History & local legend
The Springfield iron mines at Oreminea in Blair County are associated with stories of glowing figures continuing the miners' work. The Pennsylvania Researchers Organization collected the tradition under the spelling 'Ormenia,' describing people looking into abandoned workings and seeing illuminated human forms.
The setting was an iron-mining district where ore occurred with clay, sand and sandstone. Federal geologists described deposits extending more than two hundred feet deep, and much of the material had to be washed to separate the ore.
Sources
- Pennsylvania Researchers Organization, Blair County, glowing miners under Ormenia
- U.S. Geological Survey, Hollidaysburg-Huntingdon folio, Springfield mines at Oreminea, p. 18
- Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, National Mine Map Repository, Woodbury Clay Company’s Springfield iron mine
- Penn State Archives, Oreminea mining photograph collection and industrial history
- U.S. Census Bureau, municipality at the actual Springfield mine point
