The Big Mine Run Geyser in Butler Township near Ashland, seen Wednesday, is a Schuylkill County curiosity. The geyser was formed when mine water under pressure rose through a 300-foot-deep ventilation pipe following the 1934 closing of Bast Colliery, a mine begun in 1853. Bast Colliery was the site of an early mine tragedy when, on Oct. 1, 1887, five miners died of asphyxiation. DONALD R. SERFASS/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS