In a mine developmental work was constantly under way in order to expand or prepare certain areas for future production. From the surface, the central shaft or slope bisected the coal seam; a number of levels, spaced with some regularity along the slope, were driven off at right angles. The number of men employed in a mine and its output were determined by the number of levels operating at a given time; large mines would have as many as a dozen levels operating and other levels would be under development.
Special teams, such as the one seen here using augers, were trained to prepare levels in anticipation of the arrival of a stream of new miners requiring a place to work. As the only way to expand output was to increase the size of the mines, a much more complex underground organization emerged.
Courtesy: National Photography Collection, Public Archives of Canada (PA-29182)
