martinzoo

Jump to Comments

Today we visited a treasure. It’s a spot in our county that I didn’t know existed. It’s a park, but it’s a mine; an abandoned mine.

Coal was first discovered in Chesterfield County in the early 1700’s. In 1730, commercial mining began in Chesterfield County. It was the first industry this county undertook. It was also the first operation of it’s kind in North America. During the Revolutionary War, Chesterfield’s coal pits supplied the cannon factory near Richmond with fuel that was used in making shot and shells for the Continental Army. Because of the success of the County’s coal industry, funds were allocated to establish the first paved road in the state of Virginia; Midlothian Turnpike, which I use on a weekly basis. This turnpike was used to transport coal from the mines to Richmond. The second commercial railroad, built in the U.S., was built here in Chesterfield County to aid in the transportation of the coal.

Mr. Truzzie, a geologist in our county, began our tour with a quick reminder of the three different kinds of rock; igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. He also went over how fossils are made and showed us a fossil that had been found in the mine.

He showed us some of the equipment that minors would have worn back in the 1700’s and 1800’s.

This is a coal minor’s lamp and cap.

This would be a typical lantern that coal minor’s would use.

This is another type of cap and lamp. It actually had oil in it, which burned quickly and was a terrible safety hazard.

This picture shows a sink hole. It’s caused by portions of the mine, beneath the earth, collapsing. A few years ago there was a huge ruckus in our county because some of the folks who lived nearby had sink holes developing in their yards, some of which destroyed the foundations on their homes.

The hill in this picture shows the cast-off debris from the mine, which is still there today. The children were so excited to scramble around the hill and find genuine bits of coal. And some of the boys were planning on going home to light them up and see how they burned….LOL! Boys!

GB is standing in front of the mine. Through the archway there would be a hole in the floor which held a pulley system. That pulley would raise and lower the minor’s to and from the mines. It also was used to bring mules down into the mine. The mules would pull the coal carts. The stone that the mine is made of is from a quarry nearby and the bricks were created on site.

As you can see, the mine is well protected against interlopers. The mine was shut down in the 1940’s because it had suffered many cave-ins and explosions. Plus, mining in Western Virginia and Pennsylvania had become more profitable.

The children were grouped and given a bag of rocks. Using a nail and a penny they were to determine the hardness of each rock, using Mohs Hardness Scale, and try to figure out what type of rock they were.

This is a clinker, it is a fused or partly fused bit of coal with iron, which likely occurred because of an explosion down in the mine.

Share This