We go coal mining!

 The Sydney area has extensive coal deposits/seams that have been mined since the 1700's.  The coal was first found on the surface, which was easy to mine, but it was soon discovered that the seams ran into the ocean, almost all the way to Newfoundland.  When mining started on a large scale, the coal mines actually ran under the ocean, some as far as 5-6 miles!  This sounds very odd and dangerous, but when I checked it out, it was actually a thing, and there never was a catastrophic incident here where seawater broke in and flooded the mine, though the other hazards of deep mining were very real.  The strict rule was that there had to be at least 200ft of solid rock between the coal seam and the floor of the ocean for it to be safe.  Some mines had 3000 ft of rock above them.  It was a dangerous and low-paying job, but it was the primary industry here for over 100 years.  The mines are all closed now, but there are still a few retired miners around whom we have met.  This photo shows an exposed coal seam by the ocean with about 50-100ft of dirt above it.  Runoff from a recent rain cascades down into the ocean.

In the "olden days", only half the coal could be removed, in a checkerboard pattern about 20ft square.  At least half of the coal had to be left in place to support the roof, otherwise it would collapse.  Pretty inefficient, but that was the best that could be done.  Regardless, there were still cave-ins, collapses, explosions from methane gas and all the other things that make mining so dangerous.  

To get the miners in and the coal out, rail tracks were put in the bottom of the mine and carts pulled by horses hauled the coal out to where it could be hoisted to the surface with a vertical cable lift.  The "Pit Ponies" were small, Shetland sized, and came from Sable Island a couple hundred miles SE in the Atlantic.  They were survivors of numerous shipwrecks over the years.  Sable Island is uninhabited except for horses.  This is a model, not a stuffed one.

As dreary as life was for the Pit Ponies, the miners said the owners treated the horses better than they did the miners.

This is our guide Sheldon, who is a retired miner and now works at the Mining Museum.  We're not really under the ocean, but there are constant drips from the ceiling as the rain and surface water percolates down.  The wooden shoring above his head helps support the roof from caving in.  This particular mine had a seam only about 5ft high, so we had to walk around bent over all the time.  Of course the actual miners had to work in those conditions.  Some seams got down to only 18" high, and were worked with a pick and shovel, while the miners were laying on their sides.  Some were up to 20ft high.  Black lung disease (silicosis) was prevalent among the older miners from constant breathing of the coal dust and gases.  Breathable air had to be pumped and directed/deflected to the end of the mine so the miners and ponies could breathe.  Methane gas leaks had to be detected and cleared - first by canaries who would faint, and later by sniffer sensors.  Very primitive and harsh conditions.

This is a "radial cutting machine" powered by compressed air.  It had a long bit on it that would cut holes for blasting, or horizontal cuts so the coal could be dug out.   It was loaded by hand into rail carts with a #9 coal shovel.  Remember Tennessee Ernie Ford's song .  .  . "I loaded 16 tons of #9 coal"?  Well, this is how it was done.  In the days before this tool was used, it was all picks and blasting.

Ewwwww!  Well at least this is a plastic rat.  Our guide says that once rats infested a mine, they could never be cleared out.  They would go after the food in the miner's lunchboxes and were a constant nuisance.

One little joy the miner's had was an underground flower garden that was kept alive by artificial lights.  Otherwise it was cold, wet, and dark.  Here Sheldon gives a wrap-up to the tour and answers questions.

We were lucky to have our friend Norm as our personal guide on this tour.  He is a retired miner himself, and a real character.  The miners were all close working buddies, and would always put the safety (and sometimes rescue) of a fellow miner at the highest priority.  Here he is with Sister Johnson at the end of our tour.

Now go back up to the first picture, and you will see the stacks from the coal-fired power plant that supplies most of the electrical power to the Cape Breton area.  This is a good thing, right?  After all, the power plant is sited right next to one of the largest remaining coal fields in the world.  Wrong.  The coal mines are all shut down, and the coal is imported from Venezuela.

In the late 1960's when mining technology got automated and there were  "continuous miners" and "long wall mining" that was all done by machine, and nearly all the coal could be removed and the supports removed and the ceiling collapsed - sounds particularly dangerous, especially with the ocean is above you.  Life was finally getting better and safer for the miners, just as the demand for coal dropped and the mines closed.  No more mines operating here, but there is one exploratory mine that may come into production.  It was fun for us to learn about this history of our area, and to be able to go into an actual mine.