by Lonny Frost
4. March 2012 21:48
EVENTS
Mark your calendar for the Blossburg Fire Department Fish Fry on Friday March 30th. Cost is $9 per person, those under 4 eat free. Take out orders are available. All proceeds to benefit the Fire, Ambulance, and Auxiliary with Community minded projects.
There will be a Lenten Supper and Service at the Blossburg First UMC every Wednesday during the month of March. Any questions call Rev. Somerville at 638-2008.
Roger Bunn, of Roger's clocks will be giving a presentation on Antique Clocks at the Blossburg memorial Library on Tuesday, March 13th at 7pm. Topics for discussion: History of American Clockmakers, How a clock works, as well as, Care and Repair of Antique Clocks. Roger will field questions concerning mechanical clocks. You are invited to bring along one clock for his evaluation or comment. This program is sponsored by The Friends of The blossburg Memorial Library.
Happy birthday greetings to Jerome Ogden and Channelle Brostrom!
Blossburg Ties
Did you know that Blossburg, Pa has direct ties to a ghost town in New Mexico?
Well it does thanks to Col. Edward Savage who opened the Blossburg Coal Mine in New Mexico in 1881.
Blossburg, NM was located 5 miles up Dillon Creek, NW of Raton.
Although coal deposits had been known in the area since 1820, Blossburg did not begin as a coal-mining camp until 1881 when a Col. Edward Savage opened the Blossburg coal mine. He named it and the settlement for his hometown in Blossburg, PA., which was a large coal town. The settlement grew rapidly and its promoters called it "The Pittsburgh of the West". Eventually the town acquired churches, schools, the Blossburg band and the Blossburg Pioneer newspaper. At its peak, coal mining claimed over 1,000 residents. In 1894 a strike caused the mine to close. By the time it reopened the damage was done and with demand for coal fading, so did the town. By 1903 there was only 100 people living in Blossburg and by 1939 only twenty people remained.
Today, the coal town of Blossburg, NM in Colfax County is
now part of Vermejo Park Ranch owned by Ted Turner. It is a private gated property and a hunting reserve. One cannot visit the site, unless given premission. Many of the existing structures or ruins were bulldozed. Ted Turner has reclaimed the land to its original state. Some of the old coke ovens may be viewed from the Raton golf course, but that's as close as you will probably get to seeing anything left from Blossburg, NM. (See photo below of Blossburg, NM in the late 1880's.) Actual Photo from Lonny Frost.
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