Image: ExperimentalMinePA

Description: Dedication of the Experimental Mine, which opened in 1910, Bruceton, Pennsylvania. According to the CDC/NIOSH website: "In 1910, the newly created U.S. Bureau of Mines leased a 38-acre tract of land from the Pittsburgh Coal Co. in Bruceton, about 13 miles south of Pittsburgh. Here, a new mine, known as the Experimental Mine, was opened. One of the early experiments in the Experimental Mine demonstrated that coal dust by itself was capable of propagating an explosion even in the absence of any methane gas. This demonstration was contrary to the old belief widely held at the time that coal dust could not explode without gas. This view had led to the very dangerous and widespread practice of using loose coal dust in mines to pack explosives in boreholes, which had cost many thousands of lives. These early experiments clearly proved that such a practice was too hazardous to continue."[1]
Title: ExperimentalMinePA
Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Image description page: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/content/history.html, accessed 2009-11-17 Image page: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/aboutus/images/history/ExpMinededication.jpg, accessed 2009-11-17
Author: United States Department of the Interior / United States Bureau of Mines (1910); specific persons unknown
Permission: This image is a work of the United States Department of the Interior, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No