The following text is the transcript of a speech.

1hello, i’m professor williams and i teach at northeast university. today, i’m here to talk with you about coalmines. coalmines are one of this area’s most treasured and historical sites. in fact, the mine site attracts visitors and tourists from around the country, giving the nation a peek into our small town. i call it our small town because this is where i was born and raised. although i eventually moved away to attend college, i came back often to see family and friends. as a child, my parents first took me to see the coalmines and mining museum when i was 11 years old.

2i had already known what to expect once we got there since i had read nathan connor’s book, exploring the mines several times growing up. in his book, he compares the underground mines to a massive cave, waiting to be explored (connor 45). i must say, with my first visit to the coalmines, that’s exactly the feeling i got as the mine elevator slowly took us down into the dark, cool underground maze. i can still remember squinting to try to adjust to the darkness, and even feeling a little scared inside as we went down that first time.

3i visited the coalmines several times after that, either with my family, or through school trips. however, once i graduated from high school, it would be another 10 years before i returned. this time, i was seeing the mines as a teacher of history, and i used my return visit to do research for a book i was working on about the coalmines.

4it may sound funny, but i still got those same mixed feelings of fear and excitement as the elevator took me down into the cool underground. but once i got out my pen and paper, and the tour guide started to fill me in on what he knew about the mine and its history, it was all business. much of the machinery and tools the miners had used were still down there. in fact, my tour guide was even using an original “coal oil” lamp to light our way through the mines. the coal oil lamps were one of the most important pieces of equipment to the miners, and each miner had his own special lamp (johnson 79).

5i had started my research on the mines with the goal of writing about the mine itself; the look and feel of the mine, and the coal it produced that fuel machinery and heat homes. however, in the end, my book ended up being more about the miners than the mines. most miners endured long and hard hours of working underground, and without receiving much pay. perhaps marybeth anderson said it best when she called the underground mines, “a great place to visit, but not somewhere i’d want to work” (anderson 121).

6i couldn’t agree more.

works cited

anderson, marybeth. working underground: stories from miners. new york: viking, 1997.

brady, andrew. a view from the underground: photographs from america’s coal mines. boston: imagination, 1980.

connor, nathan. exploring the mines. new york: penguin, 1965.

johnson, cathleen. “a life underground: essential tools for a miner.” new york times.
15 may 1905, natl. ed.: b1.

newsome, ann. a history of america’s fossil fuels. boston: grammercy, 2002.

peterson, horace. fueling the country: how coalmines changed the nation. chicago:
viking, 2004.

quentin, m. j. “were you related to a coal miner? ” hampton gazette. 5 january 1999: e8.

stanley, lizbeth. how native americans were affected by the hunt for coal. new york: bantam, 2009.

tropez, hannah. “coal mines across america.” virginian-pilot. 13 december 2000: a2.

zeek, terrence. “african americans and the us coal mines.” philadelphia inquirer. 1 april 2006, e4.

the citation (connor 45) in paragraph 2 most likely refers to which source?
a) exploring the mines
b) working underground: stories from miners
c) a history of america’s fossil fuels
d) fueling the country: how coalmines changed the nation