More Pictures

Can you name that Horse?
Abe
Rock
Melody
Herbert Hoover
Jenny
Dewey
Cluke
George
Roy
Lightening
Beebo Ears

Animals in the Mine
(Click on the bird in the cage to go back.)

Certain animals were very important to coal mining. Horses or mules were used to pull the mine cars in and out of the mines. The mine car would ride on rails like a train car.

Canaries were taken into the mine in cages to check for a poisonous gas called carbon monoxide. This gas has no color and it does not have an odor. It can kill a person very quickly. Because canaries are more sensitive to carbon monoxide, they show signs of being poisoned much sooner then people. When the miners would see the birds becoming sleepy, they would know carbon monoxide was in the air and leave the mine immediately.

Rats were not always chased out of the mine. Many miners believed the rats could sense when danger was coming. When these miners saw rats running from a section of the mine, the miners would often follow. This is a story about Henry, a miner, and why he learned to like to have rats, like Coal Nugget, near him.

Henry was digging coal in his spot in the coal mine when he heard something rattling. He turned around to see a rat as big as a cat clawing at his metal lunch bucket. He shooed the rat away and started to dig again. Soon he heard the rattling again. Henry looked around to see the big rat sitting on top of his lunch bucket with his tail wrapped around the metal ring on the lid.

"That darn rat is after my cake!" said Henry. "I'll fix him! I'll eat my cake!" So Henry shooed the rat away again and ate his cake. Henry returned to his digging. Again the rat rattled the lunch bucket. Henry turned around. He saw that the rat pulled the lid from his lunch bucket. That rat had wrapped his tail around and through the metal ring on the lid and pulled it right off! The rat looked at Henry for an instant, and then began to run down the haulage (hallway) in the mine, away from the place where Henry was digging.

"Darn that rat!" yelled Henry. "Come back here with my lid!" But the rat kept running and Henry ran after him.
All of a sudden there was a loud CRACK and then a big BANG! Henry stopped and looked back to the place where he was digging coal. The roof had fallen in. Henry couldn't see his coal car, his tools, or his lunch bucket. All that he could see was tons of coal and lots of dust.

"Whew!" whistled Henry. "If I hadn't chased that rat I would be under all that coal. I would have been a goner. That 'ole rat saved my life."

Henry turned around to look for the rat, but the rat was gone. All Henry saw was the shiny lid to his lunch bucket lying in the middle of the haulage.