The Plane, one of the county's truly historic landmarks, was in operation for 70 years. Coal was first hoisted May 30, 1862, and the Plane was last operated February 24, 1932. Although working here would not appear as dangerous, it claimed the lives of 148 men and caused injuries to 500 others. The largest steam engines in the world were used in its operation. The Plane was dismantled in 1952. Plane played big part in town's history       (Evening Herald, Frackville Edition, August 9, 1975)   This is a "Plane" story. Yes, a story about the old Mahanoy Plane Engine House! Do you remember it?       An interview with Francis Kiefer, along with several pictures and some old newspaper clippings, refreshed my memory.       According to "Punk," as he is most widely known, the history of the Plane dates back to 1859 when the Mahanoy and Broad Mountain Railroad applied for a charter to lay tracks for an outlet of coal to distant markets.       As he explained it, "Frackville was sort of a "hump" -- the highest point of the Plane -- the coal was brought up from the lower valley over the Plane by engine and then was allowed to drift out to the south end of town and on to the St. Clair rail yards. Two shifts of fifty-one men each worked here, and many of the laborers were our fathers and grandfathers.       Thomas McCormack was the first engineer to operate the Plane Engine. He was the grandfather of Mrs. Frances Klitch who still resides in town.       Charles WiIlard of 52 North Second Street worked here for 49 years and was the hoisting engineer for 20 years.       The first house built in Frackville was a double block log cabin on North Balliet Street which was built by two Haupt families in 1854. They lived here until 1859 when the Reading Company bought this cabin, dismantled it, and built a frame "boarding house" for the engineers and mechanics who worked at the Plane.       A lot of hold-ups occurred during those days. Miners were robbed as they walked home up the old Mahanoy Plane road or walked along the tracks to the top after working their shift. Workers were sometimes allowed to ride the "barney" to the top when it was available.       Punk remembers the tremendous cave-in which required 151 railroad cars of cinders, ashes, stones, and mine rock to fill the breach. He was there -- he worked for the Plane at that time. This occurred in July 1928.       It has been estimated that during the 70 years in which the Plane was in operation, 1,376,400,000 tons of coal were brought up from the valley floor.