anybody wanna move to yellowdog, pa

[space otter]

ok this comes under OFF TOPIC....big time.
.but hey someone just might want to move here



http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/9150478-74/meyer-village-dog#axzz3n2zJS8x9


Retired history teacher has big dreams for the village of Yellow Dog


By Brigid Beatty
Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, 4:16 a.m.
Updated 7 hours ago

When Joseph Meyer first saw the vacant, overgrown village of Yellow Dog, he looked past the smashed windows and sagging porches and was inspired.

Then he bought it — all of it — 16 structures, including duplexes, a three-storied managers' house and boarding house.

"I found it for sale online and was enthralled with the possibility of saving the village and making it a place where people could come and spend a week in the past," Meyer said. "After I saw the village, I was in love, and it was easy."

The retired history teacher from Lebanon County has been living in the former limestone mining town just outside of Worthington in West Franklin Township since early this year. He bought it in late December for $222,000 on behalf of Bison Holdings of Delaware.

Meyer hopes his vision for Yellow Dog becoming a heritage and craft-centered educational village will catch on. He wants five or six craftsmen to come and stay and pass on their knowledge to those interested in learning. He also hopes to spark support for the project and garner financial backing with a goal of raising at least $100,000.

Some of the traditional crafts and skills Meyer plans to offer include sustainable housing construction, traditional farming and gardening, horsemanship, blacksmithing, carpentry, open hearth cooking and baking, folk medicine, early pottery methods, folk music and glass blowing.

On a recent morning, Meyer walked past a line of empty mailboxes that mark the entrance to the village overlooking Buffalo Creek. He smiled easily, frequently lifting a hand in response to a greeting shouted by a passing neighbor or truck driver.

"There is a strong connection in this community and we want to preserve it," Meyer said.

When he first arrived, the weeds surrounding the homes were shoulder high. He got some help this summer clearing away the scrub and removing old tires. Horses belonging to his college-aged daughter did their part, too, by grazing on the encroaching grass and hay.

Several of the horses gazed at him from their paddock as he made his way along a silent, shady street to a green-sided duplex. He was accompanied by his beagle, Bo. Together they walked through the living room with its peeling paint and sagging curtains. Meyer pointed out the home's sturdy built-in cabinets and solid structure.

"Five houses need roofs, 300 windows need to be fixed but this is all salvageable. These houses are well-constructed and in better shape than some of the houses in town," he said. "What we really need is financing. If we can get that piece of the puzzle, we can be up in running in six weeks."

The idea is to provide craftsmen with a liveable residence, equipped with electricity, internet service and a place to work and teach their craft.

"This is for any traditional craftsmen who is retired or in a transitional point in their life who is willing to relocate," Meyer said. "But they have to be willing to live rough at first and haul their own water."

The remaining houses are planned for renovation and will provide temporary, seasonal accommodation for visitors and students.

Each visitor guest house will be furnished in early 20th Century style and will run on battery-operated lights. Those houses will be equipped with an icebox, dry sink, washtub and clothes line. Water used for washing must be hauled from a nearby spring and bottled water will be supplied by the village, Meyer said.

"This is for people interested in going off-grid and learning a craft and the traditions of the past," he said. "It would be good for families to experience that."

Village history

According to Armstrong County historical records, Yellow Dog was built in the early 20th Century by the Pittsburgh Limestone Mining Co., which owned and operated the mine along Buffalo Creek. A nearby railroad transported the crushed stone and lime to feed the steel and construction industries.

The company built the village for its workers under a condition: Workers had to promise never to unionize. That agreement is what lies behind the village name.

"Yellow Dog was a political term meaning 'anti-union'," Meyer said.

After the company went bankrupt during the Great Depression, the village was bought and sold many times and underwent name changes. In recent years it was renamed Shady Side Village and later, MAK Square, before coming full circle back to the name it never really lost: Yellow Dog.

Yellow Dog memories

Bill Hodak has fond memories of growing up in the old mining village. He recalls being a young kid living for a time in the old boarding house.

"It was a beautiful town at one time," he said.

It was the kind of place, he said, where folks left their homes unlocked and where kids played outside, skating on the frozen creek in the winter and playing baseball in the summer with taped-up bats that had been discarded by the Worthington ball team.

"The biggest problem for our mothers was calling us in to come eat," Hodak said.

After serving in the military, Hodak returned to the village where his dad and uncle were still living. Now he lives in Worthington, is the chairman of the Worthington-West Franklin Joint Parks and Recreation Authority and owns a business in Kittanning.

There was a time, about 30 years back, when Hodak thought about buying the village. But the amount of work needed to make all the repairs eventually dissuaded him.

"It was one of the hardest decisions of my life," he said.

Several months ago, he met up with Meyer and heard about the plans for Yellow Dog.

"I hope he does well," Hodak said. "But it's going to take a lot of hard work."

Local interest

When Brent Bowser, vice chairman of the West Franklin Board of Supervisors, heard about what Meyer's was trying to do, he was happy.

Before Meyer had moved in, there had been incidents at the vacant village with squatters and illicit drug users.

"I'm glad someone's doing something about it (Yellow Dog)," Bowser said. "It was a real eyesore."

Kevin Andrews, Director of the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau, said he is intrigued by Meyer's plan and believes he is on to something.

"It's a really good concept," Andrews said. "I think it would be great for the area. An entire village would be a great stop for groups or tours coming into the county. There's a lot we can do for him and a lot he can do for us. It's a win, win situation."

Brigid Beatty is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at  bbeatty@tribweb.com.

Louis B. Ruediger | Trib Total Media
Joseph Meyer stands near the village of Yellow Dog in West Franklin. He recently bought the village on behalf of Bison Holdings, in Delaware.

Louis B. Ruediger | Trib Total Media
Joseph Meyer stands at a collection of mail boxes once used by residents of Yellow Dog. Meyer, as part of a Delaware company, recently purchased the abandoned village in West Franklin, Armstrong County.

Louis B. Ruediger | Trib Total Media
A row of abandoned duplex homes in the village of Yellow Dog are in need of repair.

Louis B. Ruediger | Trib Total Media
Joseph Meyer walks through one of the abandoned homes in the village of Yellow Dog.

Louis B. Ruediger | Trib Total Media
Joseph Meyer stands on one of three streets in Yellow Dog, near the former boarding house

Louis B. Ruediger | Trib Total Media
A duplex in need of repair sits along a street overgrown with weeds in the village of Yellow Dog.

A street scene of Yellow Dog from the mid 20th Century.


How to help
Those who want to support Meyer's efforts can donate online at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-save-yellow-dog-village#/story.

He can also be reached by email at jgmeyermail@yahoo.com or at 126 MAK Square, Worthington, PA 16262






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other info on yellowdog


https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsharkleroad/sets/72157636525864433/


http://articles.latimes.com/1987-05-17/news/mn-855_1_town-meeting
At $300,000, 38-Acre Town Finds No Takers
May 17, 1987|


http://digitalannex.blogspot.com/2009/11/yellow-dog-limestone-mine-and-plant.html

[space otter]

I am requesting that this thread title be changed to  interesting things in pa

this tunnel is well known  in the laurel mountains.. and you may laugh but this area has bigfoot stories and sightings as well as a lot of military underground stuff going on
did anyone wonder why the flight 93 memorial has gotten so large - area wise..federal land now
same area
anyway..just another little to-wonder-about place here...enjoy the trip



anywho here's just a nice little tidbit about one of the old tunnels

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/the-secret-racing-test-tunnel-no-one-wants-to-talk-about/ar-AAeXjJP?li=BBgzzfc
Popular Mechanics
Larry Webster
22 hrs ago

© Road & Track

The Secret Racing Test Tunnel No One Wants to Talk About

Some 300 feet below my perch, a road disappeared into the side of a mountain. I made my way down the heavily wooded, steep slope, sliding as often as walking. My shoes filled with dirt that was still moist from the spring thaw.

And then I was at the bottom, standing on an old roadway with weeds sprouting through the cracked pavement. I was staring at a new, shiny silver, domed structure that ran along the road for about 300 yards and ended at a decaying tunnel entrance. A stack of slick racing tires stood nearby, the final clue that I had found the place that symbolizes all that is fantastic about motorsports. Now I just had to figure out how to tell the story.

