Article by Linda Digby, Executive Director of the Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site outside Drumheller, Alberta, Canada

Many people feel that they are kept in the dark at work. Coal miners really were.

It doesn’t get any darker than a coal mine. In a mine, you can hold your hand directly in front of your face, and not see it. Providing enough light for miners to work was a major obstacle in the early years of the industry. Any source of light available (a candle, for example) was potentially deadly, due to the explosive gases which commonly collect in coal mines.

Desperate miners were very resourceful in their pursuit of explosion proof illumination. Some dragged phosphorescent fish into the mine, and worked by the soft green glow. The safety lamp was invented in the 19th century, and revolutionized mining. With a safety lamp, miners could work deep in the earth with minimal fear of explosion. A safety lamp is designed in such a way that the hot flame is separated from mine air by a fine wire mesh. The mesh conducts heat away from the flame, cooling it below the flashpoint of methane gas. In addition, the flame of a safety lamp changes color in the presence of dangerous gases, warning miners to get out.

Another lamp developed in the late 19th century is the carbide lamp. This little brass lamp has a bracket for attaching to the miner’s cap, throwing light wherever he looks. Carbide lamps are fuelled by calcium carbide and water, which create acetylene gas when combined. Carbide lamps produce an open flame, however, and are dangerous in mines with a high concentration of methane gas. Most of the Drumheller mines had a low gas concentration, and were classified as “open flame mines.” For that reason, carbide lamps lit the dark for more Drumheller miners than any other lamp. They were used in Drumheller long after they had been prohibited in Rocky Mountain mines.

Mines in the Rocky Mountains switched to battery lamps early in the 20th century. These cap lamps consist of a book sized battery, which hangs from the belt and connects to the electric lamp, which is bracketed to a hard hat. Battery lamps are “closed flame lamps”, and suitable for the gassier mines of the Rocky Mountains. In Drumheller, battery lamps began to phase out carbide lamps in the forties, but didn’t replace them completely until the late 1950’s.

What happens when a miner’s lamp goes out? If he is wearing a carbide lamp, he can add more water, or calcium carbide, or ream out the tiny aperture with a pin…if he can do it blindfolded. If he is wearing a battery lamp, he must feel his way along the tracks to flag down a mine locomotive or pony driver. Some miners describe a kind of “sixth sense.” Deprived of sight, it seems, other senses are sharpened. A characteristic of an experienced miner is an uncanny awareness of everything going on underground.

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Copyright 2006 Drumheller Community Futures and the Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site