When COSI opened the coal mine, the tour was guided by volunteers/employees. Douglas Reedy found a tape he had with part of the spiel on it. Here's what he wrote:

Here is a partial Coal Mine Tour script, transcribed from an old cassette I recorded circa 1979. This was the method I used to memorize the rather lengthy spiel. Unfortunately, I had the bad habit of recording on cassettes wherever there happened to be space, and consequently this recording ends abruptly as the tape runs out.

Hello, and welcome to the Jeffrey Coal Mine. My name is [ Doug Reedy ] and, of course, I'll be your guide as we walk through the exhibit.

This is the office of the Fire Boss, who is the person in charge of a group of miners going down to work in the mine, and is responsible for their safety. The Safety Board is one of the methods used in some mines to keep track of the miners. As each miner enters the mine, he places his numbered tag (like the samples you see here) on the board, and then removes it as he leaves. At the end of the work shift, the Fire Boss checks the board. If all of the tags are missing, he knows that the miners are safely out of the mine. If there is a tag remaining on the board, he knows that a miner is in the mine, so he organizes a search party to search for the miner. If the results of the search party are negative, he will then call the home of the miner. If the miner is home watching television, he will be fined the cost of the search party, and may possibly even lose his job.

We're going down the mine entrance into the man cage, which is COSI's version of the big wooden elevators which take the miners down to the working level. Please move to the rear and turn around to face me so that I can talk to you on the way down. There is a three-foot step-up on the doorway. Be careful not to trip, and would the last person through the office door please close it?

As we head down, let me briefly explain a few things to you. First, you probably realize that there are no coal deposits in Central Ohio, so you can't expect to see a real coal mine in downtown Columbus. Our exhibit has been designed to show you how a mine looks and works, and what it would feel like to be in one, if you just use your imagination. The coal mines in Ohio are located in the eastern and southern parts of the state. The type of coal which we have in Ohio is called bituminous. It is one of the major varieties of coal, and is sometimes referred to as "soft coal". If you were to bump into it, you would find that it is not so soft, so please be careful when you reach the low areas.

The first section of the mine we'll see is the historical area, where you'll be able to see how a mine may have appeared about 100 years ago, when the miners used only hand tools; picks and shovels to be precise. We'll be seeing some examples of modern techniques, equipment and safety procedures later on the tour.

This is our old miner, Jeb Barton who will do the talking for the next few minutes. [recording]

We will now be going through this low-seam area which is only four and one-half feet high, so if you're above four and a half foot and want to stay that way, you'd be advised to duck.

You're now standing in the entry, an area from which coal has already been removed. After removing the coal, the walls and roof are sprayed with rock dust, a powdered limestone used as an insulator to reduce potential hazards from coal dust, explosions or fires, another example of mine safety.

The piece of canvas along the side is a "brattice cloth" which directs the flow of air into the area in which the miners are working. Giant "mine-o-fans?" force air down into the mine, not only to provide with fresh air to breathe, but also to break up any potentially dangerous concentrations of coal dust or methane gas.

After the coal has been removed, the roof may be shored up with timbers and boards, like these, as miners have been doing for hundreds of years. A modern method is to use "roof bolts". The miners drill through layers of rock normally laying above the seam of coal. Then they insert of these long steel bolts along with a metal, plastic or wooden beam called "headers", or if smaller "half-headers". As the bottom of the bolt is tightened, the head expands and the teeth bite into the rock, firmly gripping it. By bolting the roof itself, the miners are able to able to keep the floor clear so large mobile equipment can be maneuvered. We'll move on, now, to the next area where you can take a look at a machine actually used for modern mining.

This is a loading machine, manufactured right here in the city of Columbus by Jeffrey Mining and Machinery Company, who are the sponsors of this exhibit. The machine weighs about 38,000 pounds, or 19 tons. This machine is about 50 years old and was actually used in a coal mine until it was retired to be put on display. To get it down to our exhibit, it was taken apart and brought down piece by piece, and then reassembled in the mine. The function of the machine is to load coal. Up there at the face, where the coal has been shot down, there are two large steel arms which scoop up coal onto the...

TAPE END

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