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Coal Miner, Elza Moore - "33 years underground"
I asked, "When did you start working in the coal mines?"
He told me:
In 1955 when I was still 17 years old I started working in a coal mine,
Donnegan's Coal Mines in Donnegan's Hollow. My Dad had gotten me a job on the
day shift loading coal. The coal was probably 30" to 36 " high and I worked
until the end of summer.
I asked, "What shift did you work?"
He told me:
I was going back to high school so they put me on the 3rd shift that way I
could keep my job to help the family out and go to school at the same time.
I asked, "What job did you have in the mines?"
He told me:
I shot rock in headings and hand loaded it out to make room for the belt
because that was our transportation in and out of the mines.
I asked, "What about dangers in the coal mines?"
He told me:
In 1960 my brother was in a mining accident that tore his arm off at the
shoulder. It was a terrible accident. I became a little disgusted with
mining so I went out west to the uranium mines and worked there for one year.
But I came back and went to work for Island Creek Coal Company at Werth. The
coal at Island Creek was about 14 feet to 24 feet high. I liked working for
Island Creek at this mine because the coal was high. You did not have to even
wear knee pads, nor crawl on your hands and knees. That just wasn't for me,
crawling on my hands and knees all day or night long. So, I felt like coal
mining finally was working out for me. I really liked mining.
I asked, "Have you been involved many accidents?"
He told me:
I have been through some accidents that were pretty bad. One time I
remember the top was working. I was running a coal drill and watching the
cutter man cut a place when I looked up and saw little flakes of rock coming
from the ceiling so I shook my light at him as a signal. He shut the cutter off
and I told him, "I believe this place is falling in." We shut all the machinery
off. The roof was falling in behind us running us all the way outside. We no
more got out of the drift mouth when a big puff of air came out of the mine.
Practically the entire mine had caved in.
I asked, "What jobs have you done in the coal mines?"
He told me:
After I had worked at the mines for quite a spell, I began running the
cutting machine. On one shift I was waiting for the bolting machine to get out
of the place so I could cut it so I was watching the bolts. They didn't seem to
be anchoring good and the ribs were popping coal off of them.
The boss said, "Go ahead and cut that place."
I said, "No, it is not safe."
He said, "Well, we will make it safe."
I said, "Yes, we will, if we work it," so he got some timbers and set them
and I could tell those timbers were taking weight, I said, "I still will not cut
it because it is not safe." They brought cribs in and before they could get the
cribs in place the whole entry starting caving in.
The boss then said, "I will never doubt your word again."
Another time, lightening ran in the coal mines. I had cut a place in the
coal and the driller had drilled it and I helped the shot fireman tamp up a cut
of coal.
I said, "Joe, give me time to move my cutter out of the way before you shoot
this."
He said, "OK, I will wait for you to get back here." I had not made it back
to the cutting machine when the shoot of coal exploded.
I said, "Joe, I thought I asked you not to set that off until I got clear."
He said, "Deed, I did not do that."
We found out lightening had come into the mines and set off explosives.
This meant we had to rewire everything and shoot it again.
I asked, "Do you think safety has improved in the coal mines?"
He told me:
When I started working in the mines in 1955, the safety rules were not very
strict. We had no protection from unsafe working conditions and you were
responsible for buying all of your own equipment; knee pads, lights, and caps,
but after 1960, the company was required to furnish safety devices; hard hats
and safety glasses, respirators, and hard toe shoes.
I asked, "Do you have black lung?"
He told me:
I wore my respirator all the time on the job because of the dust from the
machines. My jobs were usually operating a cutting machine or coal drill. On
my last job I was responsible for running a railroad cart, moving equipment. We
were pulling a miner on a flatcar (the miner weighed 60 tons).
I asked, "How did you accident happen?"
He told me:
We had a wreck on the railroad track. We were jacking the car back on the
track and the jack stripped the cogs and threw the bar out. The bar struck me
in the neck and shoulder. That ended my coal mining career. I joined the ranks
of the disabled miners.
I asked, "How do you feel about the coal mining industry?"
He told me:
Back at the time when I started working in the mines almost everybody in
the community worked in the mines. That was our way of life. After starting in
the high coal, I loved mining even with the dangers. I worked with the same men
from 1960 to 1988 until I was injured. It is like a close family after working
with the same people for so long. I even trained my nephew. When he got hired
they placed him with me to train.
I asked, "How far underground did you work at times?"
He told me:
It was approximately 5 miles from the entrance of the coal mines to where
you were working. You would go around curves, up banks, down banks and running
a motor was a very dangerous job but I wanted a job that was not close to the
face, so I started running a motor. I still wore my respirator because of all
of the dust around the railroad tracks. When I took my black lung test, I only
had 5% black lung. I am now watching some of the guys I worked with suffer from
black lung because they did not wear their respirator, some have already died.
I didn't encourage my sons to work in the mines because of the dangers.
They both got an education and did not have to go to the mines.
Elza's final comment:
I am 63 years old now and I spent 33 years underground, mining. All union
mines, that I am proud of. It is hard, dusty, dangerous work and I would not
advise anyone to work in a coal mines but it is something that must be done. If
mining can be done in a safe manner, it will be a lot better than some of us had
it.
end of interview.
Elza has had some serious health problems as a
result of his mining accident but he and his wife, Joan, raise a garden
every summer and are involved the community and their church serving others. |
