Superintendent of Big upper Branch of Massey indited

 In June last year while in Beckley, West Viginia, I met Delbert, one of the people from the shift of which 29 miners died on April 5th, 2010.

He was kind enough to take the time to show the memorials and talk about the substandard safety and working conditions ( at least in European eyes). On his helmet the record longwall 100 feet retreat in 24 hours... Without roof support, without trade unions. Now one Gary May has been indited for falsifying safety records and for sing code words tiping of the miners underground  if a surprise inspection came.. It is obvious that the way the mine worked was to get as much coal out as possible and not cutting only coal but also cutting corners  and having to work in unsafe circumstances. Maybe this brings closure for the families, maybe safety in all mines will be improved because of this gruesome disaster.
Thank you again Delbert for sharing your story.

Marcinelle mine desaster

On august 8  1956 a fire broke out in Marsinelle, a coal mine in the French speaking part of Belgium; 262 people perished. 136 Italian miners and 65 Belgian.  The death toll of Italian immigrants in coal mines and caused by other work related accidents comes to over six hundred in Belgium alone between 1946 and 1956...

The English translation of a traditional  miners poem from the Ruhr area:

Glückauf

Glückauf! GoodLuck! The words you hear from all,

Who stand by us down in the mine;

It speaks of loyalty and standing tall

Also in the worst of time.

Glückauf! The song that everyone sings,

Who with us hand in hand

The black gold to the surface brings

For the good of the fatherland.

Glückauf! You hear it all around

In shafts dark and deep.

St Barbara protect, do safe us keep

From the Tommy knockers cracking sound.

Glückauf! Be it also your last hello,

When you take your leave

On that road we all must go,

The one that gives nobody real reprieve.

You'll find the original German poem Glückauf here

Old miners day

Old Miners day intended to honor the miners who lay at the origin of the small community of Chloride. In 1916, since the price of minerals was high, Chloride boomed. More than 2000 people living there, some sources say almost 4000 people. The parades over the years became smaller and less mining directed. The main group portraying miners were the E-Clampus-Vitus, The Lost Dutchman Chapter, a Historic Drinking Society or a Drinking Historic Society. Through humor they try to preserve the past and are respected throughout the West for their selfless efforts. Of course the Western reenactors where present and added to the fun: The Long coats and lace and the Wild Roses and even a group called The old West from Kingman.

The real hero is the fire brigade who was supposed to be in the parade but got called out to douse a fire. So the truck stood at the corner of the parade and the firemen watched it, taking of their warm protective gear. The old cars were great yet the cutest group was the kids with the goats and dogs and horses.

The road to Dante

Railroad, river and church at a crossroad in Dante. Faded publicity and green mountains and hill  and meadow: from deep viridian green to lime, to verdi gris, Green is the Appalachian color and of course the black of coal. Driving the coal heritage road gives one matters of life and death to consider. Mine disasters, poisonous effluents, small faraway villages where the old lady's, two were born in Dante, keep the local museum open.

Dante was a union mine. Massey Big Upper Branch mine is not.

Sweet and glad that strangers are interested in their heritage.

Friend caring  about their roots and place.
Doing bake sales, repairing old buildings, keeping the past alive.

That was Coal Heritage Road, a good way to see the country.



A video about MTR

Upper Big Branch Massey mine explosion, April 5, 2010

 In the explosion at the longwall of April 5, 2010 of the Massey mine near Whitesville 29 miners died. 29 helmets with their names on remind the passerby's of the disaster. Some families like Davis family lost 3 members.

While thinking and taking some pictures a car drove up and Delbert got out of the car.

Delbert happened to have a scheduled day off and the young college was changed shifts, they both were part of the crew that lost 29.

 There are several memorials along the road, very moving. Eating a bite at the local diner, one can see all the names on the window. That brought it home to me: The whole community is affected when something like that happens. It are not just fathers and husbands, brothers and nephew, but friends and acquaintances and neighbors and customers, all that share the life of the miners.

Delbert is a certified electrician: this is his helmet with the names of all his workmates on the helmet among little stars. He with Skeen Grover installed the first long-wall and the last. A long-wall is like a big slicing machine, cutting of a few inches of coal at the time over a length of 1000 feet. It was at the end of such a wall, where ventilation probably wasn't too good that the explosion occurred. The evidence seems to point to the fact that safety came not first, notwithstanding that Massey's motto was: Safety first, productivity second. Another memorial has the names of the 29 miners written on a piece of coal. The mine has just new owners Alpha operations. Their motto is Do what is right. Let's hope the miners are safer from now on. Glück auf! Delbert and all the crews.

Exhibition Coal Mine

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.