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(erielack) Village of Underwood



Regarding as Walter says, "Before we pave over the world", this past weekend 
in Scranton, I was with a buddy and we went into the suburbs and located the 
foundations of the Village of Underwood. 

The foundations of Underwood's structures are there, totally overgrown and a 
freeway has been built pretty much within eye distance. At the rate of 
development in Scranton, those foundations will most likely be plowed under within a 
year to make room for more warehouses and residential housing.

The Village of Underwood was founded as a place for the men who worked the 
Underwood Mine, of course named after Mr. Underwood, the then president of the 
Erie Railroad.

The reason that it's important to me is that the Village of Underwood is 
where my great grandfather settled as a coal miner upon his arrival from eastern 
Europe in 1878. I finally got to see what's left of the physical roots of my 
American family's beginnings on my dad's side. Oddly enough, my great 
grandfather is buried in a cemetary about a half mile from where he first settled.

A word of caution, however. If you go to places like that and as suburban as 
they look, there are many rattlesnakes in residence. Even the reptiles are 
being driven from their habitats due to as Walter said, "Paving over the world".

Something else I learned from my bud up there. If you're in the woods and 
smell cucumbers, that tells you that a rattlesnake is ahead of you. Go back the 
way you came because when you entered the woods, you didn't smell cucumbers, 
which means the snake is not behind you.

We live and learn and didn't meet any snakes. We made a lot of noise when we 
entered what's left of the woods so we and the snakes didn't meet.

I'll be back up there in the autumn when the leaves are off the trees and 
when the rattlesnakes are hibernating so that I can photograph the foundations of 
the Village of Underwood before that location becomes one more freeway exit.

Scranton and it's Lackawanna County suburbs are a treasure trove of rail 
history but the history is disappearing very quickly. If you have the opportunity 
to go there, it's worth your while to do so. 

There are many people within the ELHTS, ELHS, L&WV, D&H, CNJ and other lists 
who can steer you in the right direction. You have to know where to look as 
things are changing at a fast rate. It is worth the trip.

Rick


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