the Q Creek mine is two years old
it stretches for 2.5 kilometres into the
pennsylvania countryside older mines are
also scattered throughout the hills
closest is saxman mine which has been
abandoned for over 40 years
Mark popper knack drives his team into
the mine on a battery-powered vehicle
called a man trip it’s a 40-minute
journey to the shards Ron shads crew
soon follows the roof quickly lowers to
just one and a half meters high and the
light disappears it’s it’s dark
sumbitch in the face you won’t see stars
I mean that’s it’s dark that’s absolute
darkness the mineshaft is made up of a
series of tunnels 900 metres into the
journey the shaft splits in two
Ron shad in his crew of eight miners
travel south into the shaft of tunnels
called Maine’s
at the coalface they get to work
meanwhile over half a kilometer away
poppin AK and his team work a tunnel in
another shaft called first left
here they use a 60-ton machine which
bears 100 teeth of hardened carbon steel
it can chew out 20 tonnes of coal every
minute according to the maps there
should be 91 meters of coal separating
papa nax team from the old saxman mind
but the plans he is working to are wrong
the saxman mine is just meters away and
on the other side is almost a quarter of
a billion litres of stagnant water that
has gathered over 40 years for the rest
of his shift he continues to dig
coming on 9 o’clock you try and looking
forward to quitting time and 11 o’clock
time to go
he can’t believe what he sees
20 meters in front of him a wall of
water explodes into the shaft there was
no trickling there was instant water
big-time in it it’s just a wall water
you’d have a 60-ton machine there and
it’s just coming around and threw it
over it like it’s not there papa knack
has a split-second whacked he jumps into
a chamber to the side which saves his
life
raging water is just inches away you
Stan we signed a railroad track with a
freight train coming by you 100 mile an
hour probably louder
he’s closest to the torrent but he’s not
the miner in most danger gravity
dictates that water always heads to the
lowest point the deepest part of the
mine are the tunnels in the main shaft
just over half a kilometre away
it stretches for 2.5 kilometres into the
pennsylvania countryside older mines are
also scattered throughout the hills
closest is saxman mine which has been
abandoned for over 40 years
Mark popper knack drives his team into
the mine on a battery-powered vehicle
called a man trip it’s a 40-minute
journey to the shards Ron shads crew
soon follows the roof quickly lowers to
just one and a half meters high and the
light disappears it’s it’s dark
sumbitch in the face you won’t see stars
I mean that’s it’s dark that’s absolute
darkness the mineshaft is made up of a
series of tunnels 900 metres into the
journey the shaft splits in two
Ron shad in his crew of eight miners
travel south into the shaft of tunnels
called Maine’s
at the coalface they get to work
meanwhile over half a kilometer away
poppin AK and his team work a tunnel in
another shaft called first left
here they use a 60-ton machine which
bears 100 teeth of hardened carbon steel
it can chew out 20 tonnes of coal every
minute according to the maps there
should be 91 meters of coal separating
papa nax team from the old saxman mind
but the plans he is working to are wrong
the saxman mine is just meters away and
on the other side is almost a quarter of
a billion litres of stagnant water that
has gathered over 40 years for the rest
of his shift he continues to dig
coming on 9 o’clock you try and looking
forward to quitting time and 11 o’clock
time to go
he can’t believe what he sees
20 meters in front of him a wall of
water explodes into the shaft there was
no trickling there was instant water
big-time in it it’s just a wall water
you’d have a 60-ton machine there and
it’s just coming around and threw it
over it like it’s not there papa knack
has a split-second whacked he jumps into
a chamber to the side which saves his
life
raging water is just inches away you
Stan we signed a railroad track with a
freight train coming by you 100 mile an
hour probably louder
he’s closest to the torrent but he’s not
the miner in most danger gravity
dictates that water always heads to the
lowest point the deepest part of the
mine are the tunnels in the main shaft
just over half a kilometre away
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