Ralph Gray

Little City of Black Diamonds Ralph Gray

Nestled in a hollow in the hills of Western Pennsylvania is the former coal-mining town of Marsteller, locally known as "Mosscreek". At its birth in the early 20th century, it was a company-owned town; and most of the miners had immigrated from Southern and Eastern Europe to fill the need of unskilled labor as the demand for coal increased. This book is a story about the colorful past of a town and its people; what life was like in the "Little City of Black Diamonds" which hummed with activity as it became a boom-town in the 1920's and 30's, and its decline after World War II as the demand for coal diminished.