William Henry Byrnes and a grandchild. |
Walnut Run
by Karen McCormick |
| Today, when we speak of mines, we think of the large mechanized mines like Barnes and Tucker and Greenwich Collieries. My grandfather, William Byrnes, who is now 82, in the late 1940's operated Walnut Run, a small coal mine in the upper end of Spangler. |
| My grandfather readied Walnut Run Mine by himself. He put in 15 sets of timber using a buddy jack; then he hired three other men. The miners dug cuts under the coal with a pick. Then they detonated powder to blow out the coal. This was D-vein coal, about four feet high. They picked the boney out of it and put it in a gob. Then they loaded coal into the cars by shoveling it into a narrow slit between the top of the car and the roof. | |
