COAL MINING:

June 2015

FOUR WAYS TO EXTRACT MINERALS:

DRIFT Most common Follows the vein and typically slopes upward

SLOPE Lateral cut into the earth along the slope of a hill

or mountain Can also be found internal to an existing mine

going down as much as 45-degrees SHAFT

Vertical cut into the earth going down 90-degrees with tunnels branching off

OPEN-PIT Large open excavation – using Cranes, Draglines

and other large earth-moving machinery

DRIFT & SLOPE MINES:

SHAFT & OPEN-PIT

BLACK THUNDER COAL MINE:

Stripping Shovels:

Dragline:

THE CAPTAIN:

DRAGLINE & BUCKET:

ELECTRIC MINING SHOVELS:

EARLY MINES:

At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution most mining activities were built around either: Reclaiming minerals found on the surface or very

near to it Drift Mining – following the natural vein into a

hillside until either it petered out or water was found The earliest steam engines were designed to pump

water from the tin mines in Cornwall, England.

FIRST COMMERCIAL STEAM ENGINE:

FIRST COMMERCIAL STEAM ENGINE:

NEWCOMEN’S STEAM ENGINE:

MINER’S PROBLEMS:

In general, the Mines were Dark, Cool (50-degrees), Damp, and Dangerous.

Mining underground required blasting – done at first with black powder and then a form of dynamite. In turn, blasting created Gas – Coal or Black

Damp – Carbon Monoxide – a heavy, unnoticed gas that could kill you.

Fire Damp – Methane which was very flammable Other dangers included Roof Falls, Cave-Ins,

Quicksand, Water, Mine Cars and later contact with Electricity – ‘3rd Rail’

MINING – A SMALL MAN’S BUSINESS:

In England as well as Continental Europe – most of the earliest mines were low-roofed openings designed for the Small Compact man. As time wore on, Women and Children came to

also work in these mines – they were smaller in size

Men were paid one fee, Women, half of a man and Children, one-quarter of a man

Once mining moved to the United States, Men and Boys worked both above and under the ground.

LITTLE MAN’S BUSINESS:

Young boys (children) as young as 7 or 8 found employment below ground as: Door Tenders

In a mine, there were wooden doors located through the mine to provide air current to working areas

Mule Drivers Younger men who worked the mules who pulled the

coal cars Breaker Boys

Worked in the processing buildings, cleaning the rock and debris out of the coal before it was shipped to market

DOOR TENDER ~ DARK AND SOLITARY:

MULE DRIVERS:

Breaker Boys:

MINERS:

UNDERGROUND LAYOUTS:

Hazleton and South – Steep, narrow mines

Pioneer Tunnel, Ashland

ECKLEY MINER’S VILLAGE:

McDade Park: