1 year anniversary of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster

[spklbuk]

Covered in Coal by the Balckwater Outlaws

A Tribute To the Miners and Their Families of the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster

Say a prayer for the families of the 29 miners killed folks. Also please throw in one for Spkldoe's brother, life-long coal miner and my friend since 2nd grade, who is lying in a Roanoke, VA hospital diagnosed with pancreatic cancer...Damn.

More info: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/the-daily-need/the-upper-big-branch-explosion-one-year-later/8409/

 

[Yamaguy55]

Our prayers go out for your brother in law.
Stranger than fiction, I went to a Katy Mattea concert with my (adult) daughter on March 24th, for Kathy's "Coal" album. She mentioned the mine accident as well.
While I'm not from here, I'm right in the heart of Anthracite country. Just down the road from both Shamokin and Trevorton, both booming mine towns in their day. Plenty of evidence of the way it used to be, complete with the legacy of heavily polluted rivers, the very real risk of falling down a mine shaft while out in the woods, and the plight of the local towns that used to have so much, but do no longer, now that mining is not what it once was. Shamokin was famous for anthracite and silk, both industries now essentially gone. There is what appears to be a very large mountain on the right as you leave town going north on PA61, and it appears to have coal on it. What it really is, is the leftover lower grade coal that they pulled out of the stuff they sold, and put in a pile, which became gigantic. It is so large, they built a power plant nearby, and made it specifically to burn this leftover low grade coal. I heard that it will last at least until mid century, maybe longer. The point is to use up all of the pile, probably over a mile long, quarter to a half mile wide, and 500-1000 feet high. The riding around here coats your bike with black residue. We don't have much mud, but we can coat your bike with coal dust. The local hot shots climb the vertical face of the coal pile with their dirt bikes. Many don't make it, and its a long, steep slide down....I'm sure out of control mountaineering skiers have a more pleasant landing.

If we ever get our S10's we'll have to visit each other's coal mines! Lots of great riding around here, looks very much like the photo essay you posted.

 

[spklbuk]

Thanks for the prayers YamaGuy.


Descriptions of your area sounds very familiar.


And the rides sound like a plan.