Introduction:
Coal Mining 150 Years Ago

A Day in the Life of a Miner

• Morning
• Arrival
• Descent
• Bottom

As Fireboss

Jobs

Underground Stables

Introduction:
Open-Pit Mining Today

Mining

• Drilling and Blasting
• Removing the Waste Rock
• Loading Coal
• Processing Coal
  • Breaker
  • Coal-fired Dryer

Transporting Coal to the Market

Bottom

Well, here we are at the bottom. This is called the main entryway. If you’re tall you might have to duck because the roof is only 6 feet high and the walls are 16 feet apart. Electric lights light the tunnel for the next 500 feet.¹⁰

It’s awfully quiet down here isn’t it? Every time we start a new shift it gets very quiet like this because all the machines have stopped working.

Now that the very last cage of men has finally reached the bottom, the silence is broken and work begins. Whistles are blowing, mine cars are rumbling and men are shouting- the production of coal is taking place.¹¹

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