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🌲 In the Heart of the Forest: Alvie Flouress – A Steward of Austin’s Legacy

Nestled in the rugged hills of Potter County, where the Austin Dam’s concrete ruins tell stories of resilience and rebirth, volunteer Alvie Flouress stands as a living bridge between history, nature, and community. A native of Odin—just north of Austin—Alvie embodies the spirit of stewardship that defines the Lumber Heritage Region.

SPOOKY STORIES FROM THE LHR

SPOOKY STORIES FROM THE LHR October was traditionally a period of intense activity in logging camps. The “wood-hicks” would work throughout late summer and early autumn felling timber, preparing for the winter freeze to solidify the ground for smoother transport. October is also a time when the forests begin to enter a period of stillness…just in time for sharing spooky stories and tales of the macabre. Pennsylvania is well known for having many cryptids, hauntings, and gruesome tales. The Lumber Region is especially rich with these legends; many rooted in the rough-and-tumble lives of 19th-century loggers. In last year’s October article, we delved into a few of these tales, but many more exist. Now, we venture deeper, exploring more of these frightful and mysterious occurrences from our very own forest communities. Haunted Hotels Some of the haunted hotels in the region are featured prominently online, like the Penn Wells Hotel and Lodge of Wellsboro and Medix Hotel of Benezette on sites like Visit PA. Others are a little less prominent…like the Germania Hotel in Potter County. Built in 1856 by the Mueller family, it still stands nearly 170 years later. German immigrants working in the lumber industry settled in the area. The hotel rented rooms for loggers, hunters, and other transient travelers through the area. There are said to be at least three distinct spirits haunting the hotel and different paranormal investigators have inspected the establishment. One group picked up what appeared to be human legs walking back and forth on their equipment in what appeared to otherwise be an empty room. Stories claim that during another investigation a spirit actually made physical contact with an investigator…when it bit them. Haunted Homes Even more stories of haunted homes exist throughout the region. Recently, LHR staff were taking a tour of the mansion-turned-museum at Eagle Iron Works in Curtin Village. There, on the second floor, the guide pointed out the bedroom of “Aunt Sarah”. This truly was the room that Aunt Sarah stayed in when visiting the mansion. Sarah Catherine Larimer was visiting her family home when a tragic mishap struck. As Sarah prepared for bed, she attempted to blow out an oil lamp instead of turning it down. The action forced the flame into the oil basin, causing it to explode, severely burning Sarah. She succumbed to the burns and infection only days later. According to the guide, Aunt Sarah’s spirit remains gentle but ever-present. Her rocking chair sometimes moves on its own, and the room occasionally appears mysteriously disturbed. She also seems to take particular offense to the vacuum cleaner. Mysterious Waters The Susquehanna River is ancient…predating the formation of the Appalachian Mountains and separation of Pangea. There are a variety of eerie stories surrounding this waterway. In the West Branch, there are stories of cryptids that call these waters home. Referred to by a number of names, there is one cryptid that has been discussed in hushed tones for over a century. Kettle Creek Monster/ West Branch Dugong/ Susquehanna Seal are some of the names given to this mysterious creature said to lurk in the Lock Haven area of the river in Clinton County. Sometimes blamed for disturbing lumber rafts in the 1800s with its howling and thrashing, the cryptid has been described as being similar to a sea creature and of a size comparable to a hippopotamus, though it was also noted that it appeared unlike any other known creature. Ghostly Serenade Not every mystery has a monster. In the 1850s, a talented Norwegian violinist Ole Bornemann Bull tried to establish new communities, in the area of today’s Ole Bull State Park. These communities were Oleona, New Norway, New Bergen and Valhalla. He also began building a “castle” on the overlooking mountainside. The settlements faded, but park rangers and visitors continue to experience a phenomenon that remains. It is said that on certain blustery nights near the stone remnants of Ole Bull’s “castle” above Kettle Creek, one may hear faint violin strains through the pines. Maybe it’s only wind, trees, and memory working together, but on quiet evenings, the forest here offers a ghostly serenade. There are a few variations of the legend that have been passed around through the years. According to one legend, a white-haired fiddler appeared at a lumber camp on Kettle Creek as tempers flared, played a strange, beautiful tune that calmed the dispute, then slipped back into the pines. While that version is hard to source directly, the broader ‘ghostly violin’ tradition at Ole Bull State Park is widely told today. One could fill a book on the strange occurrences throughout this region, in fact, several have! What are some of your favorite spooky stories from the Lumber Heritage Region? Sources/Further Reading https://www.visitpa.com/blog/post/haunted-hotels-pennsylvania/ https://www.tiogapublishing.com/free_press_courier/news/local/three-ghosts-haunt-germania-hotel/article_919a3ff4-5146-11ed-b254-83be060811cc.html https://pawilds.com/ghosts-pa-wilds-dark-skies-germania/ https://sites.google.com/site/kwwdavis/potterco https://www.sungazette.com/life/showcase/2013/05/the-song-of-ole-bull/#:~:text=They%20asked%20a%20white%2Dhaired,park%20that%20bears%20his%20name. https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-history-composers-and-performers-biographies/ole-bornemann-bull#:~:text=Ole%20Bull,a%20household%20name%20for%20decades. https://pawilds.com/ghostly-music-of-ole-bull/ https://www.sungazette.com/news/outdoors/2019/10/spooky-susquehanna-haunted-legends-of-the-river-wilds/