Ask anyone why racing matters and, inevitably, someone pipes up that motorsports produces new technology that eventually makes street cars better. While that might have been true 50 years ago, it's all too easy to poke holes in the statement today. Modern racing cars are so tightly regulated—to control costs and competition—there are few development challenges left for the creative engineering mind.
Racers, however, are a resourceful lot, and the most obsessed would gladly saw off a toe for a tenth-of-a-second advantage. They struggle and experiment and do move the needle forward, but in such minute steps, there's little to crow about except in some dense engineering paper. Since those improvements are usually invisible to the casual observer and no team would voluntarily disclose a secret advantage, we never hear about them.

Yet we all love the stories of the maverick inventor or innovator who gains an edge through genius and hard work. Remember Penske's acid-dipped Trans Am Camaro or the STP Turbine car that nearly won Indy? What about the 1997 McLaren MP4-12 "fiddle brake," a second brake pedal used on F1 cars to slow the inside rear wheel and help the car corner faster? It was banned in 1998. Those tales become part of motorsports lore.

In the winter of 2007, I got a once-in-a-decade tip about one such racing edge. While touring a scale-model wind tunnel in Indianapolis and listening to my guide explain the exorbitant efforts engineers expend to ensure the tunnel simulates the real world—they use precise, Ferrari-priced race-car models and rolling roads, among other measures—I asked why they didn't measure downforce and drag by driving real cars down a real road. I knew the answer—changing weather conditions would affect the results—but I wanted to hear him say it.

© Provided by Popular Mechanics

"What you need," said my guide (anonymous by request), "is a car tunnel. One about a mile long, and flat. Since it's underground, the air conditions remain relatively constant. That would provide solid, repeatable data." I chuckled. Who had the money to build such a facility? And where? "What if," he continued, "someone found an abandoned tunnel and repurposed it?" That was all the impetus I needed. I went home and started digging, unraveling a chain of events that began over 100 years ago.

"Yeah, I drove in the tunnel. In fact, I crashed in it," former IndyCar driver Darren Manning said last fall. If he had been standing next to me and not on the phone, I would have kissed him. After years of searching for information on the mystery tunnel, Manning was the first person I'd found who agreed to speak on the record about it.

Some backstory is required: That tip I got in Indy was no red herring. In the late 19th century, steel baron Andrew Carnegie and second-generation railroad tycoon William H. Vanderbilt joined to build a new rail line in Pennsylvania between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Work started in 1883; the route crossing the Allegheny Mountains required nine tunnels and was nearly complete when skittish investors pulled out. Construction stopped in 1885, and the tunnels were abandoned until the Thirties, when some well-meaning bureaucrats repurposed the route and its tunnels to build America's first superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Opened in 1940, the highway proved so popular that by the early Sixties, the two-lane tunnels were choke points on the four-lane motorway. By 1968, three of the tunnels were bypassed and again left to the elements.

Locals surely spelunked the abandoned tunnels, and their exploits eventually wound up on the Internet. I found one blogger who mentioned that the Laurel Hill Tunnel, about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, looked to be in use. For what, the blogger didn't know, but he posted pictures of race tires stacked near the tunnel entrance.

Two of America's greatest racing enterprises have major ties to Pennsylvania. Roger Penske attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, and Chip Ganassi's racing operations are partially headquartered in Pittsburgh. It didn't take a genius to finger Ganassi as the likely owner of the Laurel tunnel. He grew up in Pittsburgh and his father, Floyd, was a very successful businessman.

My curiosity had turned to a fever. As much as I love motor racing, I equally cherish sharing with others why racing is—beyond the track—such a fascinating pursuit. Here, I imagined, I had the makings of a tale that even those who care little for racing could appreciate. I pictured a bunch of lunatics tuning and tinkering with race cars in a secret underground test facility. In my warped head, the tunnel was the automotive version of Area 51, the airfield in southern Nevada where the government allegedly tests captured UFOs.