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There are and were surface outcrops of coal throughout the Powder River Basin. The Plains Indians are known to have used coal from these outcrops prior to the arrival of the white man.
The Peerless Mine opened and began underground operations in the early 1920s. The method of coal removal, then, was called "room and pillar" mining. The miners left blocks of coal untouched in order to hold the roof up while they mined adjoining coal. Wyodak has mined through this area.
| After removing approximately 100 vertical feet of material during current mining operations, the underground workings of the Peerless Mine were revealed. The top photo shows the area from the south to the north. The bottom photo shows the Peerless Mine from the west to the east. |  
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| This photo was taken inside one of the tunnels of the Peerless Mine. Imagine 100 feet of material on top of miners working in total darkness. During underground operations this tunnel would have been approximately eight feet wide and six feet tall. The size of our mining equipment caused the tunnels to be enlarged for the cleaning process. | 
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| This photo shows an example of why the tunnels have to be cleaned - a metal connection where two tracks were joined together was discovered. A lot of metal, various tools, pipes, timbers, railroad spikes and nails have been found. | 
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| Halvor Johnson, a Wyodak foreman in the early 1950s drew pictures in ink depicting early mining methods. This picture shows very early surface mining with overburden being removed by horses pulling a device called a "fresno." | 
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| This picture shows a shovel loading coal onto an overland conveyor, not much different than how Wyodak moves coal today. | 
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| This drawing shows a shovel-truck operation, a very common scene in most surface coal mines today. | 
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| This drawing shows overburden removal with a scraper and dozer push operation. | 
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© 1996 Black Hills Corporation
This page last modified 10/11/96.