There are two types of coal mines: a slope mine and a vertical shaft mine. There is also surface mining, where rock is blasted and rock and earth are moved aside or trucked away as they expose coal veins.
We'll focus on slope mines and vertical mines.
Slope Mines
A slope mine originally started out (early 1800s) as a hole dug into the hillside, typically where coal was already seen on the surface (example: banks of the Monongahela River). To access those slope mines, men simply crawled into the hole on their bellies or backs, continually digging forward and pulling out earth, stones, and coal. This would be similar to today's gem hunting in the western US mountain areas, where men and women lay on their backs or bellies to dig deeper under the rock face or under a boulder.
Expansion of Slope Mines
Eventually, slope mines were enlarged so a man could walk semi-upright or be seated in a rail car to be taken deeper into the mine.... so the mine's roof was perhaps 4 feet high from the ground. Many West Virginia mines were slope mines originally.
Vertical Mines
Vertical mines means men could access the mine via an elevator system. An elevator car would take a team down and bring the men back up. These deep mines typically need ventilation shafts to bring air in, and for emergency escape IF assisted from the surface. For example, "The Quecreek Mine rescue took place in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, when nine miners were trapped underground for over 77 hours, from July 24 to 28, 2002. All nine miners were rescued." This was accomplished through a newly bored rescue hole, similar to a wide air vent bore hole.
Vertical mines by the late 1800s included a surface tipple and a coal conveyor system from within the mine to the surface, along with an elevator-cage system. Today's coal mines are pretty much the same, except much larger and more mechanized; men either walk in, eventually stooped over, or ride in cars on rails; or use elevator-cages.
HAZARDS OF MINES
One of the worst mine disasters happened at the Marianna Mine, Marianna PA in Washington County, PA (SW PA). "At 10:55 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, November 28, 1908, an explosion occurred in the mine which killed 154 men and left only one Survivor. Although the mine was quickly refurbished by the Pittsburg Buffalo Company, the colliery's fortunes flagged. By 1914, the mine was sold to the Union Coal and Coke Company and later to Bethlehem Steel which continued to extract coal until 1988, when the main conveyor caught fire. The fire was extinguished, but the mine closed anyway." (Wikipedia) Many of the men could not be reached and are entombed there.
Many coal mines became tombs throughout the 1800s. Many mines had roof/slate falls that killed one or more miners. Many NE US miners came as immigrants to work in the coal mines. In the bituminous mines, especially, there were many debates/fights over miner qualifications (the "practical miner") and the beginning of Mine Safety measures began in the late 1800s. The United Mine Workers UMW union was also started in SW PA in the early 1900s.
TO BE A MINER YOU MUST BE ABLE TO
This is what millions of coal miners have done since the late 1700s. Millions of men did this job to supply coal and coke to steel factories, coal to railroads to power train engines, and to burn for heating homes and businesses. Men (and even women now) take huge risks to continue going underground for this resource.
Poor families also used to send children to coal refuse waste piles of earth that had bits of coal embedded in clay, to chisel coal from the rock/clay to use in families' homes. Poor and homeless often built fires in coal refuse mounds to stay warm in winters. Coal refuse would catch fire also, from internal combustion due to the build-up of heat inside the mound of coal refuse. Many small towns had refuse pits that burned for years. (Burning coal refuse--the unusable coal-- creates red dog, which was used on many rural roads before they made asphalt.)
One town's coal mine caught fire and is still burning under Centralia, PA which started in the 1960s, and eventually forced the US Government to relocate its residents.
Coal mine is a found in an ground.
black thunder coal mine in us is the largest coal mine in the world
There are 2 kinds of coal mine shafts-- slope or dug horizontally then down, or a vertical shaft dug nearly straight down. Some coal mines use both--a wide tunnel dug as a slope, then down. However, in the 1800s, they often crawled into a slope mine.Depth of either type, and for either bituminous coal or anthracite coal, can be 1,000 to 2,000 feet underground. Most mines also have labyrinths of tunnels throughout, which can go to different depths.
The deepest coal mine in Europe is Jindřich II Mine in the Rosice-Oslavany coal basin, Czech Republic. The shaft of the mine reached 1550 m while the deepest level coal was mined at was at 1428.4 m. The mine was closed in 1991. It is probably the deepest coal mine in the world.Springhill Mine, near Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada, is the deepest coal mine in North America. The greatest depth of the Springhill area mines is about 1350 m. The mine was closed in 1958.
It would depend on the size of the coal deposit, the intentions of the mine owner, and the type of extraction method.
The miners get coal from down the hot old stinking mine
Trick question. There are still many coal mines in the world.
Yes, coal miners mine coal.
to mine coal...
How did they used to coal mine
The Hurriers job was to whear a harnest and pull coal in a coal mine from one part of the coal mine to another.
Coal mine is a found in an ground.
It is a Miner they go in Mines to mine out coal
The steam engine needs coal, the coal comes from the coal mine
Pit ponies were lowered down into coal mines to help haul the coal. By the mid 20th century, the ponies were replaced by mechanical devices.
To get coal.
There is 2 shafts in a coal mine.