The Coal Mines

Just minutes from my sister-in-law's house was a coal mine tour.  Having never been in a coal mine before we thought it would be a great field trip.

The guide was great and gave us so much information.  I will try to remember some of it!  ;)  I will tell you this though, it makes you appreciate the job you have.  What a tough, hard life that must have been working in the mines.  Dirty, dark, dangerous.

This was a working mine up until the late 1960s I want to say.

The tunnel into the mines.  It was a pretty steep slope and we went down backwards.  The car was moved up and down by a cable run through like a wheel house of sorts.

The kids waiting for the tour.

I think the sign said this piece of coal would heat a house for a year.

Aren't they cute?

Our coal car.  Kinda crazy and a little unnerving knowing we were going down beneath the earth.  Very much like the caverns at our local state park.

Cold and wet.  I think the average temperature is around 56 degrees.

A board showing the tunnels and areas where the dug.

Some of the "newer" equipment they used to mine coal.

They would use a bird in a cage to detect poisonous air.  If the bird died the miners needed to evacuate that portion of the mine.

Many boys went to work in the mines by the age of 5.  Depending on their age, they had certain jobs.  This boy was a little older and his job was to lead the donkey that pulled the coal cart.

Some mines you could stand up in while you worked.  There were many that you spent all day on your back or stomach and mined for coal.  Sometimes this way was preferred because it was safer.  The tunnel was narrower and so therefore stronger.

Can you find the shovel?

This boy's job was to run between two sets of doors and open and close them when he heard the coal cars coming.

This is a tube that is an escape route of sorts.  In an emergency you would be pulled up out of it.

It is a long way from the top.  I just couldn't imagine working in those conditions 12 hours a day.  But, at the time, it was good work.  It was what you did to survive.  Our guide is a current coal miner and he says the conditions really haven't changed much, in technology or safety.  The demand for coal is not near as great as it was back in the day.  

It was a great trip for us.  I told Boop for many days after our tour, that if he complained about his chores at home, I was going to send him to Aunt Reenie's and he could go work in the coal mines.  ;)  I don't think he thought it was so funny . . .