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'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.'

1. Loaded Mine Car

Men riding in coal cars along snow covered tracks to the Skelton mine during winter time.  Miner's homes and wood piles visible.

2. Man Trip to Skelton Mine in Winter

'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.'

3. Mining Operating a Cutting Machine

Miners on an electric locomotive used in hauling mine cars.

4. Electric Locomotive Used in Hauling Mine Cars

'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.'

5. Miner Operating an Electric Locomotive

Miner operating a loading machine outside of a mine.

6. Loading Machine at MacAlpin Coal Company