Day 92 / 101 - Coal Miner's Son

While in West Virginia, my son attended a safety mining workshop with my husband.  Since he was fresh off his writing intensive camp, I asked him to write a paragraph describing his day.  Above you see him walking the lifeline with his eyes closed as he details below.

The Mining Class

By Alex

      On May 26^th my father brought me to his mining class.  This class, which was about being safe in the mines, lasted seven hours.   Some of the things we learned were: what to do if there is a flood, why not to wear loose clothes, and safety tips.  There were seven students including my dad.  Mr. Bennet, who was the teacher, has bravely worked in the mines for thirty years!  I also visited the practice mine.  In the practice mine I witnessed a massive, white fire hose.  I also blindly walked a lifeline.  A lifeline is a line that is above your head that is used during disasters to safely guide you out of the mine.  You walk out of the mine by holding onto the line.   On it are orange cones and black squigglies.  When you come to a squiggly that means there is a rescue chamber with oxygen.  If you come to a cone that means you continue walking.  If you come to two cones that means the line branches out in different directions. Miners also make brass name tags to identify themselves. I made a brass tag for my DS case.  I learned much new information from the mining class.