Working In A Drift Mine

Working In A Drift Mine. .
By the dim light of smoky oil lamps, miners labored long hours. They excavated coal, a reliable and inexpensive fuel, under cramped and dangerous working conditions., Although similar to the mine in this photograph, the Lusk coal mine was only 3 feet high. , In the past, small animals were often used to pull coal-laden carts., You are standing near the opening of an abandoned adit or drift mine. , The Lusk Mine was in operation during the late 1800s and mining continued until the late 1920s. Too small for a commercial operation, the mine probably provided coal for the Lusk family cookstove, and later, for use in the park., Miners followed this horizontal seam of coal deep into the hillside, holding up the fragile sandstone ceiling with timbers as they dug out the layers of coal. One former miner used small donkeys to pull the coal-laden carts on rails to the mine entrance. The coal then was hoisted to the hilltop behind you, where it was loaded into wagons and taken along what is now Trail 8 to the Lusk home.