Exhibition Coal Mine docent Marvin, ex miner explains the tools and work methods of miners in this area. On a small flatbed train we enter the mine, a coal mine, mined out. Empty tunnels, hollows.
The miners mad a good wage for those days: 2 $ a day. Of course they had to bring their tools, their blasting powder, food and water.
All the mine company provided them with was a place where to start working and digging.
In these pictures you'll see some machinery. That is purely for educational reasons that they are exhibited here. The miners her only worked with a pick and a shovel, and some blasting powder. Of course they had a type of lamp to to check on CO in the mine and coal damp.
Just today in the regional newspaper of
Beckley The Register Herald I saw an article stating that the
Pinnacle Mine is shut and flooded with water because of elevated Co levels...
Here the miner showed the working of a carbide lamp: put the powder in, add a few drops of water, close the container and you have a light for up to five hours. And the miners knew how to refill the lamp in total darkness. They would lay on their side and pick away at the seam of coal. Their pail for food was in metal to keep the rats out, it also contained half a gallon of water for a hard days work.
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