We are indebted for this pictorial overview to Mel Lader. He is a family historian for several of the old families in Luzerne and Sullivan Counties: Thrasher, Meyer, Dieffenbach and Schaeffer. Ricketts was once a thriving lumber-milling community near Ganoga lake, but now exists mostly in the form of the old buildings on the Ricketts Estate there. Founded in 1890, by 1913, the timber was cut and Ricketts became a ghost town. Its remnants are now located in Ricketts State Park, along the border of Sullivan and Wyoming Counties, PA. The pictures presented here were all commercially produced by Ronald Douglas, Commercial and Landscape Photographer, Ricketts, PA. Most of them are from 1903. We do not know what all the acronyms and references to local names and places actually mean--e.g., "Shettlin's Pond" or "Yan Railroad". Comments and inputs from viewers are appreciated. Mel can be reached at Mel Lader.

Ronald Douglas (1853-1910) was a deaf photographer. He was born in New York City and died in Forkston, PA on July 29, 1910. In 1882, he married Lizzie Adelaide Stevens in Gardner, Massachusetts. They lived in Lowell, MA from about 1885-1890, but he was boarding in Ricketts, PA in 1900 with Leroy Decker. Ronald is buried in the "potters field" or destitute section of Forkston Cemetery. He died of blood poisoning, which, in those days, could mean a great variety of things, but might typically have been gangrene or tetanus from an untreated wound. Nevertheless, his grave has a marker with "Ranald Douglass" on it. No one seems to know who put it up or why his name was spelled in this way. *
* Editor's Note: In July 2012, Lois Tiller wtoe to us that Ranald was boarding with her great grandparents when he died. In fact, he died in their home. The Wyoming County Historical Society may have information on why and how a marker came to be placed on his grave.

In 2005, Martha Mayo of the Center for Lowell History at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell wrote to Carol Brotzman seeking more information on Douglas. In doing so, she mentioned that many of his letters were held in the Gallaudet University Archives in Washington, D. C. Elsewhere in Luzerne County, there were several other producers of postcards. However, Ronald Douglas was nearly the sole source for the photographic record of the early 1900's for the "ghost town" of Ricketts, as well as Lopez, Lovelton, Mehoopany, and Forkston.

RICKETTS AND GANOGA LAKE
About 1903

The LCO's Engine
Ricketts PA 1903
Note: Presumably, the reference is to the Trexler and Turrell Lumber Company, which founded the town in 1890.

Ganoga Station Train Stop
Undated, Presumably 1902-1903

Ganoga Falls, PA
1903

Trexler and Turrell LCO's Mill Pond
Ricketts PA 1903
Note: "LCO" must stand for "Lumber COmpany".

Church Street
Ricketts PA 1903

Lehigh Valley Railroad Station
Ricketts PA 1903

Ricketts PA
from Yan Railroad Second Section
1903

Shettlin Pond on Lehigh Valley Railroad
1902
Note: In an enlarged phtograph, two would-be swimmers are visible on the left bank of the pond.

Ganoga Lake, PA
From the North West 1903 PA 1903

Photos contributed by Mel Lader
Originally produced by Ronald Douglas, Ricketts, PA