Pittsburghs First Woman Coal Miner and Mine Owner who would go missing to this day

Coal mining was a mans job back in the Pick and shovel days but that did not stop one enterprising woman Ricka Ott from becoming not only a coal miner but mine owner .
She operated a small depression drift  mine in a hill side on here family's farm in the Mt Oliver area then known as St Clair Twp.

Each Morning she would rise put on her work clothes and go into her small one person mine and take out coal he would sell to locals and this may well have been what lead to her disappearance  one day never to be seen again from what research I can find on the matter

It may be she got tired and wanted to start a new life but what more than likely happened she was done in by some miners or mine owners who did not appreciate her digging into there profits selling coal below market price. Still happens to this day all over the business world she may well be buried in one of the numerous sealed off coal mines under the south hills .

I talked to a lot of old coal miners from carrick and Mt Oliver known ever mentioned Miss Ott. however if you venture thru local grave yards the Ott name can be found

I found out about this thru the face book group"  south side then and now " thank you for the lead.
I will try and find out more info on this story and pass it on if I do.

The Deadly section of Pa State Route 28 where many fatal wrecks have occurred even after the road has been improved many times and St Nicholas Croatian Church has been removed

Ever since I was a Kid it seems if there was a serious or fatal wreck it always happened right in front of or close to the former St Nicholas Croatian Church along Pa state route 28 in Pittsburgh's North Side

One of the worst happened on December 5, 1952 at midnight when a car crashed into a home next to the church shearing off a gas line and causing an explosion killing 6 children who where in their beds
the parents where not harmed by some miracle 

 The picture above was day of their funeral  at St Nicholas.

While this stretch of Pa. 28 also known as E. Ohio Street has been widened and cement crash barrier installed Fatal wrecks still occur the most recent occurring several weeks ago when 2 -24 year old young women where killed in a head on crash after one was confused and came onto the south bound lanes the wrong way.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/local/multi-vehicle-accident-involving-wrong-way-driver-/165741809

Some say there is nothing to it but  Pa .28 is just a bad road with bad design and people constantly speeding .They even moved the church further back into the hillside in 20's to improve the road. But Then when a fatal happens on that stretch of road. why Does it happen in front of the church? There where at least 2 accidents involving tractor trailers getting tangled up and resulting in fatal wrecks along with at least a dozen others.

I can find nothing in the history of the church and its construction  which would lead to some type of anomaly occurring there .If anything it was built there with love because of the natural protection the hill side provided .

http://dioceseofpgh.org/parishes/saint-nicholas-north-side

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2013/01/13/Why-St-Nicholas-Church-had-to-go/stories/201301130132

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/3288320-74/church-parish-nicholas

http://trib

Of course now its long gone replaced by a walking path and small memorial to the church

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8593385-74/church-croatian-nicholas

Is something evil going on is that stretch cursed by an Indian spirit ?  a natural anomaly we will probably never know. But the accidents keep happening even after the church has been torn down and road improved.

They say at the Sarah Heinz House that Sarah still makes here presence known to this day

I have passed it many times but was never inside this landmark on Pittsburgh's North Side  The Sarah Heinz house  which was started in 1901 as the Covode House by Howard Heinz the son of    Ketchup King H..J. Heinz as a  club for boys many newly immigrated who had hard times and needed a hand up in life as the club grew  and added young lady's in 1903 it eventually outgrew the original location and in 1913 n new structure was built and named Sarah Heinz House after Howard's mother Sarah.

Up till it was cleaned up in late 80's the building was dark and grimy on the outside from all the smoke and soot of Pittsburgh's industrial past you would have never known it was a youth club the building always seemed mysterious and most think its an office for the Heinz plant   the old section closed and now made into condominiums and the new side of the plant sold of to Baytree Foods .
Although the building still stands and an addition was added on in the 90's in the rear the entire area around the Sarah Heinz House has changed Completely with the expansion of Pa route 28 and building of the I- 279 interchange all that was around the building except for old Heinz plant is gone

How ever they say Sarah Heinz and a young boy who passed away from an accident in the gym area  still make their presence known in the building. As people often feel they are being watched or followed and sometimes an occasional shadow or lights blinking.
The Sarah Heinz House still to this day serves youth from around the north side and will always stand as something good the Heinz family did for Pittsburgh.

http://www.sarahheinzhouse.org/

A corner lot n Verona Pa. with an interesting Pittsburgh Mob Past

For many years it served as a Atlantic? gas station at Allegheny River blvd & Southern St.
But when the gas shortage crisis hit the station closed in the late 70's  and became a used car lot  LA Motors and its notorious reputation started.
Because it served as the headquarters for Pittsburgh Mob Leader Michael Genovese  .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_crime_family

http://gangsterreport.com/infamous-pittsburgh-mobster-nick-the-blade-dies-down-in-florida-steel-town-gangster-supplied-goodfellas-crew-with-drugs/

No one including my self ever suspected a thing going on at this car dealership till one day it was shown in a news article during the famous Pittsburgh mob trails.

The FBI Claimed it was the mobs headquarters and had several very garbled tapes it released.

http://triblive.com/x/archive/1372974-74/archive-story

Needless to say the community was shocked that the mob would be operating its headquarters almost directly across from the community  offices and police station. and right next to a US post Office

many people even to this day do not believe the mob was holding meetings right there in the dealership.

But that was the Pittsburgh Mob always operated very quietly  and why it was so successful until it decided to get involved with drugs which brought massive federal agency's down on them. 

Since L.A. motors closed there has been a long list of business who tried to make it successful there including a couple Pizza Shops a coffee shop  a Dunkin Donuts and latest business to close a greek gyro place. which by the way had great food.

But apparently there is not enough patronage and in case of the dunkin donuts was poorly managed. 

maybe all these business could have taken a few pointers from the Pittsburgh Mob after all they where very successful for many years and ran many legitimate business as well as a hugely successful gambling operation.