Williamsport, Pa., used to be most known for housing the Little League World Series. Now it's known for Marcellus shale drilling. Back in October, we sent a crew there to find out how the drilling industry has affected all aspects of life since it first hit nearly five years ago. Our hopes were to show the Valley what it might expect as gas companies begin leasing and drilling our own Utica shale formation.
You can find out about what we learned and read the personal stories of Williamsport residents in the series of articles under the Living with the Gas Rush tab. There's also an extensive list of other stories, video and images featuring anything from leasing and the environment to the economy and transportation on this Shale News webpage.
About 20 miles outside of Williamsport, Pa., nestled at the bottom of the Appalachian Mountains on a rural road is the Forest Inn.
It's been around since 1885, when Charles English, then a lumber company owner, opened it as a train depot and hotel, where railroad workers would stay between trips in Trout Run.
The railroad traffic is long gone, and over the last several decades, the building has been home to an ice cream parlor and even a gas station.
It's returned to its roots as an inn, now serving gas workers who stay there during drilling assignments and eat and drink at the bar there at the end of their shifts.
"We see people from all over the country, even the world," said Forest Inn owner Gordan Reibach.
The bar is small and dark. The head bartender is known only as "everybody's Aunt Irene." She's worked there since Reibach took over. She and some of the other bartenders knit. They have a "Hooker's Corner" display where they sell mittens and scarves.
Reibach bought the inn back in 2002 after the plant he'd worked at for 30 years shut down. Since Marcellus hit four or five years ago, he said business is about 10 times what it used to be.
"We're doing pretty good," he said. "Our rooms are all rented. We get four or five calls a day for rooms and we have to point them to other people who have rooms to rent."
While the cost of living in the area has gone up, Reibach said he hasn't bothered to raise the rates for his six rooms.
"It's $100 a week," he said. "I don't want to gouge them. And most stay right at the rigs. They come down, eat, drink beer, go home and sleep in their trailers."
Aunt Irene said the truck traffic is horrendous.
"Every 15 minutes, there are water trucks going up the road," she said.
Ken Fernsler, a regular customer at the Forest Inn, said the workers have helped the economy. But he said it's dangerous to drive the village's rural roads, and he's lost several friends in accidents.
"It's helped a lot, it's hurt a lot," said Fernsler.
He feels the drilling activities have also stripped the land and refuses to lease his. He said truck traffic has tripled. But quite a few of the locals have gotten good jobs.
"I think jobs is the good part," said Fernsler. "It helps our economy. It just destroys everything else."
"It's helped a lot, it's hurt a lot." -- Ken Fernsler, a Forest Inn regular customer.
