Day 6 IN the Mine

Day 6 IN the Mine was awesome! We went to the Rockspring Mine, which is owned by Alpha Energy, and had the opportunity to go down into their underground mine. It was such a wonderful culmination of the whole week; in the beginning of the week we saw the history of coal mining in Thomas, WV, saw the progression of natural reclamation at Yellow Creek to Joe Knob's manmade monoculture to Coal-Mac's manmade biodoversity, and saw the present and future of surface and finally underground mining. Everywhere we looked we saw technology from the highwall miner to the processing plant to tracking the miners in the underground mine. My group was first to go into the mine. We put on white paper jumpsuits, big bulky boots, safety glasses, ear plugs around the neck, a hat with a tracking device, a battery pack on my miner belt and attached to my hat, and a big heavy rescue device attached to my miner belt. We rode in the short, long car into the mine, and at first it was warm air we felt. It was a little daunting when the doors were closed, but we were enthralled by the environment. This trip - everything in the last 2 days from the strip mine to the Mountain Laurel processing plant to the underground mine experience - was beyond my expectation. Thank you, Dennis. I will do my best to instill pride, knowledge, and a thirst for the truth in our students as they realize the necessity of technology in their world.