Landscape Post #1 - Hunsicker

@fasc1nate 

A Land of Fire and Brimstone 

The Hidden Story of Centralia, Pennsylvania, an Invisible Landscape 

 

The small town of Centralia has one of the most unique, if not beautiful, histories few know about. This town is in the beautiful embrace of the Appalachian Mountains, an area where you can see many abandoned coal mining facilities. Even though the geography of this area is beautiful, the most essential information to know is related to the history behind this small and, on the surface, unsuspecting town. To find this information, one must look back to its founding in 1866 as a significant hub for the coal mining industry, as stated in the article “About Centralia PA and the Mine Fire.” Coal mining was common back then, with many people having the profession as their livelihood and the source of their income. This profession was further pushed as the coal boom of the late 1800s and early 1900s helped the economy of the United States. Sadly, at present, many do not know the history of Centralia and the mistakes that turned this once bustling town into a ghost town. 

In the early years of Centralia, we saw a flourishing, vibrant community as the population quickly grew from its original population of 1,300 in 1866 to 2,800 residents 25 years later (Centralia Borough, Pennsylvania). The town also had, "two theaters, five hotels, seven churches, twenty-seven saloons, one bank, one post office, and fourteen general/grocery stores” (About Centralia PA). It can be assumed that it was part of the lure for families hoping to move, make it big, and claim the American Dream that many wished for during that time. Based on this information, Centralia seems like a place taken straight from a fairytale, the perfect place on Earth. But all good things ended, which is what happened with Centralia. 

Centralia began as your standard coal mining town, though after the coal collapse in the 60s (“History of Centralia PA Before 1962”). The coal mining companies being the main source of income for most of the town, the population would naturally start spiraling down. But on the fateful day of May 27th, 1962, the local firefighters had set “the town landfill on fire to clean it up. This was in preparation for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.” (About Centralia PA). Now, this ordinary landfill that was set on fire was not just some random area where people threw things away. It was above an abandoned mine that, when burned, would cause a health crisis. Carbon monoxide began to make its way into the dwellings of the inhabitants as well as holes in the ground opening up swallowing places whole, these reasons caused a volunteer project in 1984 to move civilians away from the dangers of Centralia, this allowed for the buying of property for much of the town's population (About Centralia PA).  

This landscape that so many people do not even know about and if they do, they will not know the full history of this place. Shortly after the 1984 program to move civilians away from the town of Centralia, the Pennsylvania government used the powers of eminent domain in 1992 to try to take control and move residents out of the town for the residents’ health. When residents heard about this, they decided the only course of action was to sue (About Centralia PA). This would make a landmark case about state, local, and constitutional rights. After heavy legal proceedings, we saw the definitive answer in 2013, where eight residents were allowed to stay as long as they lived (About Centralia PA). This population would obviously fall as those eight people died out, but thanks to one major source of information, the internet, we can still look back and find the lost historical data of Centralia, Pennsylvania. As of the most relevant Census data from the United States government, in 2022, only five people are staying in the town (Centralia Borough, Pennsylvania). 

The story of Centralia, Pennsylvania paints a picture of a town that was vibrant and full of hope and prosperity. Due to a set of circumstances that many of the residents could not control, the town became a modern ghost town, all the buildings have been destroyed, and the only thing that remains are five poor souls, waiting for their time to run out. Centralia is truly a place of fire and brimstone, a Hell on Earth. 

Works Cited 

“About Centralia PA and the Mine Fire.” Centralia PA, 2 Sept. 2014, https://www.centraliapa.org/about-centralia-pa-mine-fire/.  

“Centralia Borough, Pennsylvania.” Census, 2022, https://data.census.gov/profile/Centralia_borough_Pennsylvania?g=160XX00US4212312.  

@fasc1nate. X (Formerly Twitter), 5 Aug. 2015, https://x.com/fasc1nate/status/1687886642647109632.  

“History of Centralia PA Before 1962.” Centralia PA, 13 Sept. 2014, https://www.centraliapa.org/history-centralia-pa-before-1962/.  

Nevada Demographic Maps - Skye

These maps are from Social Explorer and use the ACS 2022 5 year estimates.

This is a map of Nevada’s population density by county. It is no surprise that Clark County, which holds Las Vegas, and Carson City are the densest. It is also worth nothing Washoe county, which is large and denser than most other counties due to Reno and its surrounding area. The reason most of Nevada is sparse could be ecological, since most of the counties are hot, dry, and not very arable. Since cities are more likely to vote Democrat while rural areas are more Republican, most counties in Nevada may vote Republican next election.

