Coal trip day 4 - Matewan

The discussion of the history of the battle of Matewan was interesting. Looking at the levels of information to figure out what actually happened. Attached is a picture of the courthouse at Welch where Sid Hatfield was shot.

Coal trip day 4 7/20/11 exhibition coal mine

The most interesting thing i learned from the mine tour was that roof bolts had to be ancored in 1 foot of solid rock. I was amazed when Marvin said how far he had drilled in the bolts.
The scool house was interesting with the rules.
Below is a picture of a miners helmet. I picked this one because it is similar to the one my dad wore when he was a miner.

Coal Trip day 3 - 7/19/11

First of all this day is an important day fortc   me, my so Joe turned 20 today. So mentally i was remembering what I was doing twenty years ago.  But today we visited Joe Knob, Nuttalbirg and the New River Gorge visitors center.
At Joe Knob, what I noticed most of all was the lack of diversity. In the reclaimed area it looked like a lion should come out at any time. But rather it was an area where we so no signs of animal life. It was interesting to see the gob being remined. Hopefully, when they are finished and start reclaiming this area they will put in some good top soil and let nature do the reclaiming and not man. In the sights we have seen areas that man have gotten involved are a mess and areas left for nature are thriving and diverse.
At Nuttalburg we were able to test a small mountain stream coming out of the mointain. It had rained for most of the morning, so the stream was cloudy and had a TDS of  200. Overall we found the stream to be at the high end of average quality at 65. We we able to see a few of the ruins of the coal camp but not all of it because of construction.
At the visitor center I walked to the lower overlook area. Some 200 feet lower than the rim. I was joined by several other teachers and we took several pictures including some panaramic ones including the one below. Looking forward to the long day tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Joe!

Coal trip day 2 - Douglas Falls

We took data below the falls and found the quality to be on the low end of moderate. We found the pH to be 4.1 and the oxygen sation to be 50%.  This area was also a dead stream. The largest problem is the pyrite reacting to make the stream acidic.

Below is a picture of the falls

Coal trip day 2 - coketon coke ovens

We were able to stop and visit the coke ovens at Coketon and take pictures. We learned that there were hundreds of coke ovens at this sight one each side of an abandoned railroad. The coke operation was running 24-7, to change the coal into coke. The coke is basically pure carbon. The coke was shipped to Pittsburgh to be used to make steel.

Coal Trip Day 2 - Yellow creek 7/18/11

Today we went to yellow creek, the coketon coke ovens and douglass falls on the north fork of the blackwater river. We took environmental readings at the streams to determine stream quality.

At Yellow Creek I found the overall quality score to be 73.9 which equates to the low end of good quality. We found the creek to have no life eventhough oir pH was 6.1. The stream was still slow moving and dead. Also in the area we found a diversity of life even though it had little man made help. Also yhe entire are was basically fill and slag little of the orginal valley remained.

Day 1 coal trip 7/17/2011

Today we spent most of the time traveling to Canaan Valley. On the way we stopped at the Parsons Wind Farm. While there we were asked what the spped of a moving wind turbine was at the tip. Steve Freeman and I measured found that the tip made 14.3 revolutions in one minute. The amounted to a speed of about 117 miles per hour. Picture posted below of the wind farm.
Later we visited Thomas and learned some interesting history of the town. One thing I found interesting was that the northern coal  fields had little to no violence.