of hills with panoramic views ranging from 715 to 1240 feet in elevation and narrow valleys spanned by many bridges. There are more than 1,700 bridges in Allegheny County" (Serrin, 1946, p.158-174). This river metropolis was originally the domain of the warlike Iroquois Indians. This area was a good resource for manpower for building railroads and working in coal mines and steel mills. Besides, the hills around Pittsburgh reminded Slovaks of their homeland. Most Slovaks living outside the city were employed as coal miners in Pennsylvania's largest industry during the turn of the century. "Poles and Slovaks were almost 33% of the work force at bituminous mines in Allegheny, Fayette and Westmoreland counties in 1910" (Yurchak, 1946, p. 59). No area of the United States is home to more Slovaks, who as a group learned to survive outside the spotlight and who have endured for a millennium under the thumb of bigger powers. According to U.
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