Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine

Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine
Listed on the National Register of Historic Sites, the Beckley Exhibition Coal journeys deep into the earth and far back in time. Fifteen hundred feet of underground passages have restored the mine operated by the Phillips family in the late 1800’s in West Virginia. You ride man cars from the mine entrance to the old working area of the coal mine. On the site of the historical coal camp is situated the Ranhal Company Store, Coal Company House, Superintendent’s House, Pemberton Coal Camp Church, Helen Coal Camp School and a one room house for a single miner. The tour itself was excellent and we learned a lot about coal mining. The tour guide had spent 47 years in the mines dating back to the 1950’s. It was, and still is, dirty and hard work to mine coal. In the beginning, a miner supplied his own hand tools, bought his own powder and worked a specific section of the mine. The coal company supplied the means to remove the coal from the mine in a cart on railroad tracks pulled by an animal. The miner worked 16 to 18 hour days in order to remove 10 tons of coal. They were working in 10 foot sections and the lift could have been as low as 25 inches. The miner would undercut the coal seam using a pick. He, then, would drill 4 foot holes, with a hand auger at 3 locations at the top of the seam. He would then load the black powder and blast the coal. One shot would give him 10 tons of coal. He would then hand shovel the coal into the carts and the next step would be to shore the ceiling with wood posts which was done every 4 feet. The animals would go blind working in the mines. They would hire children to lead the animals in and out of the coal mines. It is obvious that it was long hours, dirty work and very dangerous. You can understand why the labor movement began in the coal mines. Bob had spent some time in the coal mines in 1970 but found this tour very informative. Kettle bottoms were petrified stumps of trees that would be in the coal seams and if they were to fall unexpectedly on a coal miner they could kill him as they weighed hundreds of pounds. Miners pushed along the rail on 2 wheel scooters and the problem was if the scooter were to hit anything in its path the miner would go flying.