Re: Where does coal come from?

Used to be Lots of coal mines west of Durango.

When I was small, about age six, we lived at old Fort Lewis, south of Hesperus (circa 1948-1949).
One day my dad and I went to a small coal mine in Hay Gulch someplace
over there west of Durango.

I remember the one guy digging coal in there had a mule or burro that pulled the coal cart in and out of the mine
on some tracks. He blasted and shoveled it all himself. He had an acetylene miner's lamp on his hat, and he gave me an old one to play with.

He said he dug good coal there, he took us into the mine tunnel a ways to the coal face he was drilling holes in to shoot, and showed us how well the coal burned by holding his lamp against the face of the seam.

Interesting visit, Haven't been inside a coal mine since.

Some 14 years later when I worked for the D&RGW as fireman out of Durango, the RR still got their coal from those mines over west of
there. It was good coal and we liked it better than the coal on
the "east end" that came from the Walsenburg area. The coal from
Monero was good too.