View of Highwall: Many feet of overburden are removed by the large electric shovels to expose the coal seam. After completion of mining operations, the land is graded. It is then planted in forage crops, and beef cattle graze on it. Many trees have also been planted on lands affected by open-cut mining operations. At approximately the vertical center of the picture is a stratum of limestone which is quarried for use as road aggregate, track ballast and agricultural meal. Hanna Coal Company, Division of Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company
'The nature of Hanna Coal's surface mining operations is illustrated here. Among the company's seven strip shovels for removing the overburden and uncovering the 52-inch vein of coal, are four giants weighing in the neighborhood of 1,800 tons each, equipped with booms up to 120 feet long, and with scoops having a capacity up to 50 cubic yards. Each of these large shovels can move enough stone and earth per year to cover a football field more than a mile high.'
