Last August when some relatives were visiting from New York, we did a little sightseeing in the Drumheller, Alberta area. One stop we made was at the Star Mine Suspension Bridge (pictured above), a 117-meter pedestrian bridge that spans the Red Deer River. It was built in 1931 for the Star Mine coal workers, and today it’s maintained by the provincial government.
Although we didn’t have time to explore the history of coal mining in the Drumheller Valley any deeper that day, stopping at the bridge did remind me of a vague interest I’ve had in coal mining since the first time I watched October Sky.
Today I’m sharing a roundup of coal mining books (plus a movie and a poem) for any readers who share my curious fascination with this dangerous line of work and way of life.
(The Atlas Coal Mine Historic Site is located 20 minutes southeast of Drumheller. Their website lists many different tours and activities — I’ll have to get there someday. For now, stay tuned because I hope to have an interview with their archivist to share next month.)
Picture Book: Boy of the Deeps by Ian Wallace (DK Childrens, 1999)
Covering James’ first day underground, Boy of the Deeps describes in detail the life of coal miners in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The illustrations are somber and a near-tragedy is dealt with matter-of-factly. A historical note explains the origins of the story. Recommended for ages 5-8.
Middle Grade Novel: Pit Pony by Joyce Barkhouse (Gage, 1989)
In this historical novel set in 1902, Willie McLean is an eleven-year-old Cape Breton boy who loves horses, but must take up work in the coal mines when his dad and brother are injured in a mining accident. The well-structured plot includes hardship, tragedy, a wholesome lesson, and a happy ending. I found the story a little too didactic, but it works as a kid-friendly introduction to coal mines.
The 2010 edition has a historical note of several pages that gives the history of the Sable Island horses and their present day status. It also includes a glossary of Gaelic phrases and mining terms. A movie of Pit Pony was released in 1997 and a TV series in 1999, but I haven’t seen either of them. The book is recommended for ages 8-10.
Memoir: Rocket Boys (AKA October Sky) by Homer Hickam (Delacorte Press, 1998)
Rocket Boys is the first of Hickam’s three memoirs (followed by The Coalwood Way and Sky of Stone) about growing up in a coal mining town in West Virginia. In a time and place where becoming a coal miner was the only conceivable future, Hickam pursued his own passions and ended up as a NASA engineer.
Rocket Boys takes place between 1957 and 1960 when teenager Homer “Sonny” Hickam Jr. and his friends experimented with creating and launching rockets. They faced opposition from family members (especially Sonny’s dad, the foreman of the Coalwood mine), taught themselves trigonometry and calculus, and tried out different rocket fuels (using ingredients like moonshine, zinc dust, and sugar). It’s an emotional story about identity, community, family, and achieving your dreams.
Movie: October Sky (1999)
October Sky is the excellent adaptation of Rocket Boys, starring Jack Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, and Laura Dern. It deviates slightly from the book to increase the drama, but overall the story is intact. (It’s rated PG for language and teen sensuality and alcohol use).
Photographs: Coal in the Valley: Drumheller Miner Photographs and Stories by Lawrence Christmas (Cambria Publishing, 2011)
Over a 30-year period, beginning in the 1980s, Lawrence Christmas photographed coal miners who had worked in the Drumheller Valley in the badlands of Alberta. This book is full of large black and white photographs accompanied by short first-person accounts. Each subject shares when and where he was born and his work experience. Some of the miners were also farmers and many were European immigrants.
Coal in the Valley includes an introduction, a brief history of mining, “Chronology of Development in the Valley” (1793-1979), and a map of Valley mines (1966). Some archival photos from the Glenbow Museum Archives are also included.
Poem: “Miners” by Wilfred Owen (1918)
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was an English poet who wrote brutally realistic war poems during World War I, before his death in combat at age 25. “Miners” is one of only five poems published during his life time.
- There was a whispering in my hearth,
A sigh of the coal,
Grown wistful of a former earth
It might recall.
- I listened for a tale of leaves
And smothered ferns,
Frond-forests, and the low sly lives
Before the fauns.
- My fire might show steam-phantoms simmer
From Time’s old cauldron,
Before the birds made nests in summer,
Or men had children.
- But the coals were murmuring of their mine,
And moans down there
Of boys that slept wry sleep, and men
Writhing for air.
- And I saw white bones in the cinder-shard,
Bones without number.
Many the muscled bodies charred,
And few remember.
- I thought of all that worked dark pits
Of war, and died
Digging the rock where Death reputes
Peace lies indeed.
- Comforted years will sit soft-chaired,
In rooms of amber;
The years will stretch their hands, well-cheered
By our life’s ember;
- The centuries will burn rich loads
With which we groaned,
Whose warmth shall lull their dreaming lids,
While songs are crooned;
But they will not dream of us poor lads,
Left in the ground.
I could wax on about the literary techniques used in the poem, but instead I’ll end this post by saying that coal mining is a dirty, dangerous job. I can only imagine the harsh and heart-breaking life endured by coal-mining families.