After breakfast, my first tour of Laquin began. For a boy of 10 years old, walking through a valley of foundations, railroad beds, and holes in the ground made it seem as though we were discovering a lost city in the jungles of Central America. The adults knew some basics about the foundations but not much. That didn't matter - it was enough to make it interesting for us.
I vividly remember arriving at the foundation of the kindling wood factory and seeing what were described to us as two hearths inside of a foundation. These were, in fact the two boilers that helped to create the steam for the factory. I think the reason that I remember that part so well is because when I returned some years later, one of the arches that identified a boiler had collapsed. It was at that moment that I really understood that history can be lost and someone needs to do something about it.
Our hike through Laquin continued and only focused on the eastern part of the town. We then crossed the old railroad bridge over Carbon Run and began following the old railroad bed of the Susquehanna and New York along the Schrader Creek. By this time, we were exhausted, but started noticing metal pieces laying in the road or poking out of the black dirt. These, we learned, were pieces of the railroad - my first exposure to what we might call "artifacts."
Now I didn't come prepared to pick things up, but one of the others had brought a backpack, and so we commenced picking up every scrap of metal that we could find. I recently discovered these items, which I still have. When we finally arrived back at the cabin, the bag full of metal was dumped out and the three of us boys each took turns picking a piece that we would like to have. This was certainly a "boy thing" to do. Can you imagine three 10 year old girls excited about choosing a piece of rusty iron from a pile? I had my eyes on a perfect railroad spike and grabbed it as soon as my turn came around. Most of the other items I picked were barely recognizable chunks of iron, a bolt, etc.
As the second day of our trip to Laquin came to an end, we packed up and drove out of the valley. My only thought was, "I have got to come back here again!" As we worked our way off the mountain, this time in daylight, the adults told us that we had one more stop. We made a couple turns, drove down a dead-end road, and then got out of the van. A wooden sign told us that we had arrived at the Barclay Cemetery.
To read more, check out the blog next week...
