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Article: Conflict over heating with natural gas develops in Eastern Pa.
- Article from:
- Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
- Article date:
- July 24, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2008 Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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ASHLAND -- Howard Smith pulls on a jacket and adjusts the lamp on
his hard hat before climbing into the mine car.
He smiles as the car rumbles down the tracks into the cool
darkness of the Pioneer Tunnel, an anthracite mine cut into the side
of Mahanoy Mountain. For 35 minutes, he'll give two dozen tourists a
glimpse of what it's like to dig chunks of glistening black coal
from the thick veins running through the bowels of Schuylkill
County.
Smith, 51, quit school in the ninth grade to mine anthracite and
worked underground for 18 years. Seventeen years ago, he took the
foreman's job at the tourist mine, where he conducts inspections,
performs maintenance and guides underground tours for ...