All of these items were saved by my Dad, Phil Gent,
a honorary Lignite Louie.
I am the proud holder of these items,
and they will be passed down to the next generation,
as a reminder we not all had safe office jobs!
Underground Coal Mining was one of the most
dangerous jobs known to man, and still today
kills many miners, even with all the latest safety equipment.

My Dad's First Miner's Hat
Cloth, with hard brim
C/W Carbide Lamp holder
This picture shows the Guys Dropper
Carbide Lamp attached
Mixing Carbide with water droplets would produce
the gas which would burn at the front of the hat.
Very dangerous in underground mining
due to the open flame.
After these lamps were used, 
they switched to battery packs
see below...

Next came the huge advancement
called the Wood Hard Hat.
These were the first produced
and were made out of Wood Chips 
glued into a mould,
then varnished
They also had the Carbide lamp holder
on the front,
shown here without the lamp

Here is a close-up of the
Guys Dropper Carbide Lamp
Bottom half would unscrew
and the carbide would be inserted in there
Top half held the water, which was
controlled by the small lever
on the top, with notches to hold it in
a certain position
On the side of the Lamp Lens
is a small flint striker, that supplied
the spark to ignite the gas

Aluminum Battery Pack worn on the belt
with a rubber electric cord
running to a small electric lamp
holder, that attached to the front
of the hard hats as the Carbide Lamps did.
These were 100% safer, 
since no open flame.

Below are an assortment of Little Metal Tins
with various uses, used underground

Left- Carbide Flask, Used to hold Carbide for the Lamps
Middle- Tin with a intricate curved pouring spout, use -see below
Right- Small open tin with short pouring spout, Black Powder Scoop
If you know of the proper use of these tins. please email me

Ask and I receive, from Mr Jimmy Brown, who at one time
worked on my Grandparents farm, and whose father
worked at Western Dominion and M&S mines
Here is what he says about the tins above
"I believe that the centre tin (the one with the curved spout ) 
was used to fill a sweet oil  lamp. This was a lamp used by miners in Scotland
and was mounted on the miners cap, much like the carbide lamp.
It had a spout with a round wick. It was filled thru a small hole near the top.
I don't know what sweet oil is but think it may have been whale oil.
It would burn with kerosene, but smoked very bad so was not officially allowed. 
It was not used in the larger mines but may have been used in the small mines.
The larger tin looks like a black powder scoop.

And this possible solution for the middle tin, 
comes from Dr. Alan Moore, from Northampton, UK,
(The middle tin) could also be a priming tin
for a incandescent vapour pressure lantern,
such as Primus or Petromax.
These kerosene lamps had to be preheated
with a clean burning fuel as part of the lighting procedure.
The tin contained methylated spirit or denatured alcohol, 
and the curved tube allowed the right amount
of meths to be added to a small dish inside the glass,
through a small hole in the base plate
while keeping the lantern upright. 
The dish could then be ignited using a match
poked through the same hole.
When hot, the main valve would be opened
and the lamp would light up. 
The heat of the mantle then kept the whole thing hot.
These lamps would probably not have been used
down the mine as they gulp oxygen,
but almost certainly they would be very useful on the surface
- in fact Tilley manufactured a mine shaft lamp
with a downward facing reflector, 
it could be suspended over the shaft to throw light down. 
Tilley never used these meths filler cans
- they had a different system where an asbestos torch
dipped in meths could be clipped to the burner tube. 
They were in popular use from the 1920s onwards.
Now we have 2 choices on it's use.

Wolf Safety Lamp
Used underground
and originally had a glass lens
so the flame was not open to the Air.
This was still not as safe as a battery lamp. 
This example is missing the glass lens,
and is a little dented here and there, definitely showing it was used.
These were hung from the underground room roof
to illuminate a larger area, than the small hat lamp.
They used a Room and Pillar form of mining, until 1942,
The coal seam was accessed by a main slope or shaft.
The coal was then mined along a series of roadways
that intersected at right angles, leaving pillars of coal
at the intersection to support the roof.
The "Rooms" created varied in width from about 12 to 20 feet
and were the main source of coal output.
Since my Dad looked after the horses underground
he would have used this lamp in the "Room"
where they were kept when not working.

After 1942, Strip mining was used in most mines.
This involved removing the overburden 
exposing the coal seam, and no risk
of cave-ins etc.
Huge machines were required for this method.
This method is still used today.

Lignite Louie Ribbon
given to my Dad
when he was honoured to be 
given the title of a Honorary Lignite Louie.

The following pictures were sent by Duane Bill from Calgary AB
who as it turned out rented my parents basement suite in Estevan.
and like Duane says maybe he caught my Dad's habit of collecting
old mining memorabilia.

Collection of everything on the wall
Mining Drill salvaged from a metal salvage Dealer in Estevan

Carbide Mining lamps as explained above

Old cloth hat as above, but some local history behind this one,
Don Perry found this hat in basement of old Perry's Hardware store,
when they were cleaning it out.  It's brand new looks like to me.

Blasting Black Powder container.
Duane tells me my dad told him they were only allowed to carry 2 of these
down into the mine at a time, due to the danger involved.


Never seen one of these before
Licensed Coal Dealer #10, Estevan, 1936, badge
Duane thinks this belonged to his grandfather Sam Bill.