by The Washington Post
Coal miners seldom get glory. Cowboys, astronauts and cops do, but how many boys strut around in coal miner helmets? In my imagination, miners are grim and unsmiling, with futures as bleak as the tunnels they descend into, only making the news if they go on strike or tunnels explode.
Well, LeRoy White is proud to have been a coal miner, thank you very much. He spent nearly 30 years in the mines, just like his father and his grandfather before him. Now he leads tours into Exhibition Coal Mine in Beckley, coal country's tribute to the men of down below.
On a recent Friday, I took a seat in a rail-riding "man car" with about 19 others as White snapped on his headlamp. The car clattered forward, and he took us 900 feet underground.
http://www.dailymail.com/foodandliving/201109202336?page=1&build=cache