The Black Lung Legacy

     Cape Breton Island has a long history with coal mining.  This valuable resource was usually close to the surface and relatively easy to extract, so long as the mine owners disregarded most health and safety concerns!

Safety sign to remind the workers. Notice the taped up extension
cord running across the sign.

     In the early 1700s, the French needed coal for fuel while contsructing their Fortress at Louisbourg. Hundreds of men and boys were employed in the mining operations and towns were built to house the workers.  After Louisbourg was captured by the British twice in the mid-1700s and treaties were finally established, giving the British control over Cape Breton (and most of what is now Atlantic Canada), coal mining began in earnest.

     The miners worked long hours in often cramped tunnels that dripped with toxic water and breathed in coal dust and methane gas.  Until electricity became in use in the mines, ventilation was created by strategically opening and closing doors and ventilation shafts.

     The last coal mine closed in 2001 and many of the workers that are still alive suffer from "black lung" disease (pneumoconiosis), hip and joint problems and other ailments.

Shelf of helmets in the workers area. After returning from the mine
they would shower and put on their home clothes before leaving.

Protective helmets

     Glace Bay was once a coal mining town and the Miners' Museum was opened in 1967 to keep the memories alive and to educate the world.  Although the actual site was not a coal mine, tunnels were dug in the same manner as they would have been in a real mine to give visitors a good taste of what a work day would have been like.  The tour guides are actual retired miners and their stories are very informative.  Our guide, Wish Donovan, worked as a coal miner for 32 years and was full of stories.

Al modelling the safety equipment. Of course, the miners did
not wear a poncho to protect themselves from the wetness -- only
the tourists.

     Of course, following safety procedures are mandatory now.

Here is Wish, our mine guide, taking us down the long tunnel to the mine.

     Tunnel height starts at about 7 feet but gets as low as 4 1/2 feet.  As the miners followed the seams of coal, they shored up the tunnels but did not want to spend long periods of time breaking out the rock surrounding the coal seams.  So in many places, the miners had to hunch over.

Going down the tunnel to the mine

The tunnel is now getting shorter. Notice the wooden beams
that are used to hold up the shaft. The floors are consistently
wet from condensation and water seeping through the coal.

     Water would be constantly dripping through the coal.

Wish talking about the floor

As we go along, the headroom decreased

A display showing a pit pony. They stayed in the mine and were
only taken up once a year. Poor thing!

     This was a model of a "pit pony" which is not a breed but any type of miniature horse that could work in the tunnels, pulling the coal bins from where the miners filled them to the tram that would carry them to the surface.  A boy's first job in the mines could have been leading the pit ponies.

Bev bent over in front of the stable where the pit ponies lived.

A pit pony with the cart that it would pull.

Rats were everywhere

     Miners would have to bring their lunches with them.  Hanging them on a post did not always prevent the ever-present rats from getting into them!

Sitting around the garden. A miner from Germany tried his hand
at gardening in the mine, many years ago. Beautiful flowers were grown.

     An experimental area to see if plants would grow underground if they were given light and water.

Coal cars on display

More safety reminders

Another sign

The self rescuer was like a face mask to help with breathing.
According to Wish, no one wore them. It just got in the way
of working and talking.  They only got paid by the car load that reached the
surface so nothing got in their way.

     Although the mine we were in was not a real mine from the past, it was close enough. It was very interesting to experience many of the things that the miners would have experienced. Learning about the industry in this manner was excellent.

     Wish had said that if you ask any miner if he would go back down the mines and work they would all say yes. It was like a lifestyle of hard work, close friends and little pay. I honestly don't understand why they would want to do it but to each their own.