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September 20, 2023 - Although not overlooked, much of northern West Virginia’s coal mining history lacks representation through standing museums or heritage sites. Through a combination of robotics and slick video presentation, Mike Rohaly hopes to change that by building an exhibit that simulates underground coal mining.
“I’ve been living most of my life in this area, since the early 80s, and I knew from being in the coal business and even earlier that this was an area steeped in coal mining history,” Rohaly said. “I was very surprised, shocked even, that there’s so little that the general public could see or wasn’t even a (coal-related) museum in our six county region.”
 Mike Rohaly shows the partially-completed attraction that will one day host a mechanized mine cart that will move in sync with a video shown on a lifesize screen placed in front of it.
Photo by Esteban Fernandez
Rohaly retired from coal mining after 37 years.
The exhibit, which is under construction at an old dairy farm adjacent to the coal country miniature golf facility, repurposes an old farm cistern that is approximately 8 feet high, 10 feet long and 16 feet wide. It will house a mechanized mine cart that will move up and down, left to right in sync with a video presentation in order to simulate a mine cart ride. Four people at a time will be able to ride in the cart. Rohaly said they just finished filming for the video presentation. He has spent 2 years developing the attraction.
Rohaly said the idea sprang from the need to generate revenue for his nonprofit, the Northern Appalachian Coal Mining Heritage Association, as well as the desire to keep the region’s coal heritage alive. He hopes that the location of the site next to the interstate will help drive tourists to the spot.
The coal mine ride is part of a larger plan to establish a coal heritage trail, similar to the one that exists in the southern part of the state.
The northern part of West Virginia has its own rich coal history and by building a venue that honors it, Rohaly hopes that this area will further develop and create new heritage sites.
Dora Kay Grubb, president of the Marion County Historical Society, said that the lack of any major museum presence might be due to the fact that compared to the southern part of the state, there was less strife here.
“This area was not as bad as the rest of them,” she said. “You’ll read several mining books and they say people did not live in the same level of poverty as the southern part of the state. Yes, they did get thrown in jail, not to say this was the greatest place in the world, but you have to look at the time.”
However, significant events in coal mining history did happen here, such as the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, which is the worst mining accident in American history. And then, there was the tragic explosion in 1968 of No. 9 in Famington.
Establishing a new museum or exhibit can be a challenge. So far, Rohaly has spent roughly $100,000, with much of it coming from Rohaly’s pocket, as well as donations and sponsorships. There’s still $80,000 left to go on the project.
Of that, $26,000 is owed to the company that designed the motion simulator mine cart. The video for the project still needs to be produced, and an electrical system is still on Rohaly’s to-do list.
The Marion County Commission recently denied a request for funding, although the commissioners were enthusiastic about the idea and hoped to connect Rohaly with outside funding streams. That said, the project is still in need of donations and other funds to complete the work.
Grubb said that running a museum, not to mention starting one, comes with a lot of funding challenges.
Leslie Baker, director of operations for the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, said that her own museum has taken 60 years to build up. Baker is also the director of Beckley’s Parks and Recreation department.
“We’ve been at it a long time, and it started out as a one man trip, in basically a little shack in the first six weeks out of the summer,” Baker said. “And that was in 1962. They operated like that for several years. You came, you got on the train, you went underground, there was nothing else.”
Overtime, the City of Beckley subsidized the mine and partnerships with the State Division of Tourism and Visit Southern West Virginia to build what is there today. However, Baker said that once a museum takes hold in the community, people start to take an interest.
“The more we have, the more people will come here,” she said. “People come to the mine museum, they go to the Mine Wars Museum in Matewan. They ask if there’s more, once they get a thirst for it, they always want more.”
Leisha Elliot, executive director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Marion County Inc, said Rohaly’s plans would enrich Marion County’s cultural tapestry, by adding an exhibit that dwells on the area’s unique history.
“Part of what Marion County is today is because of the coal heritage that we’ve had over the last century,” she said.
The ride also provides an opportunity to tie in to the region’s Italian American heritage. Much of the state’s population is descended from miners who came here from Italy to work in the mines.
“We can tie that into the Italian heritage which ties into the pepperoni roll and the Feast of the Seven Fishes festival,” she said. “It adds another layer of interest that people will have to come to Marion County.
What matters to Rohaly most though, is preserving the experiences of the men who in two strokes, both powered the country’s rise at the height of coal’s ascendancy while also rejected exploitation and laid the foundation for the labor rights most of the country enjoys today.
“There was a tremendous amount of sacrifice,” he said. “I, personally, would like coal miners to get a little credit for some of the good things they achieved.”
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