Big Mine Run Geyser – Ashland, Pennsylvania - Atlas Obscura

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Big Mine Run Geyser

The only geyser in the state of Pennsylvania is caused by pressure from an abandoned coal mine outside of the ghost town Centralia.  

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Big Mine Run Geyser is the only geyser on the east coast of the United States. In Ashland, Pennsylvania, just outside the ghost town of Centralia, you can find water being expelled from the earth with immense pressure. When the mines in the area were abandoned in the 1930s, the empty mine shafts filled with water. When the water had nowhere else to go, it found an escape through an old ventilation hole.

The geyser experiences different pressures depending on rainfall, and can be as short as three feet or as tall as 15 feet. The surrounding rocks have taken on an orange hue from the iron-rich water that spews forth. 

Know Before You Go

The geyser is on private property but can be viewed easily from the roadside without trespassing. 

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