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Schuylkill’s old faithful

The Big Mine Run Geyser in Butler Township near Ashland pushes upward with force after heavy rains over the past few weeks. Often said to be Pennsylvania’s only geyser, it isn’t a geyser at all, but rather a 300-foot coal mine air pipe remaining from Bast Colliery, which operated from 1853 to 1934. The site is where five anthracite coal miners died of suffocation on Oct. 1, 1887. DONALD R. SERFASS/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS