Horses were the common source of motive power in all Nova Scotia mines from the earliest times until the end of World War II. Usually they entered the mines at about age three and the remainder of their working lives were spent there. Underground stables were constructed and some large collieries had as many as a hundred horses working at one time.
The horses pulled boxcars along the narrow gauge tracks which reached from the face to the levels where steam-driven winches hauled the coal to the surface. At the time of his hiring, every miner was assigned a check number and it was chalked on the boxcars he filled. This number facilitated the crediting of the miner's work, a process which was carefully monitored by a checkweighman.
