Diorama details changes in mining industry

April 30, 2008 04:19 pm

— MONTGOMERY — Through Monday, the Mine Safety Technology Consortium and the National Coal Heritage Trail will present a traveling historical diorama that details the historical changes in the mining industry in West Virginia.
“Coal Mining in West Virginia: Then and Now” demonstrates the progression of mining technology from the early hand-loading days to the modern machine era, say representatives of the MSTC and the National Coal Heritage Area. An illustrated timeline traces the development of underground and surface mining from the 1850s to the present. A scenic diorama contrasts underground mining processes from the early 1900s with the massive earth-moving equipment utilized in today’s surface mining.
The display is housed in the lobby of Davis Hall on the campus of the Community and Technical College at WVU Tech in Montgomery. It will be open and free to the public through May 5.
Among the early visitors was Shirley Capps, a Montgomery resident. Capps says she remembers stories her father, Cecil, told about his 25-year career as a miner with Semet-Solvay, but she wanted to see the diorama “to get some more information for my family tree.”
“The goal of this display,” said Christy Bailey, executive director of the National Coal Heritage Area (NCHA), “is to give students and the general public a better understanding of how coal mining has changed through the years.
“In particular, we hope to show how the sheer scale of mining has grown so dramatically over the last 60 years.”
“The Mine Safety Technology Consortium is pleased to assist the National Coal Heritage Area in promoting the history of coal mining in West Virginia,” added Dennis Jarvis II, the MSTC’s executive director. “Increasing awareness and understanding of the rich heritage of the industry allows focus on the importance of innovations and improved safety in the mining industry.”
The NCHA is one of 32 nationally-designated heritage areas. It represents a part of the growing effort by the National Park Service to develop resource protection initiatives for areas of national importance that rely on partnerships and private ownership rather than the traditional methods of federally-owned parklands. The NCHA’s mission is to preserve, protect and interpret lands, structures and communities associated with the coal mining heritage of southern West Virginia. It includes the counties of Boone, Cabell, Fayette, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Raleigh, Summers, Wayne, Lincoln, Wyoming and parts of Kanawha. An initiative of U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall, it was officially designated as a national heritage area through the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 and is managed by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
The MSTC is a public private partnership involving business owners, industry, government leaders and educational professionals. It is a principal component of a parent project currently under way at Marshall University’s Center for Environmental, Geotechnical and Applied Sciences and is supported by a $2 million grant from the federal Economic Development Administration and the assistance of Rahall.

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