In Helper I stopped by a cool little park that was more of a mining equipment museum.

The Four Steps Necessary For Mining Coal

Step One

Coal must be broken away from the face of the coal seam.

In the early mines picks were used to break the coal away from the face, then holes were drilled in the face and dynamite was into the hole and detonated (1900 – 1950).

This is located at the Mining Equipment Display.

Step Two

Coal must be gathered up and loaded into a conveyance to haul it out of the mine.

In the first mines, coal was gathered up and loaded by hand with a coal shovel into the car.

Step Three

Coal has to be transprted out of the mine.

The first coal cars were pushed out of the mine by hand, then mules were used to pull the cars.

Step Four

The coal is prepared and delivered to the consumer.

In the early mines the coal was brought out of the mine in big chunks and loaded onto a horse-drawn wagon.