It began life in 1868, and is now the
terminus of a branch railway.
Before the wicked days of dynamite, and as long ago as the year 1834, a
fisherman was leisurely catching salmon-trout up the Sil; he had time to
look about him, and he noticed that in many places the rocks had a black
appearance. He broke off some pieces and carried them home, when he
found that they burned like coal; in fact he had discovered a coal mine!
Those were simple-minded days, for instead of running off with these
valuable cinders under his arm, fixing on an influential chairman and a
board of directors for his new company, this good man did nothing but
talk occasionally of the black rock that he had seen when fishing. Many
years elapsed before any advantage was taken of this valuable discovery.
At length a more careful search was made, and it proved that coal
existed there in abundance! In 1867 mining was commenced on a large
scale by the Kronstaeder Company. The next year a town was already
growing up in the neighbourhood of the mines, and increased in a most
surprising manner. In 1870 the railway was opened from Petroseny to
Piski, on the main line from Arad. The growth of the place, however,
received a check in the financial crisis of 1873.
The town itself is in no way remarkable, being a mere collection of
dwellings for the accommodation of the miners and the employes; but the
scenery in the neighbourhood is simply magnificent.
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