The end of an era

My father was a coal miner.

After learning about Bridger Coal Company’s plans to close its underground mine, I found myself thinking about him and his work. He was a miner throughout much of his life, spending a lot of his years working underground. He was one of the first people to work at Bridger’s underground mine and was one of the last to leave the Stansbury Mine when it was operated by Arch Minerals.

He took me into the Stansbury Mine when I was 11 as part of an open house at the mine. We lied about my age to get me on a tour of the coal mine and I distinctly remember the sense of awe an...