If you would like to visit these mining towns, keep in mind a few things:
1. STAY OFF OF THE PROPERTY OF THE FEW REMAINING ACTIVE MINES. THEY ALL HAVE GUARDS WHO WILL RUN YOU OFF. ALSO, IT'S DANGEROUS, SEEING AS HOW YOU PROBABLY WON'T BE WEARING A HARDHAT AND METATARSALS.
2. BE CAREFUL OF TRESPASSING. JUST BECAUSE A MINE IS CLOSED DOESN'T MEAN NO ONE OWNS IT.
3. THE RESIDENTS OF THESE MINING SETTLEMENTS MAY NOT APPRECIATE YOUR "INTRUSION." IF SOMEONE ASKS WHAT YOU ARE DOING, TELL THEM.
4. THERE AREN'T MANY RESTAURANTS IN COAL TOWNS. EAT AND GAS UP BEFORE YOU GO.
5. SOME ROADS ARE UNSUITABLE FOR LUXURY AUTOMOBILES. A FEW ARE UNSUITABLE FOR ANY AUTOMOBILE.
6. I WOULD STRONGLY DISCOURAGE ANYONE FROM ENTERING AN ABANDONED DEEP MINE. THE TIMBERS ARE PROBABLY ROTTEN AND THE ROOF WILL PROBABLY FALL ON YOU. IF YOU SURVIVE YOU WILL PROBABLY BE HANDICAPPED FOR LIFE. THIS HAPPENED TO THE BROTHER OF A GUY WHO WORKED WITH MY DAD. HE WENT IN WITH A WHEELBARROW TO GET SOME COAL. BESIDES BEING DANGEROUS, THERE'S PROBABLY NOTHING INTERSETING DOWN THERE.
NOTE: I'VE NEVER HAD ANY OF THESE PROBLEMS (EXCEPT MAYBE THE BAD ROADS). I'M JUST MENTIONING POSSIBLE PITFALLS.
I am just starting this website, so there will be updates in the future.
Thanks to Pat for emailing this in:
A Miner's Worth
The cold light of day or the glow of the moon
A change of season be it April or June
Thunder and lightening or blowing a gale
A flickering fireside relating a tale
Sunlight and starlight, a sunset's glow
Don't mean a lot when you're far below
The dark is forever far under the ground
Nature's lights will never be found
A mine is a mine wherever you are
In the homeland of England or distant and far
And miners are miners whatever their race
In the pit bottom or up at the face
The jobs are related the dangers alike
Just waiting for nature to take the strike
Women at home not knowing when
The mines would steal a husband from them
Languages alter but the toil's the same
Plenty of heartache and little fame
When miners are killed there's many a sigh
From government leaders sat up high
Ask for fair pay or threaten action
Against closures or other vindictive reactions
Watch now their faces full of disgust
Two faces of politics we have paid to trust
The true cost of coal, copper, lead, silver and gold
Has never been written, will never be told
Lives, bodies and hearts have all been broken
Not even listed or given a token
Taken for granted that fuel and glamour
Are presented to them without even a stammer
The sweat and the blood shed in lifting these things
Mean nothing but comfort and vane beauty gold brings
Did greed bring mining or mining the greed?
It did create miners as a different breed
Be they Polish or German or in colonial lands
Miners are brothers with one show of hands
Suffering the blows of politics and wealth
As well as nature with its cruel stealth
Seemingly devised to cause hardship and suffering
The miner between used as human buffering
