By Nick Brockman
Register-Herald Reporter
— New digital monitors and programming will bring the history of coal into the modern age at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine.
The mine and Friends of Coal Ladies’ Auxiliary celebrated the completion of the Friends of Coal Depot during a dedication ceremony Monday afternoon. The additions aim to teach the site’s 50,000 annual visitors about the modern methods of coal mining.
“They will show a program with modern mining, how they mine coal today with the big machinery like the long-wall,” said Renda Morris, director of the mine.
Morris said the exhibition mine opened June 23, 1962, and the new programming shows visitors how mining has changed since the early ’60s.
“For almost 50 years, we’ve been depicting the early mining era, which was the pick and shovel day,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of people who have asked about modern mining today and tour guides do talk about that, but we’ve never been able to really show people what modern mining consists of with the long-wall miner and the machinery.”
Two monitors are displayed at the mine’s entrance, which is now covered, with three more monitors at the end of the tracks.
Linda Henderson, corporate media producer for Joy Global Inc., said each monitor location will display different messages.
“They’ll have an introduction video before you go on the tour like you might see at Disney, ‘Before you get on the tour... ’ that type of thing, safety type information,” she said. “And then at the end of the tour there’ll be a video more about modern mining compared to what they saw before.
“You think about how much cars have changed since the 1960s; the machines have changed an awful lot, too, as well as the methods of mining, and so they want to tell the rest of the story.”
In addition, a monitor has been placed in the museum within the Rahall Company Store, along with a mine simulator.
Work on the Friends of Coal Depot was completed in April, with donations secured by the Friends of Coal Ladies’ Auxiliary.
Auxiliary President Regina Fairchild said it cost more than $70,000 to complete the project, with labor provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Several dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the dedication, including Beckley Mayor Emmett Pugh and Rep. Nick Rahall.
“Coal, as you know, is the bedrock of the state, and I know I’m preaching to the choir,” Rahall said. “This truly, as the mayor says, demonstrates how coal is mined today.”
Rahall said he hopes the new programming will help to educate the thousands of visitors who come to the site each year.
West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney said he was happy to be a part of the event and additions.
“We’re so pleased because I tell you it’s a great, great improvement,” he said.
Raney said the new programming will help visitors understand true professional mining.
The mine is open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Nov. 1. For more information, call 304-256-1747 or visit www. beckleymine.com