What
knowledge and skills will Uncle Cyrus need as a coalminer?
A
coalminer had to know how to locate the veins of coal by boring holes
through the tunnel walls with a hand drill. After a vein of coal was
located, a dynamite blast was needed in order to open up the vein. The miner
needed to know how and where to safely place the
sticks of dynamite. A
coalminer needed to know how to determine the size of the blast so that
it wasn’t too big or too small an explosion. He needed to be skillful and
cautious in preparing the dynamite blast. If he wasn’t careful, he and the
other miners could be killed. A vein of coal required from four to twelve
blasts per day, depending on the size of the vein. Larger veins of coal
required more blasts than smaller veins.
The
coalminer was also responsible for propping up the roof of the tunnel
with wooden timbers, so that it would not collapse with the blast.
After
locating a vein of coal, the coalminer dug it out and loaded it into railcars that were pulled out of the mine by horses or donkeys.
Image Credit: Microsoft
ClipArt Gallery
Photo of Blue Canyon horses
that is linked to this page is courtesy of the Galen Biery Historical
Collection, Whatcom Museum of History
and Art.