one son Morgan, (class of 61). They bought a house on Smith Hill and moved and Dick and Dorothy (Troutner) Beers Sr. moved in. They both were in the (Class of ’35). They had one son, Richard Beers, Jr. (Class of ‘58).

Fifth and last single house up: Here, Stanley and Sarah Bowser lived. Their children had left the family home by the time I arrived in Yellow Dog, but I remember a few of their children. At this time, I was attending school with several of their children’s children. They had three girls and two boys. Millard (Skelly) Bowser (Class of ‘34), William (Class of ‘43), Gladys Mae (Class of ‘38). Maude and Mabel must have been the oldest of the siblings and didn’t attend the high school after it opened up. Millard (Skelly) Bowser married Josephine Hodak (Class of ‘39). Josephine was raised in Yellow Dog also. When leaving Yellow Dog and going west, up to the very top of the hill past the company store, is where Skelly and Josephine lived. They had two daughters that I attended school with. Margaret (Class of ’56) and Patricia (Class of ’60). The mines didn’t own their house. At the top of this hill, we locals called it Smithville. Think they still call it this today!!

The fourth row, last house up was a boarding house: In this house (second floor) lived bachelors, single men employed at the mines. Most couldn’t speech much English. At that time, there were a lot of men that arrived in the USA to make a living. If they were single when they arrived, they married local ladies. If they were already married, they sent for their family after they were sure of employment. In the lower level of this house lived Frank and Frances Perine and their 4 boys. Frank passed away (I’m guessing) around 1949 or 1950. The family moved to West Winfield. Louis Hodak (Class of ‘43) and his wife, Mary Hodak moved in here next. Their children: William (Class of ‘65), Karen (Class of ‘71) and Jeffrey (Class of ‘75).

The camp ground along Buffalo Creek. The camp ground was down the creek road past the Chapel. At that time, it was privately owned. Many functions took place there. A lot of us kids would swim in the creek at the camp ground. The best place on the creek to swim was right there off the big rock. One Sunday there was a function taking place. I saw two police cars, ‘48 Fords, 4 doors going that way. I hopped on my bike and headed down to the camp. When I got there the cop was putting a guy in the right hand rear door to take him to jail. As soon as the cop shut the door the guy opened the left door, jumped out and started running across the field with the cop in pursuit. I remember the cop making a flying leap and tackling the guy. This time when the guy was put into the back seat he had hand cuffs on legs and arms. Later, a church congregation bought the camp grounds and we couldn’t swim there anymore. Later yet, the church group received ownership of a part of Yellow Dog for a cost of $1.00. I believe the houses on the store side were sold privately.

 

The Houses on the Company Store Side of Buffalo Creek:

It is going to be tough after all these years for me to remember those living in these houses up behind the company store. I didn’t spend a lot of time there. With the help of a few of those living there back then, I’m going to give it my best. Thanks a lot to Delores Bono, class of 50 for all her help.

When you crossed the RR tracks and started up the hill, the first building on your left was the store. The store was owned by the company that owned the mines. This is why it was called the company store. You could charge your goods. The miners were paid every two weeks. On payday the charges at the store were deducted out of your pay check. This way, the store was sure of receiving their money. If your store bill was more than your 2 week pay check amount they couldn’t take all your money. They had to give you at least $15.00. Rent for a company house was around $16.00. This was taken out of a miners pay also if they were living in a company owned house.

They sold gasoline there also. Dad would get 5 gallons of gas for a $1.00. Our Christmas presents were charged at the store. Dad told us years later that he would receive $15.00 pay every two weeks from around Christmas until mid-summer until the bill was paid up.

The store had a meat section where meat was cut and also cut to order. The butcher was Paul (Joe) Holben. The store had a delivery service too. I don’t remember if there was an extra charge for a grocery order delivery. The employees at the store took good care and catered to the clients. You would give them a list or tell them what you wanted and they would go and bring back what you ordered. They wrote your order on a carbon copy note pad and gave you the carbon copy of the sale. You could pay cash or charge. (Note: In not too many years later, Mr. Holben’s son, Bob and wife Ann, opened up a soda fountain and small store in Worthington. It was where the corner drugstore was at the corner of Main and the Slate Lick Road.)

