The Eckley breaker has seen better days.

Its future is in jeopardy.Many say it's a situation that must be rectified.That's because the structure might be the last surviving symbol of the old-time coal breakers that once dotted northeastern Pennsylvania."The Huber breaker is gone and the St. Nicholas is coming down," says Bode Morin, site administrator, Eckley Miners' Village, Weatherly."There will be nothing left in northeastern Pennsylvania."Truth be told, the Eckley coal breaker was never actually a breaker.It didn't exist when coal was king, and the only workers who ever toiled at the building were Hollywood movie stars.The breaker was built by Paramount Studios in 1968, providing a dramatic backdrop for on-site filming of the movie "The Molly Maguires," the story of vigilante coal miners and their reign of terror."It was built to stick around for three months," says Morin.But the breaker is historic in its own right.It symbolizes the hardscrabble life of the miners and represents the identity of not only Eckley, but many coal patches that prospered at mine heads, spawning the growth of local towns.Not only that, it provides visual proof of an era in filmmaking long gone."Some say 'The Molly Maguires' was the last of the old way of big-budget movies," says Morin.Today, for instance, filming relies heavily on computerized gimmicks. Buildings can be simulated, or computer-generated, rather than built from boards and nails.But in 1968, such wasn't the case. Paramount spent $11 million to build infrastructure and to film "The Molly Maguires."It boasted a star-studded cast of Richard Harris, Sean Connery, Samantha Eggar and an acclaimed musical score by Henry Mancini, earning an Academy Award nomination for best art direction.But the film was a fiscal disaster, bringing in only $2 million.Perfect coal siteEckley, an old coal patch, was seen by Hollywood filmmakers as the perfect place to film the movie.But the town's breakers were long gone.Morin says up to 10 breakers were linked to the Eckley colliery. The main building would've been located just south of the present breaker. However, it had been demolished in the early 1900s.To get the job done, Hollywood set designers crafted a high, towering movie prop and embellished it with real railroad tracks and coal cars.Various scenes were shot at the makeshift breaker.Afterward, the building was illuminated by spotlights, providing the perfect backdrop for tourists who visited Eckley to gain an understanding of a culture and lifestyle that helped to build America.However, the years haven't been kind.The roof caved in after harsh weather at Eckley's mountaintop location. The building's stability was compromised."The last few winters have been brutal," says Morin."Part of the tipple is missing and the overhang at what would've been the loading dock came down."Unfortunately, the breaker doesn't qualify for preservation grants.The commonwealth doesn't consider the movie prop breaker to be a genuine relic of Eckley's history."It's a historic structure but we can't spend money that's been allocated for restoration," says Morin.But Morin has ideas for reuse of the relic if it can be salvaged or rebuilt."Inside it's cathedrallike."That space could be used to showcase story boards to illustrate the coal mining industry, he says, or simply rebuild it to illustrate what a coal breaker looked like.However, Morin isn't sure it's salvageable."We have taken bits of it apart and rebuilt some of it," over 30-some years.But it's apparent more extensive renovations are necessary to give the breaker a future."We need to have engineers or architects come in and do an assessment," he says.Unique constructionThe building has support poles that don't actually touch the walls but are tethered by use of cables, a form of "sandwich-type construction."Morin says the breaker attests to a method of coal handling that varied from region to region.Mined coal came out in large pieces that needed processing to optimum size for various uses.Young boys (one rare occasion a girl sneaked in, posing as a boy) were hired as "breaker boys" to sit and process coal.The names of the sizes sometimes indicated their use. For example, the largest, called steamboat, was used to power steamboat engines. Smaller types went by names such as stove, acorn, pea, rice, barley and buckwheat.Large breaker buildings, essentially coal crushers, were unique to this region.Morin says the price tag to save the breaker is unclear at this point and would reflect the cost of bolstering or rebuilding the framework.He said the project might best be handled by a private-sector partnership, and, of course, all steps toward restoration would need state approval.Morin would like to generate a program involving area residents and historians from northeastern Pennsylvania devoted to saving the breaker.If needed, the group could begin, perhaps, by creating a GoFundMe page or use a similar initiative."Without the breaker, we would be just another town," he says.In a sense, the building's survival up to this point is a miracle.The breaker was supposed to be torched for the sake of drama, burned to the ground at the end of the film.But the movie producers had second thoughts about doing that.Is there enough interest to save what may be the final coal breaker symbolic of the great anthracite coal fields?Those interested can contact Morin at 570-636-2070 or

bmorin@pa.gov."It's a great community project," he says.And the preservation would be historic, too.The final coal castle, or at least the final symbol of one, is important.It's time to save the breaker.