Louisville Historical Museum

The coal beds in the Northern Coal Fields of Colorado were deep underground. The location of coal affects the type of coal mining used. What are some of the pros and cons of different types of coal mining?

Types of Coal Mining

After reading about the different types of coal mining, reflect on the pros and cons of each type, either with this activity or in small discussion groups as directed by your teacher.

Types of Coal Mining Activity

Learn all about coal: the geological processes that create it, what it's made of, its different ranks, and what it's used for today.
Consider what effects lead to the changes in quality of coal. What do you think your town looked like in the Late Cretaceous period?

Creation of Coal

Using your knowledge of coalification, fill out the ranks of coal as well as what causes the changes in ranks. What could these answers have on the effect of your town overtime?

Fill in the Blank: Coal Creation

The type of coal mining and the location of the coal mines changed what type of town Louisville would be. Click the hot spots to learn more!

How Coal Changed Louisville

Louisville (pronounced Lewis-ville) is a small City in Boulder County, Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The primary industry from 1878 through 1955 was coal mining. Today it is a thriving community of 22,000 residents with a few clues about it's mining past.

Louisville Timeline

What was the name of the Louisville baseball team? Click around the Escape Room and use what you've learned to unscramble the letters to answer this question.

Coal's Impact on Louisville, Colorado

Louisville (pronounced Lewis-ville) is a small City in Boulder County, Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The primary industry from 1878 through 1955 was coal mining. Today it is a thriving community of 22,000 residents with a few hints to it's mining past. As you look through the timeline, think about how Louisville would have been different if coal wasn't found here. Who would have come here? What work would they have done?


Underground Coal Mining Impacts on a Small Town

Earth and Space Science

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Geography

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U.S. History

Before delving into the facts, what do you already know about coal? What is it made out of? What is it used for? Explore this 3D model of a lump of coal that resides in our Museum to get a sense of this ancient material.

Coal is not a rock, but a composite of plant materials called 

. Peat can be found in peat-accumulating wetlands like peat bogs. For coal to form, peatification must take place. 

is when various plant materials, seen in this graphic, partially decomposes and sinks into the wetland. 

If coal is found in a particular area, it means that at some point that area was covered in a wetland.

, more peat compacts on top of more and more peat. This increases the 

on the peat, reducing the moisture while forcing it deeper into the earth and exposing it to 

It is believed that it took 15 feet of peat to create 1 foot of coal! The coal seams around Louisville range from 1 to 14 feet.

Coal exposed to different time, pressure, and heat result in different 

 of coal. The longer, more pressurized and higher heat, the better 'rank' of coal, with 

. As you can see in this image, the look of coal changes with the rank. Higher ranks of coal have higher carbon contents, are harder, and are less volatile or unstable.

If anthracite is the highest rank of coal, what coal do you think was found in Louisville, Colorado? 

is what was mined in Louisville! Compared to anthracite, it is softer with a lower carbon content and more volatile.

Just because it's a lower rank and wasn't compressed for the same amount of time as anthracite, coal found in Louisville is still very old. It was formed in the Late Cretaceous period which was between 70 to 135 million years ago. 

 in the United States. Although mines in Louisville are no longer active, there are still active coal mines in the U.S. today. The largest is in Wyoming which produces 41% of all of the coal in the States. Today, Colorado only produces about 2% of the coal in the United States.

When Louisville was coal mining, coal was used to heat homes and stoves, to power locomotives and factories. While we don't use coal in the same ways today, coal still has a lot of modern applications. More than 90% of the coal mined in the U.S. is used for 

. Coke, or coal that is heated, liquified, and re-solidified, is used to 

 to make everything from perfume to pesticides. 

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Underground Coal Mining Impacts on a Small Town

Creation of Coal

Coal