Life at the end of the tunnel
August 17, 2007 - 9:19pm — JYork
As we walked the path to the neighborhood baseball field, it was necessary to cross a fenced pasture. The upper corner was only twenty yards wide so that was the best place to cross. A quick look to find the field’s occupant – a mean tempered mule –one jump over the barbed wire barrier, a quick dash, another jump, and you arrive safely on the other side. To make the crossing interesting, we 
sometimes would wait until the resident mule was aware of our presence and waiting for a chance to run us down. A few stones thrown his way helped added to the danger and excitement.
sometimes would wait until the resident mule was aware of our presence and waiting for a chance to run us down. A few stones thrown his way helped added to the danger and excitement.That mule spent its workday pulling mining cars out of the small privately owned coal mine dung into the hillside adjacent to the baseball field. We spent any spare time we had tormenting the beast and testing our speed and agility. At times as we walked along the fence line the mule would walk with us on the other side of the fence snorting and issuing his challenge. I think he enjoyed trying to trample little brats.
For me, life in a coal mining patch town in the 1950’s seems more interesting as I look back at those times and remember that part of my life because so many things have changed.Back then heavy industry ruled the employment world. The coal mines and steel mills provided the jobs and families lived close to each other and their workplace.
In our town, nearly everyone heated their homes with coal. An oil furnace was a status symbol that few could afford and the only electric heat came out of a toaster. The smell of coal smoke and fumes and air borne soot back then would make today’s EPA officials cringe. Coal ashes from home furnaces were so plentiful that in winter they were scattered on snowy roads to provide traction for automobiles. Sled riding kids hated to see the “ash truck” coming.
I remember that everyone had a clothesline for laundry day(Monday) and large vegetable garden. Many families raised chickens, a few had pigs and beef cattle, and most had beagles for hunting rabbits.
Mowing the lawn was no big deal – the garden and outbuildings took up most of the available landscape.
Bread, pies, and cookies came out of the oven and not a store.
Mom was always at home. You could leave the house in the morning, play all day, and return for meals, and at dark there was no need to worry about your safety.
We shopped at the “company store” run by the coal company. There you could buy appliances, dry goods, and other products on credit and the company would deduct the purchase payments from Dad’s paycheck.
Mom was always working in the house. Dad was always working in the mines. We did chores between ballgames and bike riding and working on our “clubhouse” shack near the baseball field.
I never heard my dad or another miner complain about the dangers of their occupation, but I do remember my mother’s daily concern for my dad. She had good reason to worry – he had broken bones, missing fingers, and plenty of cuts and scrapes added to his work resume over the years.
Without exception, every miner encouraged their son to get an education so they would not need to work in the mines. They knew the danger and wanted a better life for their kids.
I listened, but failed to apply his wisdom. After getting drafted into the Army for two years, I trained to be a mine mechanic and went into the mines. I began work as a roof bolter helper during my apprentice year that is required before getting my mining papers.
But after nine months of back breaking work, wet working conditions – it sometimes rains in a coal mine - respiratory problems, and numerous near accidents, I overcame my fear of college and used my G.I. Bill benefits to enroll at Penn State.
That move from the mines to college changed my life for sure, but I believe that life in general has changed since my youth. Families are scattered across the country and no longer congregate near employment centers. Heavy industry has been replaced by high-tech employment. The digital world is here to stay and everyone is online.
Today, mining is big business and coal is a key energy resource.
Here are some facts about coal from the American Coal Foundation:
- The United States produces about 20%, or 1.1 billion tons, of the world's coal supply—second only to China.
- Coal generates about half of the electricity used in the United States.
- More than 2 million acres of mined land have been reclaimed over the past 25 years—that's an area larger than the state of Delaware.
- The United States has about a 245-year supply of coal, if it continues using coal at the same rate at which it uses coal today.
- Montana is the state with the most coal reserves (119 billion tons), but Wyoming is the top coal-producing state—it produced about 400 million tons in 2004.
- Texas is the top coal-consuming state. It uses about 100 million tons each year.
- The average coal miner is 50 years old and has 20 years of experience.
- Coal ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, is used as filler for tennis rackets, golf balls, and linoleum.
- U.S. coal deposits contain more energy than that of all the world's oil reserves.
- Each person in the United States uses 3.8 tons of coal each year.
When asked about my days as a coal miner, I often struggle to explain what it is like to work in the mines. I am not claustrophobic so I never felt confined or buried when underground. For most people who visit a mine, the one thing that gets a reaction from them is the total lack of light. The only light underground comes from the headlamp a miner wears on a hardhat.
Miners enter the mine on an elevator or sloping train car that drops several hundred feet into the earth to reach the seam of coal. Machines are use to cut through the coal seam and the loose coal is then transported out of the mine on a series of conveyor belts that wind through tunnels or shafts leading to the surface.
A mining “crew/team” consists of a “face boss” who supervises six to eight men. In addition to the boss, the crew includes a continuous miner operator, his helper, two “shuttle car” operators, a roof bolter operator, and his helper [that was my job], and perhaps another person to do other tasks like rock dusting or shoveling loose coal along the belt system.
As mines age and after months of digging into the coal seam, the mining crew travels miles from the elevator shaft or entry point as they continue to cut their way through the coal seam.
In addition to a lack of light, mines are void of oxygen. Fresh air is drawn into the mine with large fans and circulated down the shafts and through the tunnels, past the miners, and out the return airway shaft or tunnel, and through the exhaust fans.
Circulating air into the mine also moves the highly explosive methane gas out of the mine. Explosions occur when air circulation is inadequate and methane levels reach the flash point.
Coal mining is in the news today. Miners are trapped in a Utah mine and have not been heard from for days. Rescuers attempting to reach the trapped men have been killed and injured. Last year in America, 47 miners lost their lives in coal mining accidents.
All the news reports remind me of my days as a miner. They also remind me of my father who was killed in a mining accident in 1971.
Need a personal connection to mining?
Experience one of the many museums and tourist mines in Pennsylvania. Examine the mining equipment, talk to miners, explore an underground mine, and learn more.
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Comments
The hidden cost of power
I've been to several coal mining museums and sites in Pennsylvania. I think the one that I like best is the Quecreek Mine Rescue Site. As the story of the Utah miners continues, I've had an urge to go visit there again.
Thanks for sharing your personal experiences with coal mining, Jack. Those of us who are removed from the industry just can't imagine what it's like to live with that persistent anxiety of potential loss -- how do you go off to work everyday, or send someone off to work everyday, knowing that they might not come home?
I am often reminded of the old saying "history repeats itself" when I hear news of another coal mining disaster in China. Coal mining is the deadliest job in China, much as it was here in the US in the 19th and early 20th century. According to a 2004 article in China Daily, in 2003, the average coal miner in China produced 321 tons of coal a year; this is only 2.2 percent of that in the United States and 8.1 percent that of South Africa. The death rate for every 100 tons of coal, however, is 100 times of that of the US and 30 times of the South Africa. In the years 2000 through 2005, an average of 6,200 coal miners were killed in China each year. Just to put this in perspective, I did a little searching around; in the first 137 years of coal mining in the US (1837-1976), 13,648 miners were killed. In the first five years of the 21st century (2000-2004) 36,910 miners were killed in China. Granted, our demand for power has changed considerably since the early days of coal mining, but it doesn't change the fact that coal mining is an inherently dangerous job. That makes those kilowatts pretty expensive.