breakers photos on Flickr

The Ashley-Huber Coal Breaker ....in honor and in memory of those Seven to ten thousand "Breaker Boys" and men who once worked in the 134 foot tall, 11-story Ashley Huber Coal Breaker in Wilkes-Barrie PA. Originally built in 1892 and rebuilt 1939, these Coal Miners helped build an Industry, create what should remain an unforgotten era in our history and basically helped build America....BUT, now added to the list of just 1 of many of Pennsylvania's most disgraceful mistakes and disrespectful atrocities towards the states history, as on April 25th 2014 in just a manner of seconds Demo crews created a pile of what they deemed as more valuable as scrap metal, than they value in Preserving History. As instead of trying to save such a monumental piece of not just PA's history but America's history and a symbol of what was once PA's most economic value and their main source in providing jobs in PA as the state was once the heart of building supplies, manufactured materials for all branches of the military and THIS....man powered/operated extracted earthly minerals that were necessary for the manufacturing of what fueled American Industry....the leading supplier of Coal and leading provider of manufactured Steel that forged the Industrial Revolution.

At the time it was built the Ashley Huber Coal Breaker was the hugest most modern coal breaker IN THE WORLD capable of producing 1 thousand ton of coal per hour. The Huber Breaker Preservation Society who tried to save the Breaker and purchase it themselves was out bid in in the amount of $1.2 million in Bankruptcy court by Paselo Logistic LOCATED IN PHILADELPHIA a trucking company who's soul intention of purchasing the breaker WAS TO SELL THE STEEL FOR SCRAP. It is just heart breaking and disgusting to know that there is no moral value or intrinsic obligation in the world it seems in PRESERVING HISTORY unless money is made from doing so... and for the right price anything of any historical value or meaning can be sold.

So when people ask or wonder or question why anyone or as it has been given the name "Explorers" take the risks involved whether legally or physically...to venture inside abandoned and forgotten places....the answer is an example of this...where as it unfortunately seems to so many and to most in our society today....that money holds more value and weight than the preservation and appreciation of history... There are those of us who cannot be bought and willingly and knowingly risk legal consequences as well as potential physical harm to ourselves for any opportunities we find to visually capture and share and hopefully convey an appreciation by others to recognize what SHOULD hold more "weight and value" and meaning to what we view in life.....for those of us who explored The Ashley Huber Breaker or even anyplace we find that has been forgotten by time there seems to become a spiritual connection or even an addiction like a 6th sense we have to feed...to satisfy our this internal appreciation that we can't help but feel...in the intrinsic value of history of places we find forgotten by time.

We respect and admire how architecture of even places built 50 years ago were designed to be considered and often revered as a piece of art...and that buildings were created with not just the initial idea of what its "structural functional purpose" was going to be....but architects from past centuries, era's and even just decades ago designed structures from their heart with a creative passion and intentional desire for "their art" to be remembered, memorialized, appreciated and leave you with a sense of reverential respect.

And once inside these places abandoned by time....we are fascinated and many times even dumbfounded by the things we find that are left behind and forgotten or buried by years that have past....left neglected....left to rust, decay and layers of grime and we want to visually preserve a now forgotten memory and share what should be... its intrinsic integrity, the once initial purpose and the now historical as well as architectural value and of what most either take for granted or seem to be too shallow minded and or creatively ignorant to see.... passed the broken windows, the rusting metal, and the peeling paint ....of something deemed inanimate and hope our photograph will give it a voice once again, and will breathe a life once forgotten, and capture a moment so it becomes more than just a memory....because soon...one day...it will meet the same fate as the Ashley Huber Breaker...and it is sad to think and just know....it will always be money as the motivation and the presiding as well as deciding factor that determines what is of Historical Value...the only thing in life that will ever remain priceless are our memories....

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Breaker by Charles Malenfant

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USFL Breakers Hat by ThrowbackMax

Offered by ThrowbackMax.com, USFL hat with the Breakers logo embroidered on the front and Breakers on the back. The Breakers played in the United States Football League in Boston, New Orleans, and Portland. The hat is adjustable and garment dyed.

Breakers Pool by Jake Hamons