The information on the coal mines and the cemeteries has been very interesting. I am a graduate of Washington Hospital School of Nursing, Washington, PA. I grew up in the flat lands of Erie County, PA. My uncle took me on a tour one Sunday to show me "a Coal Mining Patch." I was amazed. It was like another world. He was a Railroad Engineer. I think he wanted me to understand the world of the people I would be meeting in my nursing program at the School of Nursing. My first note of difference, besides the terrain, was this horrible odor that never went away. I kept complaining and my class mates could not figure out what I was complaining about. It was always worse on a rainy day. It turned out to be the huge slag heap outside of town. They had all grown up with one nearby. It was not an unusual smell to them! Many of my fellow classmates were from the Coal mining communities. We would get word there had been a mining accident. Every one became agitated, inquiring what mine? The hospital had a nine bed nursing unit that was only for injured or sick miners. One of my classmate's father was very active in the Coal Miners' Union. I wonder if any of you have thought of consulting the United Mine Workers Union in regards to the various mines? Seeing a victim of a mining accident is a memory burned in your brain. I remember the grime, then you realized it was a human being! I immediately concluded it was a job no man should have to do. In this day of equal opportunity, no woman should have to do it either. I cared for many victims of Black Lung. One gentleman went in to the mines when he was 9 yrs. old. He told me that men got paid by the car load of coal. They took their children in to the mines with them. The father, (in this case, uncle) would use a pick ax and loosen the coal, then the children picked up the pieces and threw the coal in to the car. The more "pickers," the faster a car was loaded. They worked 12 hour shifts. The tragedy of Black Lung is that once the operation became automated with equipment, the miners got Black Lung at a speeded up rate. It was knowing this gentleman that motivated me to become an Occupational Health Nurse, and to go on to get a degree in Industrial Hygiene Technology. The other item of interest in the mining article was the founding dates of the mines. It never occurred to me they only came in to being in the late 1800's. Shirley