Belgian coal miners emerging from the depths after a hard day’s work. (1920s)

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I expect they smell bad. Fresh air will help.

Omg, tough conditions there!
My back aches seeing this pix.

Nothing scary about that!

And my lungs

A lot of Swedes (including some of my kinfolk) were strike breakers for the coal miners on strike back in the day. Mine never even knew they were strike breakers, got the job offers coming off the boats.

I remember reading about “buttons down the back” where miners would get in tight places and scrape their backs up on whatever was holding up the tunnels. How awful

That is the new image in my head of what Hades would look like!

I wouldn't do it.

We had a 660 foot ride down at the Newfield Mine, near Monroeville, where I worked in the 1980s. I was on the straight midnight crew….and in the winter, we had to ride on the top of “cage” and chip ice the length of the shaft. The worst part was that the elevator ran in the intake air course. There was over 100,00 CFM of freezing air blowing down past you. Two guys could only last a couple minutes on top, then you had to climb back into the elevator through a door in the ceiling. It’s hard to describe that kind of cold. Never experienced anything like it since.

Times are tough here now in the USA duh

lots of miner like that up here in the u p of Michigan , in the 1880 - 1930,

Iron oar