 Up: Glassmaking
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The coal can never be entirely taken out. About
half of it is usually left in the mine. Some of the important work of the mine is done aboveground Much of it is done in the tipple, into which the coal goes from the skip. In the tipple the coal is cleaned, partly by hand, partly by machinery. The pieces of slate and rock mixed with the coal are taken out and thrown on piles of refuse we noticed when we first came. Next the different sizes of coal are sorted out. Then the coal is loaded on cars. The cars are weighed and inspected. Now the coal is ready to start on its journey to do the world's work. We too are ready to begin our journey again. We are going eastward to see a hard-coal mine. On our way we pause for a moment by the entrance to a drift mine on a beautiful mountainside. Here we see many loaded cars of cleaned and sorted soft coal awaiting shipment.
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