July 22
A different song seems to find me everyday, today's song is:
Workin' in the coal mine
Goin' down, down, down
Workin' in the coal mine
Whop! about to slip down
At first I wondered why on earth anyone would choose to work in the coal mine. Then I realized, silly me, there was no choice, without an education it was the only work available.
What was the life of a coal miner like right into the 1960's? Think Frank McCourt and Angela's Ashes.
All the guides at this Canadian historic site were coal miners. Our guide went to night school so that he could complete grade ten. (All three of his children went to university) When he was a boy they had no blankets. Overcoats covered them when they slept. He survived two mining disasters before he was laid off when the mines shut down.
The mine at Glaze Bay lay under the ocean and went for miles. Short men had an advantage because the mine shaft was only 4 1/2 feet high. Horses lived in the mines and seldom saw the light of day.
The tradition of planting a garden in a mine began long before Flin Flon's marijuana fields.
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