The next map is of median household income by county. Nevada does not seem to follow the trend of people in the cities and suburbs being more wealthy than people in rural areas. My best guess as to why this is is because of mining in the more remote parts of the state. It is also worth pointing out that Mineral and Esmerelda counties are poorer than the rest, which may be because mining is not big in those places.

The final map is the percentage of people within each county with a bachelor’s degree. The denser counties have higher rates, which is likely due to more access to education and more jobs that require degrees, while more rural areas may have more blue collar jobs. According to this article, people in the middle and upper class are more likely to vote Democrat if they have a degree. Since much of the sparse area of Nevada is wealthy but not as educated as the cities, the people in those areas are most likely to vote Republican in the next election. 

Population Distribution and General Demographic Data - Texas

 The first of my maps is a display of the percentage of republican votes throughout the state of Texas for the 2020 presidential election. The darker the shade of red in the county, the higher the percentage of republican voters in the respective county. It is interesting to note the glaring observation which is that most of the state is very red, except for all of its major cities. This relates to my second map as the second map displays population density in each county by percentage. It is essentially a reflection of the first map as the population is most dense in all of the major city areas that leaned more democratically in the 2020 election. This is interesting because in the 2020 election, Texas was declared a red state meaning the many less dense counties outweighed the fewer, but denser, cities. My third map also relates to the first two as it is a map of urban population in each Texas county. The urban population, being heavily related to city-like areas, is often seen leaning left politically. This mirrors the previous two maps as the densest areas and the most left-leaning areas are in line with the areas that have the highest percentage in urban population

Demographics of Nevada - Noely

Population Distribution Numbers

This is the density dot distribution of Nevada per square mile in 2020 looking at the ASC five-year estimates. As shown here, the areas of higher density are in Clark County which houses Las Vegas. The next largest hot spots are in Washoe County and Carson City. Interestingly, the largest counties by square miles tend to house lesser populations. For example, Carson City, an independent city that serves as the capital of Nevada, is 168 mi² and has the fourth largest population of the counties out of the 17. Northeastern and Central Nevada have relatively low populations that range from 1,030 - 52,537 people. One of the variables responsible for this higher concentration of people in Northern Sierra and Southern Nevada can be explained by the foreign-born population. 

Foreign Born Percentages

This is a map of Nevada's foreign-born percentage data in 2020 looking at the ASC five-year estimates. The data shown is the percentage of immigrants compared to the entire population of the county. Since this map is not looking at raw numbers it aids in demonstrating comparative data between counties without taking into account the varied population numbers of each county. Although the map is taking the percentages, there seems to be a correlation between this map and the population distribution map. The regions with the highest percentages are the Northern Sierra and Southern Nevada (exclusive to Clark County) which were similar to the total population distribution. Clark County has the highest percentage with 22% of immigrants which is around 1.7 times the U.S. foreign-born percentage of 13.7%. The counties with higher percentages compared to Nevada are Washoe County with 14.37% and Carson City with 12.82%. 

Election Competitiveness

This election competitiveness map of Nevada shows the percent difference between the top two presidential candidates voted for in the county. Nevada is considered a swing state and this map shows how close the race between Biden and Trump was. The two most populated counties won the democratic vote but by slim margins. In Clark County, the most populated county, the vote had around a 9% difference, while in Washoe it was an ever smaller 4% difference. Carson City also experiences a close race with it winning the Republican vote by a little less than 10%. The densely and more urbanized areas of Nevada have either voted Democrat or have a close race in choosing a candidate. 

What This Means for the Election

When looking at the total population and foreign-born population together and comparing it to the election competitiveness, one can see the correlation between the urban and densely populated areas in Washoe and Clark County voting Democratically. Immigrants tend to vote democratically and can screw the election votes from one party to the other. They may go for the Democratic party even this year due to the more "lenient" immigration policies compared to the Republican party. The growing population of immigrants in urban areas means a good turnout for the Democratic party. However, the metropolitan areas of Las Vegas and Reno are still close to voting Republican by being shy of a few percentages. Nevada is a swing state we should be keeping a close eye on this election because it can easily swing the other way in the upcoming months. 

Texas Demographics - Asia Gonzalez

 Map 1: Democratic vote VS Republican Votes of 2020 (Presidential)

Map 2: Democratic vote VS Republican votes of 2014 (Gubernational)

Map 3: Race Demographic 2020 

For this map I made it that it only takes 500 votes per county to make a dot. I used dot density to be more precise. As you can see there is clearly tons of more republican votes then democratic in Texas. Where in the bigger cities like Dallas, Houston, and Austin, there is more republican vote. Yet in places in the southern part of Texas near Mexico, has more democratic votes. There is also tons of big red sections due to big cities and a bigger population in those areas. 

