Discovery Room 15: The Mining Life
Today coal mining is an automated industry, but in its early days it was a very labor-intensive job. Miners worked long hours underground and had to hand load the coal into cars after picking it out of coal seams. Look at the tools that these miners used and the equipment they wore for protection. In this Discovery Room you’ll find out what canaries had to do with mine safety. Discover who worked the mine as mule drivers. You’ll also learn that mining was not a discriminatory industry. Once underground, men were miners, regardless of color, creed, or heritage. For that reason ethnic communities grew up around the mine.
Video courtesy of West Virginia Public Broadcasting; Videographer/Editor: Janet Kunicki; Narrator: Beth Vorhees
