The Historical Perspectives Tour is off
to a great start. We have 27 participants from the NY/NJ ERC and the Univ of
Cincinnati ERC.
Today we visited the Lackawana Coal Mine
Tour in Scranton, PA. We descended into the mine, 300 feet below the
surface. We learned about room and
pillar mining. The guide also taught us
about the different jobs that workers had, staring with 5 year old boys who
worked above ground. At 8 or 9 years old
they moved to jobs in the mine, such as a Nipper (they operated the doors in
the mine), Sprager (they were the braking system for the coal cars), and Mule
boys (took care of the mules).
Miners were paid between $1.15 and $1.25
per car load of coal (approximately 5 tons). Although, at the end of the day, they really
took home nothing, as they had to purchase their tools and supplies, pay other
workers, and pay for other things with that money.
Hicahm Alnachawati, Moiz Khan, Kelechi
Isiugo, Ifeanyi Nwaneshidu made a nice presention on coal mining to the group.
Now we are off to Pittsburgh for our tour of Homestead Steel/Carrie Furnaces
and the NIOSH Personal Protective Technologies Lab.
4 comments:
Lackawana coal tour always interesting. Seems like I always learn something new every time I got there. Amazing how the miners could work in such small areas. Can't imagine working with the lighting they had before the electric battery powered lights they have today.
It is no doubt a unique wonderful experience. Prior to my visit to Lackawanna coal mine visit, I could only picture the mining industry and its surrounding setting from movies I watched and books I read. However, now after this visit, I have lived, even for few hours, the actual coal mining industry life and history, I have learned how hard and harsh coal production used to be, how much misery and pain were experienced along the course of coal extraction and products creation. Many thanks to ERC for funding such significant and essential leering event.
Hicham Alnachawati, MD, MPH
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Today's ERC Historical Perspectives Site Visit Course to the Lackawanna County Coal Mine was a good learning experience and a nice beginning for our trip.
The coal mine tour provided a well articulated overview of the slope mining approach and some of the dangers involved, including the problem of oxygen scavenging as well as the release of combustible gas (methane), which until relatively recently were gauged with the use of mine safety lamps. Also interesting were the points made about the other major risks associated with the trade, including that of mine roof failure ('roof squeezing') due to the presence of roof slip faults, and also that of pre-mature mine section collapse during 'retreat mining', when coal is being mined from rock chambers, which serve as the primary structural supports for mine roof stability.
Hemant
THis was a great experience, we got to go into a coal mine (not currently active), saw great images on the history of the mine and the conditions the coal workers had to endure. Good way of understanding the need for hazard prevention and safety monitoring for workers involved in this industry.
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