Sewall Coal Seam Worked by the New River Coal Company
Description:
'All white oak mines work the same seam of coal, viz: Sewall. THe face of one of the working places or rooms is shown in this picture. The coal averages about 48 to 50 inches in thickness. This working place is now ready to be cut by the undercutting machine, so it can be shot down be the miner and loaded into cars for transportation to the tipple. The white line on the roof in this picture is the center line of the room set by the engineers to guide the men operating the mining machine in driving the room straight.'
'This miner has just completed loading a mine car of weighing net about two and one-half tons, and is waiting for a locomotive to come along and take it out and give him another empty car. An industrious miner will load about six and sometimes eight of these cars in one day. This is a wooden mine car that is now being rapidly replaced by steel mine car equipment. The number of post shown in this picture indicate again the immense amount of timber required to conduct operations in a safe manner.'
Steel Mine Car at One of the White Oak Shaft Mines
Description:
'All ready-Hoist! This is an end view of one of our new steel mine cars on a cage at one of the White Oak Shaft mines, and the signal has just been given to hoist it to the surface--450 feet up! These electric equipped hoists can hoist a car every twenty seconds and dump it! The cars are placed on the cages automatically by creeper chains and car stops. One man operates the signals and car stops and chains.'
'Coal at all White Oak shafts mines is handled on self dumping cages, which handle the coal uniformly and with a minimum of breakage. Note how evenly the coal is flowing from the mine car. Much more rapid of course than the picture indicates, but it shows how well designed the equipment must be to handle the coal in such splendid manner.'
'All White Oak mines are electrically equipped and of course this mining machine is operated by electricity. The machine is mounted and transported on a specially designed truck and moves under its own power from one working place to another. It is taken from the truck by the machine operator and his helper and moved to the place of the coal and place in cutting position as you see it in this picture. The machine consists of an endless chain with 'bits' inserted, which act as cutters. The machine cuts a 'kerf' or hole along the bottom of the coal about 4 inches high and extending back six feet under the coal. The fine coal made by this machine is what is commonly known as 'bug dust.' Cutting machines are operated at night and each machine is capable of cutting twenty places on each shift. These machines are operated on tonnage basis and these operators earn high wages.'
'An Electric Locomotive: Good dependable motive power is just as necessary in a coal mine as on a railroad. This picture shows on of White Oak's ten ton electric locomotives used to haul loads and distrubute empties in our mines. A crew consists of a motorman and brakeman, or trip rider, who pull loads from the working places to convenient sidings where they are picked up by main line locomotives, who haul to the tipple or shaft bottom. A large producing mine uses fifteen and twenty locomotives and five hundred mine cars in maintaining production.'
