For the Life of Miners

Yesterday morning, after a Fire Boss for International Coal Group declared Sago mine in Tallmansville, WV safe to fire up after idling for two days. When the men went in not more than 45 minutes later, an explosion occurred, trapping 13 minors on their first day of work in 2006. They are still buried some 260 feet underground, with lessening hope of coming out alive.

How in this day and age, with so much technology, so much evidence that other sources of energy are safer, cleaner, and less expensive, so much knowledge of the danger of underground coal mining, can an industry still be so critical? I know it is a mixed bag, a source of pride and anguish for families who have mind for generations.

When I was growing up in eastern Ohio, the area was heavily strip mined by a handful of companies. Unlike deep mining, strip mining literally is done with blasts to remove layer upon layer of earth, revealing the layers of coal. My sister and I watched from our childhood home as the underbelly of a field we once played in, and a small forest kingdom we called our own, were all razed and raided for what seemed altogether like a bucket of coal. What is left is a trail of environmental destruction that destabilizes the soil and leaves surrounding communities at risk for hazards such as flooding. And, it's ugly. What used to be "Almost Heaven" is now almost nothing but an arid, barren, grey wasteland.

I don't have a position on this. Both methods of mining are hazardous and by today's scientific standards, should be unnecessary. But there are jobs to be kept so mouths can be fed, communities sustained. Apparently the government is too lazy to retrain miners for safer, growth-oriented jobs in regions currently dominated by mining. Besides, what would there be to say to each other if miners and their families were to sit down to dinner each night without worrying who's number is up next?

There are many mining songs but the Dream of the Miner's Child is one of the most poignant. Where I grew up, children were seen and not heard, and I suspect in the places where mining is still the main economic driver, that's likely still the case. Maybe that's why this song made such an impact when it was first recorded on Victor records in the late 1920s. The song is considered to have originated in England as a parlor ballad.

The sound clip features the legendary and much loved Doc Watson.

http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3448/dream.ra


A miner was leaving his home for his work
When he heard his little child scream.
He went to the side of the little girl's bed;
She said, "Daddy, I've had such a dream!"

"Please, daddy, don't go to the mines today,
For dreams have so often come true.
My daddy, my daddy, please don't go away,
For I never could live without you."

Then smiling and stroking the little girl's face,
He was turning away from her side.
But she threw her small arms around daddy's neck;
She gave him a kiss and then cried:

"Oh, I dreamed that the mines were all flaming with fire,
And the men all fought for their lives.
Just then the scene changed, and the mouth of the mines
Was covered with sweethearts and wives."

"Oh, daddy, don't go to the mines today,
For dreams have so often come true.
My daddy, my daddy, please don't go away,
For I never could live without you."

"Go down to the village and tell your dear friends
That as sure as the bright stars do shine,
There is something that's going to happen today;
Please, daddy, don't go to the mines."

"Oh, daddy, don't work in the mines today,
For dreams have so often come true.
My daddy, my daddy, please don't go away,
For I never could live without you."

My heart hopes against hope for the miners in that mine, and for their sweethearts and wives and children. Credit for the photos goes to Dolores Riggs Davis (check out her website for incredible stories of WV and mining) and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.