In the heart of Pennsylvania coal country, trains had their heyday. As freight transportation matured beyond the canals of the early industrial days, railroads became the predominant means of moving goods, including anthracite coal, from the region. 

The time: the turn of the twentieth century. The place: the Lackawanna Valley. The woman: a young socialite named Phoebe Snow, whose surname, Snow, conjures up the exact opposite of the black dirt of the steam railroad.