I Recommend You Visit This Beautiful Town In The US

Hello from the US!

This month, I’m a tourist in my home country.

So far, I’ve been to Virginia, Las Vegas, Nevada and Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.

What’s that?!

You’ve never heard of the town of Jim Thorpe?

Well, let me give you a tour…

Mauch Chunk

150 million years ago, Jim Thorpe was a tropical island.

Then the dinosaurs forgot to recycle, the climate changed, and the plants became coal.

200 years ago the only residents of the town were squirrels and bears.

Then the coal was discovered.

The bears moved out, the people moved in, a town was built, and many people got rich.

They built lovely Victorian homes, a few mansions, a university, the world’s first rollercoaster, a fancy hotel, a ballroom, and even an opera house.

Remember, this was before oil and electricity.

If you had a factory in Philadelphia or New York, your power came from water or muscle.

Now, with coal, the industrial revolution began!

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games if you were a miner.

If you think your job sucks, just remember that 19th century miners in the US had a 5% fatality rate.

That means, for every 100 miners, 5 died on the job.

It’s always a bad day at work when you don’t come back from work.

So why does it have the strange name Jim Thorpe?

Jim Thorpe was a famous athlete.

But he didn’t become famous until the 1910s.

The original name of the town was Mauch Chunk (pronounce “mawk chunk”)

It’s an Indian name meaning, “sleeping bear”.

Locals were called “chunkers.”

Then they re-named the town in the 1950s.

Why?

That story, tomorrow….