As a kid, Jake Wynn was fascinated by the ruins of the coal industry near his northern Dauphin County hometown.
The remains of the Williamstown Colliery on Big Lick Mountain were something of a playground for him.
“I looked at these massive foundations and concrete and steel remnants and always wondered what it must have been like to see it in full operation,” says Wynn, 32, a historian whose blog, at wynninghistory.com, explores Pennsylvania’s coal region. “It’s hard to imagine that 1,000-1,200 people worked in the complex at one time.”…