I remember the store had a charge/cash trolley system. They would put the top slip of your charges in the overhead trolley, pull the cord and send the sales slip over to the store office. The employee at the store office would send the trolley back to the counter side of the store after each transaction. If you paid with cash if I remember right, you paid right there at the counter.

Beside groceries they also sold furniture, cloths, shoes, appliances, gas and even guns and ammunition.

(In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford, recorded a song previously recorded by, Merle Travis in 1946 by the name of "Sixteen Ton". Some of the lyrics are exactly what went on at the company mining villages and company owned stores. You couldn’t leave because you owed your soul to the company store!)

Just above the store parking lot there was one row of 3 double houses house’s, one single house and on long narrow house with at least two families. This row of houses faced downhill toward the store. Above this first row of houses, there was an alley that separated this first row from the second row of houses that were above the alley. The alley provided parking for the houses it bordered. There were two double houses, and two single houses in that second row. Across Smith Hill road there were two more single family homes. I believe most, if not all the houses on the store side of the creek had out houses.

The Houses and Families Living on the Store Side of "Yellow Dog"

There were five double houses, 5 single house and one multi-family house. Also on that side of town there was a store, the mine office, some garages and a garage to house the fire truck.

In the first double house starting from Smith Hill road, the first street, right above the store, lived the Mike and Olga Tancabel family. I didn’t know the older siblings, but knew of them. Their children were Catherine (Class of ‘46), and Joseph (Class of ‘48), Richard (Class of ‘52) and John (Class of ‘53) and the twin girls, Mary Ann and Patricia Ann (Class of ‘60). I remember John delivered groceries for the store while attending high school.

In the other side of that first house lived Rocco (Class of ’36) and his wife, Twila Bono with their 3 children. Jim (Class of ‘57), Herman (Class of ‘62) and Ed (Class of ‘63). I mentioned previously that after the mines closed and (new property owners, the church group) started renting the houses, Rocco along with his family moved from the store side of the creek to the other side of the creek - third row of double houses and the last house up the hill. I will mentioned also that they lived in that house probably another 40 more years.

The second double house back this street facing downhill: Living in one side was John and Ann Peterson. They had two sons, Tom and David. David was killed in a traffic accident at a young age.

The other side of the second house lived the Robert and Elizabeth Robinson family. They had a son, Robert W. Robinson (Class of ’51). Bob married Gayle Morrison (Class of ‘52).

The third house in, one side lived James and Mary (Trott) Bono. I remember James real well. He was a short guy and I could always get a stick of gum off of him. They raised 12 children. The older children graduated before the new school opened. One of their children was in the first graduation class at Worthington-West Franklin High School. Some of the younger children were: Angeline (Class of ‘33), Frank (Class of ‘34), Rocco (Class of ‘36), Harry Bon (Class of ’40), Herman (Class of ‘42), Frances (Class of ‘43), and Delores (Class of ‘50). Some of these younger children mentioned were already married too and still living in Yellow Dog. I was attending school with some of James and Mary’s grandchildren. Their older children were: Elizabeth, Theresa, Theodore, Genevieve and Tony. It wasn’t easy getting a twelve year education at the time when you when you lived so far from a high school. Fortunately, prior to the high school in Worthington there was a group of people that saw the need for a high school. Before this, eighth grade was as far as their education went.

The other side of the third double house lived: James and Beulah (Blymiller) Saylor. Their 4 children had already left the nest when we moved to Yellow Dog. Some had children around my age. Their 4 children were Russell (Class of ’40), Sarah (Class of ’42), and Floyd and Joy. One of Sarah’s (class of 42) sons (LeRoy) graduated with me in the class of 59.

The fourth house, a single house was: Joseph and Francis Sallustio. They had 3 children. Arthur (Class of ‘42), Pasqual "Patsy" (Class of ‘43), and Julia (Class of ‘45).

Back in the woods past the Sallustio house there was a path to a multi-family house, I think a four-plex. The four-plex sort of sat out by itself. I can’t even remember a road servicing that house. Living in that house was: Charles "Chop" and Sarah (Class of 42) (Saylor) Crawford family. (Sarah was James and Beulah Saylor’s daughter). The Crawford’s children were Leroy (Class of ‘59), Bill (Class of ’64) and Karen (Class of ‘78). The family bought a house in Worthington shortly after the mines closed.

There was also maybe another small apartment where someone by the name of Shoup lived. I believe the other 2 residence were bachelor pads for bachelor’s that worked at the mine. Their names were possibly Matt Kausin, Sharkie, Severine and Bucherin. (Not sure of spelling). Go back out to the Smith Hill road, go up-hill and there is an alley. In that row there were 2 double houses and then 2 singles houses.

The second row up the hill, the first double house (lower side): In this house, lived the family of John and Angeline (Bono) (class of 33) Judice. They had 2 children, Leno and Louie, (class of 43).

That first house (upper side): Here is where Glen and Elsie Beckett lived with their 5 children. Their children were much older than me, but I remember them as years passed and who they married. Hardly anyone ever moved very far from the area. Alice was in the (Class of ‘47), Genevieve (Class of ‘48), Betty Jane (Class of ‘49), Dorothy (Class of ‘53), and Richard (Class of ‘55). When the mines closed Glenn and Elsie moved across the creek to where Kolar’s had lived.

The second double house going up (lower side) lived Paul and Pauline (Tripak) Peterson family. Their children were much older than me. Most of their children had already moved from the family home too when we moved to Yellow Dog. With the help of the school website, it appears there were 7 children. They were John, Francis and Mary. Frank (Class of ‘38), Joseph (Class of ‘41), George (Class of ‘42) and Tom (Class of ‘43). Note: Francis married, Ted Bono and Mary, married Vinko Kolar all from Yellow Dog.

The other side of the second double house lived: Argo and Theresa Patsy. They had 2 children, James, and Albert (Class of ‘42).

The third house, a single house: Living here was Frank "Sparky" (Class of ‘34) and Sarah Bono with their family. Here were another couple of love birds. They showed their love for each other everywhere they went. They were a neat couple. Their children were William (Class of ‘58), Richard (Class of ‘63) and Ronald (Class of ‘67). After the mines closed they moved to the other side of the creek where Cunningham’s lived. After a few years living there, they built a house on Smithville hill.

The second single house above the two doubles: The William Cayavec Sr. family lived here with their 4 children. They were, Mary Jane (Class of ‘47), William Jr. (Class of ‘50), and twin brothers, Paul (Class of ‘52) and Tom (Class of’ 52). I remember the boys were very athletic, both in baseball and basketball.

Across Smith Hill road further up the hill there were two single houses on the right side of the road.

In the first single house lived Michael and Ann Conrad with their family. They had 6 children. The older girls had already moved from the family household when I started to remember the family. They were Ann (Class of ‘42) and Dorothy (Class of ‘44). Michael (Class of ‘48), stuck around the area. He became the Worthington Post Master years later. Elizabeth (Class of ‘59), Sharon (Class of ‘64) and Greg (Class of ‘66). After the mines closed, the family bought a house on the corner of Bear and Ross Street in Worthington and moved to Worthington.

The last single house up the hill lived Orville Sr. (Class of ’37) and Jean Bofinger. They had two children. Donna Jean (Class of ‘65) and Orville Jr. (Class of ‘66). After the mines closed, Orville and Jean moved across the creek where Tom and Thelma Robinson lived. The Robinson’s had moved to Main Street, Worthington.

After the mines shut down in 1954, many families moved out of Yellow Dog: The town almost became a ghost town. The houses that were vacated sat there vacant for several years. The part of town on the east side of Buffalo Creek was sold for $1. 00. A church group from Pittsburgh had bought the houses. They did some minor re-modeling (siding, new furnaces and some painting) and started renting them out again. The houses filled up quickly. I believe the houses on the store side of town were all sold individually and a few houses were torn down.

