A Miner's Life by Laura LASSIAZ

My grandfather started working in the mine called Somain in the North of France in the 1950’s. He was 14 years old in 1954 and he retired  43 years later in 1984 due to a work injury. Miners had to go down down the mine 440 meters deep in a cage in which there were about 32 of them. The miners began at 6 o’clock in the morning and finished at 2 pm working in teams of 2 or 3. They were equipped with their head lamp but also a lamp attached to their belt to see what they were doing. They wore work clothes called "blues" because of their color. These clothes were stored in a room that we dubbed the room “ hung " since all work clothes hung from the ceiling by a rope system . They wore rubber boots. Each had a lunch prepared by their wives. It consisted of bread and ham with a flask of coffee or water. They only had 25 minutes to eat. The business of mining was done with various tools such as picks to extract coal and it was stored in "berlines" which are small cars. There were several coupled together in a row and driven by horses down at the bottom of the mine. They remained so long in the dark they turned blind. Any land that is mined is stored in heaps, we can still see them, and they are “slag heaps”. Each miner had a salary that was about 9000 francs and had bonuses for their dangerous job. They feared gas explosions, they called shot “grisous" and many miners died of lung disease. They had free health insurance, free rent and 700kilos free coal. It came in the form of "gaillettes" witch are small round pieces of coal. Each miner lived in company towns dubbed more frequently in the North “settlements”. The miners were still welcoming. The tradition was to provide coffee heated on a coal stove to any guest. Northern houses were poorly insulated, he even said that when it rained, with the heat of the stove, water round down the walls. The last mines were closed in 1988. The mining profession was very dangerous and I will always have the memory of what my grandfather said "mine closure is a good thing, there will be no unhappy”.