Pioneer Coal Mine

Pennsylvania, Coal country. Ever wonder how they actually mine coal to turn into the energy that we use? About a month ago I took a small journey into a mountain and found out.





Here's our story:



While on a business trip I ducked off the interstate with a couple of friends to a small eastern Pennsylvania town near Bloomsberg, PA that had a coal mine as a tourist attraction.




Pennsylvania is full of coal mines both working and abandoned. This particular mine was working around the time of the depression, and if memory serves was made into a tourist attraction back in the 60's. Anthracite Coal is the cleanest burning coal that can be found and can only be found in a 500 square miles area in Pennsylvania.







Here's what the trip underground was like:







Once inside, the guide showed us what coal mining was like "in the old back days" (a direct quote from my nephew). Coal was drilled by hand in very tight areas to place a charge to blow the coal apart. Then the coal was loaded onto carts pulled by mules and hauled to the surface.



We learned a lot about how coal was mined, but also about how families survived during this era. As I had time to reflect on my thoughts of the day, I had one thought come back to mind. The families of miners and of this era gone by were real families. The kind that eat supper together in the evening around the dinner table. Not with Chinese take out, but real food. When families went through hard times like the depression, friends, and neighbors stuck it out with them, and helped them through. In today's day, many of us don't even know our neighbors. Or maybe just the ones next door that has the stupid barking dog, but what about the one's down the street. We are to busy to know them. We are so wrapped up in our own little worlds that we don't have time to maintain a relationship with them.



I said this a thousand times, we must slow down and look outside of our little boxes. The coal towns across the Appalachian Mountains have felt the turn of the economy many times over the past hundred years. Without them we might be reading by candle light.



If we would spend a little more time with our families around the dinner table, and with the people around our neighborhoods we just might find something special. The track we are teaching the Y generation is of complete self centeredness. How do we change things? I'll tell you what my Dad told me a few years ago, when we were discussing the youth of America. One child at a time.





We live in the best country in the World. I don't say that arrogantly because I'm an American, I say it because where else can anyone get a college education, or own a business? It only takes hard work, the opportunities here are endless. I've been to other countries, the third world type, both as a soldier, and a missionary and trust me, we never knew we had it so good. Read about the Holocaust survivors, or WWII veterans that liberated countries in Europe. We have it good. I'm both proud to have served with the 101st Airborne and to live here in the USA. But these kind of opportunities also requires much responsibility. What are we teaching? What we do and What we say really does change how our society sees things.

Search 'your' world and find time to relax. Reflect on what footprint you are making as you journey through this life. I hope to make our country and our society a better place. At the end of life's day I want to say I did all I could, and I spent my life well. That I made a difference.






I enjoyed my trip back in time and into the mountain. If you are ever in PA, stop by for a visit. It cost less than a lunch for one at Applebee's, souvenir included.



Remember Look Up, Live Life, and Be Thankful.


Kevin