Coal Dust Is White

Steve put Jack Barta, an old hand and his foreman, in charge of Drake.  When Drake went down the cage to one of the many levels that were being mined, Jack tried to explain just what would take place.  Drake wore overalls and had a metal mining helmet with an electric light on his forehead.  Although the temperature above ground was over eighty degrees, the temperature in the tunnel was a cool sixty degrees.  Drake noticed that the tunnels were filled with a gravel base over which train track was laid.  The empty cars were sent to the miners, filled, and returned to the cage where they would be moved to the surface to be emptied.  The tunnels had electric lights strung from the ceiling and the entire area was shored up with heavy timbers

     Water dripped from the walls and ran down the incline to the shaft along a small gulley cut by the track.  As they got down into the tunnel, Jack explained to Drake, “If we could take a cross section of this mine and you could look at it from the air, it would look like any city would look.  Our principal avenue is the main tunnel or gangway which runs from the shaft.  Then we have avenues or tunnels running parallel with the gangway; these are called airways.  Between the airways we have our streets and these are called breasts.  These tunnels are generally named after the first miner who began digging that particular street.  Many of these chambers are so old that the miners after whom they were named have long since died.  Now that you understand the basic layout, we also have inclines and declines such as a city would have streets that go up hill and downhill; only down here we call them inclines or slopes.  The basic construction of a mine is similar to that of the street layout above the ground.  We lay track so that we can get the coal cars to the miners who are digging new streets, or crosscuts.  Once these are dug, you might wonder what happens in the areas between the streets that might be equivalent to the blocks of a city, where the homes would actually be located.”

     While Drake was listening, he was busy watching the coal cars come from the distant part of the mine down the gangway where he and Jack stood next to the shaft when the cage moved up and down to the surface.  The two of them hadn’t moved an inch while Jack was talking.

     “Anyway, Drake, the company used boreholes to determine, if there is any coal, rock, or shale between the city streets.  If there is coal, then we mine those areas where the homes would be built.  We don’t waste time or money looking for coal where there ain’t any.”

     Drake squinted his eyes a bit and thought seriously, “But how about the surface support you must leave so that our homes on the top won’t cave in?”

     “Good question, Drake,” chimed Jack.  “In that case we leave what we call pillars. It’s a  pity to leave them because sometimes they’re solid coal and worth a great deal.  But if we took them and do what’s called pillar robbing, then the earth on the surface might cave soon after it collapsed down here.  There is a thick rock cover between the mines and the top without too much surface caving even if there is a lot of caving down here.  Occasionally we will rob a good pillar, but then we criss-cross timber to take its place.  We call that a chock or crib.”

     “What happens when the timbers rot if you do that?”

     “Good God Drake, you worry too much! When the timbers rot, then it’ll cave and the surface might cave too.  So there’ll be a little damage.  But what the hell, you’re the owner, you don’t have to worry.  The people can’t touch you.  Laws were passed many years ago for the mine owner’s protection so the property owner would have no recourse.”

     Drake was getting impatient in his feelings.  He could feel his nerves getting taut. He blazed at Jack, “But that’s not fair!”

     “You’re right,” answered Jack, “it’s not fair, but don’t blame me for these laws.  Look at it another way.  The men who own the property on the surface all make their living from the mines.  Isn’t it natural for them to have their jobs protected and secure?  If the mine companies had endless legal troubles concerning surface support they’d be out of business long ago and the men would be out of work, too. It’s just form of job protection.”

     “Well I still don’t think it’s fair.”

     There were some coal cars coming down the slight incline toward them where they stood near the cage and tunnel entrance. There a man was sliding a triangular piece of wood under the steel wheel of the coal car to stop it from crashing into the cage.  The triangular piece of wood had a round steel grip the man held as he shoved it with precision under the steel wheel.

     Drake pointed to the man, “What’s he doing?”

     “Drake, he’s doing what we call snubbing.  He’s stopping the loaded coal cars with those triangular pieces of wood.  It’s tricky business because you can get hurt very easily.  Course, down in this bloody hole, you can get injured without looking for trouble.”

     “Jack” asked Drake, “Let me try that snubbing?”

     “No it’s too tough.  You better get acquainted with the operation first.”

     “Look Jack, coming down here wasn’t my idea.  It’s my old man, If he wants me to learn mining, then I’ve got to learn by doing.”

     Drake quickly ran over to the side of the man who was doing the snubbing.  The previous cars had already been loaded onto the cage and were on their way to the surface.  Another group of loaded coal cars headed down the track down Drake and the miner.  Before Jack could do anything to stop Drake, the loaded coal cars had separated them.

     Drake grabbed the block of wood and in attempting to slide the block of wood underneath the wheels, he slipped.  His both hands slide underneath the wood and the weight of the coal car went over the snubbing block and both his hands.  He screamed!  The other miner quickly pulled him to the side as soon as the wheel had passed.  Jack climbed between the coal cars and rang the alarm bell announcing there had been an accident.  Drake was sitting with his back to the wall of the mine.  He was staring ahead, his eyes glassy, and hands lying limply by his side.  Jack took one look at his hands.  The block save them from being cut off by the wheel, but they were crushed beyond recognition.  They looked like a mass of bloody pulp and the fingers were unidentifiable as such.  Jack had seen many accidents in the mines, but this made him sick to his stomach.  He gagged a few times while he waited for the cage to bring down the stretcher.