Being raised in Yellow Dog was a great experience. The generation of kids raised there before me were great basketball and baseball players. When I lived there from 1947 to 1961 there was a lot to keep us busy. We all had bikes, we could swim in the creek and we could explore in the caves and climb the big rocks along the creek. We could always get a game of many sorts going in the fields below the houses, and we could walk to the store for candy.

I learned so much in the evenings at the bridge listening to the "Big Boys". We often played cards in the box cars that occasionally accompanied the limestone hauling cars on the siding. I remember one of the engineers that lived in Butler would bring empty cars in to the siding in the evenings. He permitted me to climb up into the engine part of the train and ride with him to the water source where he would fill up the engine with water and give it a few shovels of coal. This is where I would get off and down the tracks he would go. He sometimes would give me a couple flares to play with. The ride in the engine and the holding the flares could never happen in the times we are living in today.

There seemed to be no peer pressure between us Yellow Dogger’s and we all got along great. There were a lot of great people that came out of that town. To me it was an up-grade to move from our Worthington home down to Yellow Dog, maybe because the house that Dad rented had indoor plumbing. From the 1990s to present, it is such a shame to see the east side of town as it is today.

I worked at the tile works in Craigsville after school in the evenings and then went on to work there after I graduated in ’59. In December of 1960 they shut the tile works plant down for the winter because of lack of orders. Plastic pipe was making its way into the industry and replacing the need for clay piping systems. I saw the hand writing on the wall and had an opportunity to move to Seattle, Washington in 1961. I was hoping for more opportunities in my future.

I was able to receive a job in the Shipyards. All I knew was that a ship was sharp on one end and blunt on the other end. I eventually got into their apprenticeship program. I graduated from that program in late 1965. In 1967, I started working construction, going to Alaska and eventually working on the Alaska Pipeline for nearly a year. In 1971 I started working in Construction Management and finished a great career in that field. In 2004, I was eligible for retirement, didn’t want to retire but it didn’t make much sense not to retire.

I have two great boys living near-by with their families. After retirement my wife and I bought a 5th wheel trailer and a new truck to pull it with. We have been across the USA and back three times and pulled it to Alaska and back. We’ve enjoyed many trips here on the west side of the Rocky Mountains. Some winters, we try to get down to Arizona.

I have been blessed to have had a great career, a great life and a lot of the credit goes to being raised in Yellow Dog.

In 1948 I believe, Worthington bought a new fire truck. After it was delivered, they had an open house to introduce it to the Worthington area residents. For some odd reason, I got to set in the front seat of the new fire truck. I would have been about 7 years old then. From that time on, I hoped to be a fire fighter someday. My wish came true in 1973.

I served 31 years as a volunteer with Skagit County Fire Protection District #8. Eventually, I worked my way up to station Chief and have been very active in Firefighter Safety. For 18 years I have been a Fire Commissioner for the district which is an elected position. I spend a lot of time dealing with all 18 County fire districts. Total time in fire service is 43 years. I am retiring for good December 31, 2015 with a wealth of great memories.

It’s been my pleasure to jog my memory and write about what it was like being born in Worthington and raised in Worthington and Yellow Dog. A shock that hit me when I competed this was that most of the people I reported about have passed away.

I hope I didn’t leave any great people in my life or life in Yellow Dog out of my story. If I did, I’m sorry. Also, I hope that I didn’t offend anyone. I told it as I saw it in my eyes!

Thanks to everyone who helped with this especially Barbara (Nichol) Hollinger, class of 59 for watching over my spelling, punctuation and even a few grammar problems.

Terry E. Bowser

Class of 1959

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Some Trivia (Did You Knows)

Pennsylvania Village "For Sale":

September 22, 1985

Formerly Yellow Dog, later Buffalo Valley!!!

SHADYSIDE VILLAGE, Pa., Sept. 21, 1985—Once again this town is for sale. For $300,000, with 20 percent down, a buyer can get 23 houses, 13 garages, a chapel, ball field, water system and even a 1984 pickup truck.

Nestled in a valley along Buffalo Creek about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Shadyside Village was founded at the turn of the century for the men who mined the surrounding hills for Michigan Limestone Company.

The company did not bother selling the houses after the mine closed in 1954. Most of the miners had moved away.

