Interesting stat about coal

Apparently there are about as many people working in bowling alleys as there are in coal mining.

https://datausa.io/profile/naics/bowling-centers

https://www.spglobal.com/marketintel...-flat-75929468

And bowling is much better for your health. :)

I think all the California coal mines shut down during WW1 or earlier. When oil was discovered in 1890 in California coal was no longer competitive in the west. California oil fields are still in the top 3-5 in the world.
Beverly Hills High School shut down their last oil well in 2016 since it produced less then 300 barrels a day.
BilL D

Sounds like the coal mines are “ outstanding in their field”. And as long as that coal ain’t allowed to be used …. it will continue to
be “outstanding” in it’s field …. or under it. But with time …. It could turn to Diamonds ! But it will have to have to compete with the
cheaper rhinestones.

My 2 coal stories.

In the 1990's I sold oil seals for Chicago Rawhide in Indiana & Kentucky from Paducah to the WV border. Nice folks very friendly. Not much employment opportunities once you move east away from I-75 towards WV. Coal and aggregate strip mining are big business for their economies. if we could come up with a way to replace their employment with something other than coal jobs I think it would help them help us. Can't blame folks for needing a job to feed families and pay the bills. Spent the night in Hazard, KY one night at a Holiday Inn, with my local Kaman guy from Harlan, KY. He took me out after dinner to some of the local bars. At the end of the night he told me, "If you ever need to stay here over night, don't leave the hotel and don't go out to the bars we just went to. They don't know you and you are not welcome here as an outsider."

I am from Evansville, IN. In the 1970's one summer I worked as the doorman at the nice hotel in town from 3-11. There was a guy that came in and stayed most of the summer. He had Jerry Kramer (Packer lineman) with him. After dinner he would come out and smoke a cigar and we would talk. He was an ex Boston Celtic that lived in Barbados. Can't remember his name. Oil prices were out the roof and he was speculating/helping a company buy up coal mines in Kentucky. Jerry Kramer was his front man; his in with people in Kentucky. Brian

I ran across an article a few years back that explained how coal came about. It was a fascinating read. The fact is that all coal was created at a relatively short time in earths history. This was due in part by the evolution of lignin (among other things) in plants that allowed them to develop into tall woody structures we call trees. When they eventually died and fell there was nothing existing in the environment that was capable of completely decomposing them. So over millions of years this dead plant matter just piled up. After millions of years things evolved that were capable of decomposing this massive accumulation of tough woody material. The feast began and all this organic material was consumed by the new species in short (relatively speaking) order. This decomposed matter first became peat and over time as it was buried further below the surface the pressure and heat caused multiple changes that eventually became coal. Before the evolution of trees and then organisms capable of consuming them no coal was created and due to earths environmental changes very little if any afterwards.

I seen this post and John Prine came to mind..??
Funny how the mind works......

John Prine? Lorretta Lynn maybe.