For Map 2, I used dot density as well. For the state governor votes there is also a major republican vote. Where there is similar patterns even in the different of year, that I used for this data. This map is from 2014. The bigger cities still have big sections of red due to the bigger population/more votes. The southern part of Texas has more democratic votes for governor as well. Here I also had only 500 people make a dot for more information.

For this map I looked at the race differences between all the races possible on the website. The two main races showing up on this map were just white alone, and black or African American alone. This data is from 2020. The pink represent white people, and the green represent the black or African American people. When looking at this you can clearly see the big difference in the amount of white people then any other races in Texas. There is like 3 little sections in Fort Bend County, Jefferson County, and Robertson County, that have a more black or African American population. Yet the rest of Texas is mainly white. This might influence the culture, and the difference between voting republican or democratic in the other maps. The other races on this map are very hard to see, because there is so little of them in Texas. Not very diverse. 

Texas is a state that tends to vote Republican so this data doesn't surprise me. There is also patterns in the southern part of Texas voting more democratically, then the rest of Texas. Before 2020, the southern parts of Texas like Hidalgo, Cameron, Webb etc., voted more democratically, but then once 2020 hit, it had changed to become more republican.

I think later in the election this year, Texas will still vote republican as it reflects their culture, and values more closely right now. As well as Texas having a republican governor will also contribute to the votes to the republican party. 

Ohio Demographics

Ohio seems to be fairly variable in terms of its politics, but not in terms of where these beliefs lie physically.  The first map colored in blue and green showcases the highest percentage of votes for each political party in the 2020 presidential elections, with blue representing Democrat votes and green representing Republican votes, because I couldn't get custom palettes to work.  The second map shows the percentage of each county's white population, and the third map showcases each county's population density.  With rather reasonable consistency through past years' presidential elections, these more diverse and more population dense areas end up being either more contested or even consistently Democratic voters, while the less populous and less diverse counties are Republican voters.  This close split between these two groups seems to cause Ohio to be a close call in terms of political affiliation, with it switching frequently throughout the past several elections.  Interestingly, however, and not depicted here due to being in previous elections, the majority of the counties along Ohio's northern border were previously Democratic voters despite having the same low-density and low-diversity population that tends to result in Republican votes.

Population Distribution and General Demographic Data - Illinois (By County)

 

Total Pop:Black/African American Alone

The first map represents the population of people in Illinois that are Black/African American. when you look at the map, the majority of the Black/African American population are in Peoria County, Illinois (28,720) and Cook County, Illinois (1,099,673). I feel that this is one of the most important forms of demographic data because Black voters are more likely to vote for Harris in this year's election. Because most Republican voters are conservative and do not believe I'm certain movements that pertain/are in the interest of Black people/voters, they are more likely to vote for a candidate that agree with their conservative views. another reason Black/African American voters are more likely to vote for Harris is because it would mean having a president in office that is also black, meaning they would understand difficulties and be able to create reform for issues concerning the Black community. 

Total Pop: Women

This second map represents the population of women in Illinois. This is an important factor for the upcoming election because they make up a high population of Illinois with the highest numbers of women living in or around Chicago. This is also important to the election because women are more likely to vote for Harris because of the many discussions being had about women's rights, bodily autonomy, and Roe v. Wade being overturned. Because of this, women are more likely to vote for Harris due to her stance on protecting these rights for women. 

Households: More than $100,00

The last map shows how many households within the different counties of Illinois have an income of $100,000. This is important to the upcoming election because higher income voters are more likely to vote for Trump. This may be due to his ideas on tax cuts and building the economy. They may also choose to vote for him because they agree with his ideas on big business and promotion of investments for entrepreneurs. 

 Population Distribution and General Demographic Data - Washington 

The first map the shows population density per square mile in 2022 in the state of Washington. The counties with the highest population are Thurston County, Pierce County, King County and Kitsap County, all these counties are in the central region Washington. The map shows that these counties have a large populatio n density, but it does not mean that everywhere in the county is densely populated it rather highlights that these counties have major cities, for example Seattle in Kings County is responsible for approximately one third of the county’s total population.

The second map shows the total population of over 55 years years in each county. This data says a lot about where the older generation and the younger generation prefers to live. Majority of the older generation live in the less populated counties where you will find smaller cities, less traffic, and better air quality, all these qualities result in a healthier and less stressful environment which preferred by the older generation. However, the younger generation chose to live in the big cities there are factors that could cause this, but the most obvious ones are job opportunities and lifestyle.

The third map shows the population of people who are foreign born, in other words immigrant population. We can see that majority of the the foreign born population can be found in the city this is because people migrate for many different reasons, but the most common is economic reasons, and people who migrate because of economic reasons will tend to settle in big cities where it is easier for them to get a job and earn a decent wage.