COAL AND RAILROADS TAKE OVER

Beginning in the early 1860s, river rafting and logging found a new rival in coal as a contributor to Clearfield County’s economic, ethnic and social life. Initially, in the early 1800s, coal was shipped down the West Branch in arks. By the 1860s, however, methods were modernized when eastern capitalists and the railroads moved into the county to mine and transport coal from the region for use in steamships, locomotives, steel mills and other industries. The first mines opened in the Philipsburg (Centre County), Osceola Mills and Houtzdale areas, where coal averaging four and one-half feet in thickness and singularly free of sulphur was found. By 1900 and later, coal mining had spread to virtually all parts of the county with whole new communities developing by the peak year of 1918. Some survive today – others died when the coal veins were exhausted. Coal changed Clearfield County’s lifestyle; fortunes were made and lost in mining operations. One inevitable development stemming from these mining operations was the unionization of workers by the United Mine Workers of America. Due to the heavy strength of unionized mine workers in the county, the UMW District 2 headquarters was located in Clearfield for many years, until the 1950s. The dominance of coal continues today, but in a different way. Shortly before World War II, the new method of surface or open pit mining was introduced and today has surpassed in importance the one-time dominant “deep mine” method. In 1979, Clearfield County ranked first in Pennsylvania in tonnage produced by the surface mining technique. It was no coincidence that the development of coal mining was matched by the entrance of railroads into the county, further opening this north-central “wilderness” to the east and west. Coal was the goal of the rail roads as they came to Clearfield County, and come they did – from the south, the east, the north and the west – to gain the rich coal traffic, along with passenger and other freight business. The Pennsylvania was the first railroad to arrive, reaching Clearfield Borough in January 1869. The Allegheny Valley Railroad was next, connecting DuBois with Pittsburgh in 1874. In 1883-84, it was the New York Central which breached the county from the east, followed by the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh. reaching DuBois from New York State. Ten years later a branch line was run into Clearfield and the company constructed big car repair shops in DuBois. Other railroads seeking the coal of Clearfield County included the Buffalo & Susquehanna and the Erie from the north, and the Pittsburgh, Shawmut and Northern from the west.

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🌲 In the Heart of the Forest: Alvie Flouress – A Steward of Austin’s Legacy

SPOOKY STORIES FROM THE LHR

COAL AND RAILROADS TAKE OVER

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