History
Coal mining in Colorado dates back to 1859, when a pair of men began mining a coal deposit between the gold rush settlements of Denver and Boulder.
For centuries, miners took canaries into the shafts to warn them of potential disasters. In event of a collapse which reduces the oxygen supply, the birds alerted the miners to trouble. The creatures fled the mines if they could before dying. Canaries as well as mice and pigeons have also been used to test for carbon monoxide. Even a small amount of the odorless and colorless but deadly gas will, because of the bird's rapid heartbeat, cause a canary to swoon and thus alert the miners. Often the canaries could be revived if they received immediate attention after evacuation. The canaries were brought into the mines in small wood or metal cages to test the safety of an area after a fire or underground explosion. Over the years the birds saved many lives. By the 20th century, modern detection devices were brought into the mines under government mandate.
Read more about this topic: Coal Mining In Colorado
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“The history of his present majesty, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations ... all of which have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)