This black and white 1920s silent film, possibly an Eastman classroom film, depicts the operations of the “Mammoth Slope” anthracite coal mine in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, showing a day in the life of an average coal miner (TRT 12:22).
Opening title card: “Anthracite Coal” (0:08). Intertitle: “The Miners Go To Work.” A crowd of men in caps and coats walk across a bridge carrying pails (0:10). A man standing at a doorway greets coal miners as they arrive for work. A man sets down a pail and watering can, then removes his coat. A pulley system carries away his clothing, which is exchanged for a work uniform (0:17). The miner, William Betz, removes an identification tag from a board, and repositions a peg to “clock in” (0:54). In an open-air workshop, men hammer on anvils, with furnaces in the background. Bill picks up a pick axe (1:00). A man approaches a shed with tin siding labeled, “Dynamite.” A crate is presented to him (1:12). A line of miners pick up oil-wick lamps from a stockroom window (1:24). A crew of miners assemble. A team waits for a mining car. A car pulled by cables, loaded with several men, enters a mine shaft, labeled “Mammoth Slope” (1:34). POV the descending cable car (2:16). Intertitle: “Anthracite coal is found in folded layers” (2:23). An illustration shows multiple sloped mineshafts, running parallel to one another (2:30). Two miners with headlamps prod a drill into a wall carved with diagonal lines (2:39). “Heavy timers are used to make mines safe.” A wide shot of massive piles of wooden logs. A timber mill cuts logs down to size, and a mining car carries a load of timber away (2:43). POV the mining car entering a darkened tunnel, and traveling through a narrow pathway (3:15). “Testing for gas and loose rock before blasting” (3:34). A miner with a Davy lamp checks for firedamp flammable gas and examines a wall marked for blasting (3:42). Drilling a hole for dynamite blasting (4:09). Inserting explosives (4:21). “After the blast.” A scene of rubble is examined (4:53). A mining car carrying tools is filled with the excavated rock, then pushed away and dumped (5:30). “Mining in close quarters.” Two men shovel debris into a chute. A white mule pulls a minecart into position to receive a load of rubble. The mule carries the cart of rocks away (6:20). Closeup on a large chunk of coal. A train of mining cars, led by an overhead cable, barrels into darkness (7:33). POV the mine ride, revealing crude walls lined with timber. A light at the end of the tunnel (7:46). Emerging into daylight (8:03). “At the breaker.” A cart ascends rapidly up a chain-towed incline to the top of a silo, then races down again, transporting raw coal (8:11). Men rapidly sort the coal on a conveyor belt. Vibrating chutes direct the rocks on their way (9:07). “More culm than coal is taken from the mines.” A worker sorts large rocks out of the coal supply. “More water than coal is taken from the mines.” An elevator rises out of a well, then sprays a forceful stream of water (9:30). Sorting coal by hand (10:26). A mechanical conveyor belt filters the lumps of coal and sprays them with water for cleaning (10:35). Rocks empty from three chutes and into three hopper cars marked, “Nut, Stove, Egg” (10:51). A locomotive engine arrives alongside the hopper cars. Carrying away the train cars of coal (11:12). “The miner’s day is done” (11:43). Men exit the mine, crowded onto a minecart (11:50).
