Jaunted

Joseph Marzelli... explains the ins and outs of coal mining as it was done in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, when miners used canaries as air monitors. Marzelli is one of a crew of animatronic miners who greet visitors inside Portal 31, an underground coal mine that folks here have transformed into a tourist attraction. In broken English, Marzelli, flanked by an animatronic coal-mining mule, shares his appreciation for his new home in America and a job that, at the time, was done primarily with picks and shovels and dynamite. "Life is bellissimo," he says. A Welshman yells from the darkness: "Fire in the hole." Then, the rumble of an explosion. It unnerves the mule. "Easy, calmare," Marzelli says in a calming voice. "Aren't you used to that noise yet?"

Marzelli's Life, of course, was anything but bellissimo. The article quotes one Lynch resident whose father was killed in a coal mine explosion, one of many miners who died that way. The town is hoping that, in addition to bringing in badly needed tourist dollars, these kinds of exhibits serve as small reminders of what their fathers and grandfathers had to go through.