"It takes a REAL man to work in a coal mine." This is a comment I overheard while waiting for an oil change from a man who had just seen a newsclip about mining. I secretly smiled and agreed with him. Little did he know that is what my husband does for a living.... 
Back in the fall of '07, Carson was getting job offers left and right to start his new career as a mining engineer after his U of U graduation in May. The mining field is so hot right now and they desperately need college-graduate engineers, so you can pretty much pick where you live... (I know I know you are all wondering why Wyoming?) Just to give you an idea there were about 50 college graduates in the mining engineer field nation-wide and over 500 job openings... that's how desperate the field is. We traveled to several places to scope out our options and see what the companies had to offer. We went to Alabama, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. He also had offers in Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Australia (I was hoping for that one.)
I was able to tour some of the mines with him, and this specific company took some pictures of our experience and sent them to us. Here we are getting the safety training before we can enter the mine all decked out in the good ol' gear. When I tell people that my husband is a mining engineer, a lot of people are surprised and wonder how he can possibly enjoy it, but he really does. He is a 4th generation miner on both his mom's side and dad's side and is carrying on the tradition-- both Carson and his dad will tell you that it gets in your blood and that there's something awesome about being thousands of feet under a mountain working hard to provide the world with the needed minerals to operate correctly... I mean really without it, we would have no electricity, no cars, no fuel.. we really wouldn't function as a society! You would be surprised to find out just how many things are produced from coal. And with all the advances in technology, it's just as safe as the next job.
As for me, a few mine tours were good enough... I think I would get depressed working in a place with no windows and not a lot of light. I'm just grateful that my husband absolutely loves his job 100%. Many people ask me if it scares me having him underground, and I can honestly say it doesn't anymore. The only real scare I had was with the Crandall Canyon Mine Accident because he was working that same evening in a sister mine (different company) about 1.5 miles from the Crandall mine. Nothing happened to him, and he didn't even feel the collapse even though he was so close. After that experience, I realized that I can't live my life in fear every time he is underground. I know that he is smart and well-educated and knows what to do to handle emergency situations. He also knows which companies practice smart safety techniques and which don't, which is why he told me he would never work for a company that doesn't do things correctly... That's a big part of why we came to Wyoming- he trusts this company and knows they follow the rules. I really have no fear and never worry about it.
So there's the answer for all of you who have wondered how this mining life treats us. It couldn't be better!
Back in the fall of '07, Carson was getting job offers left and right to start his new career as a mining engineer after his U of U graduation in May. The mining field is so hot right now and they desperately need college-graduate engineers, so you can pretty much pick where you live... (I know I know you are all wondering why Wyoming?) Just to give you an idea there were about 50 college graduates in the mining engineer field nation-wide and over 500 job openings... that's how desperate the field is. We traveled to several places to scope out our options and see what the companies had to offer. We went to Alabama, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. He also had offers in Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Australia (I was hoping for that one.) 
I was able to tour some of the mines with him, and this specific company took some pictures of our experience and sent them to us. Here we are getting the safety training before we can enter the mine all decked out in the good ol' gear. When I tell people that my husband is a mining engineer, a lot of people are surprised and wonder how he can possibly enjoy it, but he really does. He is a 4th generation miner on both his mom's side and dad's side and is carrying on the tradition-- both Carson and his dad will tell you that it gets in your blood and that there's something awesome about being thousands of feet under a mountain working hard to provide the world with the needed minerals to operate correctly... I mean really without it, we would have no electricity, no cars, no fuel.. we really wouldn't function as a society! You would be surprised to find out just how many things are produced from coal. And with all the advances in technology, it's just as safe as the next job.
As for me, a few mine tours were good enough... I think I would get depressed working in a place with no windows and not a lot of light. I'm just grateful that my husband absolutely loves his job 100%. Many people ask me if it scares me having him underground, and I can honestly say it doesn't anymore. The only real scare I had was with the Crandall Canyon Mine Accident because he was working that same evening in a sister mine (different company) about 1.5 miles from the Crandall mine. Nothing happened to him, and he didn't even feel the collapse even though he was so close. After that experience, I realized that I can't live my life in fear every time he is underground. I know that he is smart and well-educated and knows what to do to handle emergency situations. He also knows which companies practice smart safety techniques and which don't, which is why he told me he would never work for a company that doesn't do things correctly... That's a big part of why we came to Wyoming- he trusts this company and knows they follow the rules. I really have no fear and never worry about it. So there's the answer for all of you who have wondered how this mining life treats us. It couldn't be better!
1 comment:
I didn't know a mining outfit could look so hot! You make that thing look good!
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