I_gotta_rock Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Last fall, I drove out to Centralia, PA, the famous burning town. The coal vein below the town caught fire, creating random sinkholes filled with toxic gasses. The town was abandoned. The buildings were bulldozed. Only the most foolish set foot in the town limits. Today, however, the fires have mostly followed the coal vein out of town. I was out once in September, just to check the lay of the place, then returned in October to find fresh "No Trespassing" signs. Darn! Six weeks ago, I got a report that the signs were down. The person making the report said they double-checked with the locals in the next town and were told that yes, it was fine to go fossil hunting out there. So, today my hubby and I went to investigate. The signs were indeed own, replaced two with Keystone State logos. One banned motor vehicles. The other announced that the property owner agreed to allow game hunting but a permit was required. That was it. In we went. The fossil outcrop is part of the Lewellyn Formation, which also runs through the now-closed St. Claire site. Lepidodendron, calamites and cordaites cover almost every inch of the shale. The impressions are coated with shiny, black graphite, white pyrophyllite and kaolinite, plus some bits of other colored iron oxides and even some shiny pyrite. If you go, be warned that the slope is steep and treacherous. I used rock climbing gear so that the scree didn't slide out from under me, sending me sliding fifty feet or more down the hill. The woods at the base are navigable, if a bit tangled in spots, and are littered with everything that weathered off of the slope, including occasional large hash plates. 21 I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Nice report. This is when I miss fall weather back east. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamL Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Very cool and an interesting place! 1 Yorkshire Coast Fossil Hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkdoctor Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Greta report and awesome finds! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieLynn Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Amazing... and those fossils are great! www.fossil-quest.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Nice to have the whole place to yourself! Nice plants! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_gotta_rock Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 The rest of the story is here. It was quite an adventure! https://igottarock.blogspot.com/2020/10/not-quite-extreme-fossil-hunting.html I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagurus Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 OOOOH. St. Claire was always one of my favorite sites, other than the firing range next door. Thanks so much for reporting on this new possibility. Congratulations on your finds, and thanks for the luscious photos! Mike 1 Start the day with a smile and get it over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Nice finds, report and blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Excellent report and finds. Pictures are great, as well. Thanks for posting this report! Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_gotta_rock Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 By the way, I put together some video from yesterday. You can see it here: 2 I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Ripe for the picking! I've got the feeling that this report is going to cause a migration in that direction. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint08 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Nice report and pictures. I read about that town and how it became a ghost town before, really interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naples Beth Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Sounds like the perfect trip!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKen Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 This post would have gotten a big thumbs up from me purely based on the one scenery pic of the trees changing colors in the Pennsylvania mountains. That pic made me genuinely homesick for New Jersey (in a good way) for the first time in years. All the great plant fossils you found just makes it a super-duper double thumbs up. Ironically, there was a thread a few months back in which the poster was looking for sites in PA and mentioned his disappointment about St. Clair being off limits these days. I pointed him toward Centralia based on third hand reports I had heard but couldn’t provide any details or even vouch for quality of the fossils. This post serves perfectly to fill in all blanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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