Czechoslovakia
The sulfur miners of Sicily were not the only miners to work naked. These are coal miners in the František (Francis) mine in Czechoslovakia in 1928. The mine was over 1800 feet deep, and the air temperature reached 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit), with the rocks up to 55 degrees C (131 degrees F). The guy above is working on the wooden beams.
Most wore a leather apron to protect their private parts, but it's said the toughest guys dispensed with even the apron.
This and the previous photos were taken in 1928 by Sergej Protopopov.
Workers clearing a break in the mine shaft in 1937. Photographer unknown. The mine finally closed in 1999.
3 comments:
You'd think it would be cooler that far underground.
Near the surface, the rock temperature is the average of summer and winter air temperatures above, in the 50s (Fahrenheit) for much of the U.S., which is why going into a cave feels cool in the summer. But farther down, like these deep mines, the temperature gets hotter and hotter, because the deep interior of the Earth is very hot. Volcanic lava, coming from much deeper than these mines, is about 2000 degrees F, which I know because I live on the volcanic island of Hawaii.
Holy crap!! Thanks, Larry!
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