I was Born A Cole Miner's Daughter....

[MsDisney23]

born in Hinton, W.Va. in 1961. My own Grandfather was killed in a minning accident. My own father quit the mines the day it happened,along with most of his brother's.

I love to always watch The Waltons as it reminds me so much of HOME! My heart goes out to these famile's. If we all just keep them in our Prayer's and good thought's.

The Nation mourn's for our family in West Virginia.

A Speedy recovery Randy!

 

[clarabelle]

Are there mines all over the country -or just in West VA?
Its so sad -and as someone said in another post -it seems like there should be a safer more modern way to do it.

 

[punkin]

Are there mines all over the country -or just in West VA?
Its so sad -and as someone said in another post -it seems like there should be a safer more modern way to do it.

Oh yes.

The biggest mining district is in Colorado.

 

[MICKEY88]

Oh yes.

The biggest mining district is in Colorado.

for coal....????????

 

[Sparx]

for coal....????????

yes. Coal is still used today. But you can mine for pretty much anything.

 

[safetymom]

PA has a lot of coal mines also. The last large coal mining accident was in PA.

 

[Pooh67_68]

PA has a lot of coal mines also.

It sure does, my grandfather was a coal miner.

 

[Sparx]

West Virginia was the one that was all over the news this morning, right? I didn't catch where it was. My heart goes out to the families involved.

 

[MICKEY88]

yes. Coal is still used today. But you can mine for pretty much anything.

maybe I don't understand what you mean by largest district, but according to this website...coal statistics

Colorado isn't at the top of any list, production, reserves, whatever..???

 

[Lyn5]

Doesn't Colorado have natural gas, oil, gold and things of that nature? I thought there were numerous gold mines at one time.

 

[Lyn5]

I found this link http://www.coloradomining.org/colomining.html . It seems they do have coal.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Very, very sad.

My grandfather was a coal miner in PA, too. My grandmother couldn't stand the anxiety and fear every time there was an accident (this was early 1900's), so he left his job and they moved away.

 

[binny]

This brings back so much for us as well.
Granted it is not coal mining, but hard rock mining instead.


My Great Uncle was a survivor and rescuer of the Sunshine Mine disaster in Kellogg, Idaho. This is a book written about him and the 26 other survivors...
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/03/01/news/news05.txt


They have been rehashing it on the news last night and today. Going over old video. It was so strange to see a picture of a man who has been gone now for 20 odd years yet had such a large impact on my childhood.
The sunshine mine disaster happened in 72 when I was 1 year old, I have heard about it all my life though and the heroics of that day. I did lose a cousin in that mine but 90 other families also lost cousins, fathers, sons, brothers.... Kellogg is not that large of a place, everyone was affected there, as I know everyone in this disaster is as well.
Mining towns are a different type of town. You watch out for each other. I think any industry where peoples lives are in danger on a regular basis breeds those types of relationships. You just HAVE to look out for one another. Its just the way things are done.


They are all in my prayers. I cant imagine the horror of the last 3 days.

I pray for Randy as well. May God continue to bless him.

 

[punkin]

I'm sorry. I typed too fast. I believe Colorado has the largest MSHA oversight district office. Now that applies to all mines, not just coal.

An interesting aside are also still some anthracite coal mines in PA which are still worked pretty much the way they were 100 years ago. Only about 12 left now.

 

[MICKEY88]

I'm sorry. I typed too fast. I believe Colorado has the largest MSHA oversight district office. Now that applies to all mines, not just coal.

An interesting aside are also still some anthracite coal mines in PA which are still worked pretty much the way they were 100 years ago. Only about 12 left now.

there are a lot of bootleg coal holes within 5-15 minutes of my house, run by 1 or 2 guys in the middle of the night...

the small town I grew up in was the largest coal producer in the world in the late 1800's,

my grandfather went to work in the mines at the age of 14,,and was trapped in a cave in at the age of 16, he was lucky enough to make it out, but suffered years later with black lung disease..

 

[Tiggeroo]

my grandfather was a coal miner in pa. also. He and my grandmother left everything and bought a property in NJ.

 

[Michelina]

My grandfather was a coalminer in PA too, he started working when he was 8 years old.
My heart is breaking for those families in West Virginia. We lived in Charleston for three years and we found that the West Virginian's were such kind, unpretentious real people.
I heard on the news today that coal still makes up 50% of all of our electricity. I don't think a lot of people think about what it takes to get it out of the ground. Maybe out west they do more strip mining then deep mining though?

 

[Caradana]

I've heard it said often in the past two days that these men worked in the mines because they "pay well", versus other available jobs in West Virginia. Can I ask - what is the pay range as a coal miner? I'm curious what they get to take that much risk.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Mining is much safer than in years past, but still very dangerous..........

http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT2.HTM

Are there mines all over the country -or just in West VA?
Its so sad -and as someone said in another post -it seems like there should be a safer more modern way to do it.

 

[dmslush]

My grandfather mined coal in East TN for many years. He even had a fairly good size chunk of it embedded in his lower lip. I'm not sure how it got there, but it is something I remember vividly.