lackawanna

Lackawanna Coal Mine

    The rock that was once mined in the Lackawanna Coal Mine is the Anthracite Coal. Now that we have petroleum and gas, as well as electricity to energy, there has been no real use for coal (as it is smokier and is more trouble than other sources of energy). As a result, the Lackawanna coal mine has been closed since 1966. But there are estimated millions of tons of coal left. This coal can be used in case of a mass energy failure.
     The coal can be found between layers of sandstone, shale, and clay. There are hundreds of layers, height ranging from two to eighty feet high.. The miners who worked this mine carved out chambers, leaving pillars of coal for roof support. Unfortunately, some companies broked the agreements to refrain from carving at the pillars and this resulted in the county of Luzerne having basically low buildings (tallest around 20 storeys high). There was just not enough foundation to support tall skyscrapers.
     Even with these supports of coal, as well added wooden supports, slabs of rock from above would fall and kill miners. The supports are shown below (as well as being part of the background.

To mine the coal, the miners had to pump out underground water. To do this, they drilled shafts to let the water drain to lower levels. If the water wasn't drained, it would flood the chamber up to about one's knees. About 150 years ago (in the 1900s), the miners started using electric cars to shuttle coal in and out. They used hoist mechanism up steep slopes (such as the steam engine 190, whose route is shown below).

However, the miners themselves had to go up and down on open wood cars with plank seats. There is a cavern that was once used for repairs (shown below).

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Anthracite Coal