You Load 16 Tons......

   I was heading out for my daily walk yesterday
when I spotted another memory from my "old
days." Actually it wasn't just a case of "spotting
it." I had to drive around it.
  "It" was a coal truck with it's dump section
lifted as to dumped a load of "black gold" into
the basement of a house in Inkerman.
   There was a day when most every home in
the area had to depend on an occasional coal
delivery to make it through the cold days of
winter.
   One of my chores growing up in Hazleton
was to fill the hopper on the front of the
furnace every night. Of course the coal bin
was in another section of the basement.
   I shoveled the coal into buckets then
carried them over to the hopper....lifted them
and dumbed the coal.
   Between the shoveling and the dumping
the room, and very likely my lungs, quickly
filled with coal dust.
   As a teen I might have qualified for "Black
Lung Benefits!"
   One hopper, filled to capacity, probably
could have fired the furnace for two to three
days during the average winter temperatures.
   But you could never be sure exactly how
long the coal would last because the heating
system covered our house and an upstairs
apartment
   I remember a time when my Dad was
working a couple weeks at Madison Square Garden
in New York City. My Mom and I were visiting
with him but had to leave.....to make sure the
hopper was filled with coal so the fire in the
furnace back home wouldn't  go out!
  We took a train from the old Penn Station,
arrived in Hazleton, took a cab home, filled
the hopper, took a cab downtown, and grabbed
a bus back to New York!
  Five hours or so just to make sure the house
stayed warm and we spent as much time as
possible with Dad!
   About the time I got married and moved
out my Dad replaced the old coal furnace
with an oil fired unit.
    A lot of people made similar switches
to oil or gas. Mostly because those fuels
were cheaper. And "were" is the key word!
    The way things are going old "King Coal"
may be lining up for a comeback! I wonder
where I put those old buckets?
     Hope, however you heat, you're cozy
and warm and that all your NEWS is good!