absolutely no way I could do that or even go down in the thing just to see.
*** shudder ***
There isn't any mining like that done around here anymore Bob (fuck, they're ain't no mining done 'round here anymore...), but that used to be the normal thing for a man to make his living around here. I'm a 4th generation miner dude, my whole family has done it, my Dad, Grandpa's on both sides, plus their Dad's on both sides....It used to be a way of life around here...
The first job I had underground (actually my first "real" job legally, I worked for my Dad's boss outside illegally for a couple years because I wasn't old enough to be certified for underground work), began March 21, 1989. I turned 18 the previous November & the guy finally put me on the payroll. I'd been making $5/hour cash money, no check, no IRS, greenbacks... When they "officially" hired me, I made $6/hour, with no benefits at all, just a payday (with the wonderful world of being taxed), shoveling mud out from under a conveyor belt in a mine that was about 28-30" high, & was almost 4 miles deep...The last job I had I was making $28.75/hour, plus a bi-weekly production bonus, monthly attendance bonus, & decent insurance, running a 40-ton, 12' wide, 37 1/2' long remote controlled continuous miner, in a mine roughly 2 1/2 miles deep, about 48-52" high....
Coal mining is very different now than back then, they enforce the laws a hell of a lot more now, back then, it was an outlaw's paradise, which is how I was trained to mine coal. As a 15+ year continuous miner operator, I have been known to fracture an occasional law or two to make the company some $$$... Every company I ever worked for knew if coal wasn't coming off the belt outside, 99% of the time, it had not a damn thing to do with me because I would fuckin' lay it's ears back & let it roll...
Nowadays if you were to get caught doing some of the shit I did back then (up until
Sago &
Aracoma happened), you go to prison. Back in the day, the governments (state & federal) would just fine the company, & it wasn't really an issue because the fines weren't so big, & the companies would just pay 'em & keep doing it because the profits far outweighed the fines. But you do some of the shit now that I've done about all my life & get caught, you'll go to jail for a long time, & then owe anything else you make (if you ever get out of prison) because the fines are personal & on the individual now.
Just one of the fines I was personally subjected to
all day, everyday at work was $250,000 if I did my job wrong & they caught it, whether accidentally or on purpose, didn't matter, the federal mine inspectors have been headhunting since Sago...Some of the newer laws are good, & protect us, but 99% of 'em just ran a big dick up our asses because they've got politicians making laws for mining, that don't know jack shit about it. Most of the guys who make these laws are pencil pushers that an honest day's work would fuckin' kill....
Sorry for the off-topic rant here guys, the closing of all these mines around here is a big, big issue to me, & everybody around here. Lots of people are losing everything they have because of the dumb-asses making the laws & running this country...I'm not political at all, in fact, I've never even registered to vote, & refuse to. I personally despise 100% of 'em because
to me, there's not
one of 'em
worth voting for, because they're all fuckin' crooks & the way the working man actually gets fucked over, while they all get rich....sorry, but yes I'm one pissed off hillbilly over all this bullshit & trust me, I'm not alone...
And don't even get me started on the younger generation of coal miners (I personally don't consider 'em coal miners myself) either....I've seen so many of 'em do so many stupid things, even after us experienced guys would tell 'em not to...just pure dumb-asses
...
Again, sorry for the fuckin' novel I wrote here & going off-topic, but I at least feel better now....