When Coal Was King

Coal miners were always tinkering with machines and equipment to figure out easier ways to mine coal. One of the more difficult tasks was digging the slope entrance to a mine. A slope was a mine opening which intersected the ground surface at a downward angle. The slope was often driven directly into the coal, and then at the lowest mining level extraction commenced laterally outward along the seam. Pictured here is a miner named George with a digging machine invented specifically for sinking a slope. The ‘Bomber’ as it was called, consisted of a piston and cylinder which acted as a shock absorber and a bucket all mounted on steel rail wheels. The hoisting engineer would raise the ‘Bomber’ six feet up the tipple then drop it fast at the miner’s signal into the face of loosened coal. The bucket, upon which the miner is leaning, held about one-half ton of coal. As the hoisting engineer tightened the cable pulling the ‘Bomber’ up, the bucket would compress against the piston as the loaded coal was pulled to the surface. Plunge after plunge of the ‘Bomber’ removed one-half ton increments, thereby propelling the tunnel further into the bowels of the earth. Like much underground coal mining of the day, this was difficult and labor intensive work. This photo comes courtesy of Palmer Coking Coal Company and was likely taken around 1950. The ‘Bomber’ was used at the Danville mine (later Landsburg) where Palmer operated several others until closing Washington’s last underground coal mine in 1975. Submitted by Bill Kombol.