The 38-acre village, known locally and for disputed reasons as Yellow Dog, was sold in 1959 to a church. Six years later, the church sold it to an insurance salesman who, in 1980, sold it to Jesse Buzzard, of Rimersburg.

Mr. Buzzard, 62 years old, who owns a trucking business, invested $200,000 in a new water system. He put the village up for sale in May because he was ill.

Since then, about a half-dozen people have responded to the small, typed notice in the front window of the Towne Realty Company in nearby Kittanning, but no one has made any serious offers.

A local realtor, Stanley T. Smith, says Shadyside Village is an ideal purchase for ''someone who's looking for a tax shelter and the prestige of owning a village.''

The latest census - a head count is taken every Christmas - listed 158 people.

Residents are not too concerned about who their next landlord will be.

''We've been through it a few times, and it really hasn't rocked the boat too much,'' said Mark Patz, the village caretaker. ''You get used to it. Life will go on.'

"Recent change in ownership:" There is talk out there that in late 2014 the town has sold again to The Historic American Rural Village Project. There is a signed sales agreement for the Village. The village they intend to develop is in three sections: the newest will be the 1950s, the main part will be the 1920s, and the oldest part will be aimed at the 1730s, with an Indian Longhouse, surrounded by 6 dirt floor log cabins, such as my forefather was born in. I wish them luck in there big undertaking.

Some more trivia I researched about the village

The mine finally ceased producing in 1954. The company houses set for a number of years and the town sold for $1.00 to the church from Pittsburgh that owned the camp facilities adjacent to Yellow Dog. The houses on the store side of the creek were sold to individuals.

The mines was all slope or face mining. That is the miners dug into an existing rock face or cliff, they did not dig down as in deep mines. There was no mining under any of the housing. The mining was all on the western side of the valley from the village. After closing in 1954, the mines set vacant and were boarded up for years. I left Pennsylvania in 1961 and the mines were still closed at that time.

From an existing website:

Sometime later Moonlight Mushrooms started growing mushrooms in the mines…perfect climate for mushrooms. It developed into a huge operation and was able to employee a lot of those that were still around that had lost their jobs when the mines closed. It was a God send!

Creekside Mushrooms Ltd. later owned two mines. They were the world's largest single site mushroom growing facility and the only underground mushroom farm in the United States. They are recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records. Creekside was unique to the mushroom industry. The mushrooms are grown and harvested underground. Creekside farm covers over 2030 acres above ground and 150 miles of abandoned limestone tunnels encompassing 800 acres beneath the surface with production capability of 60 million pounds annually. Today, Creekside is an all-natural underground growing environment with their new state of the art Blending Yard which enables them to supply fresh organic mushrooms consistently all year-round. Creekside's, MOONLIGHT brand mushroom are certified 100% organic by Pennsylvania Certified Organics. Creekside at one time provided employment to over 500 people from the local community. Since 1937 the MOONLIGHT label has been recognized around the world as the leader for consistent quality, freshness and flavorful mushrooms.

Creekside LTD operations look like a mining company, since the fungi are grown underground and the workers wear miner's hats. In fact, Creekside’s parent company, Sylvan, Inc. is involved in other types of actual mining as well, including limestone mining.

The mushroom company and many other mushroom growers in Pennsylvania experienced a decline in 2009 because of the recession of 2008. During 2010 Creekside was trying to recover. However, they did not resume their higher production rates of 1993, when the company employed nearly 1,000 workers.

More than 300 workers that have been laid off from Creekside Mushrooms, Inc. in West Franklin Township, Worthington, Pa., will probably not be getting their jobs back, per company president Dan Lucovich.

"They're pretty permanent," he said of the layoffs that began in December of 2011.

Letters were sent to employees in November notifying them of the layoffs, citing an unstable economy, decreased consumer demand, increased competition and the loss of major customers.

Less than 30 employees remain at Creekside, Lucovich said, including administration and workers. The company is strategizing, he said, to determine how it can maintain operations. I am not sure if is still open and limping along. (The above was in 2011).

 

 

 

 


(this is the new site)