We arrive at the Arigna mine without preconceived ideas. It is something to do while staying in County Leitrim, Ireland. The woman at check in shows us to an area where we see a brief film that explains the history of the mine which was shut down in the 1990’s. We look at photos and I browse the small gift counter.

Eventually we are taken into a room at the mine opening and asked to put on hard hats. We are the only people on the first tour of the day. Our guide’s name is Michael and he was a former coal miner at the site.

Michael has a shy smile, a miner’s cough, and a thick local accent. He is soft spoken and therefore (to us) often hard to understand. He pauses at the photo of Jesus at the mine entry and blesses himself, telling us it was the first and last thing every miner did upon entering and leaving the mine.

He tells us he left school at fifteen to go underground and that his father had begged him not to. But he hadn’t liked school and the miners seemed larger than life. He wanted to make money and the larger amounts of money went to those who worked the most dangerous and difficult areas of the mine. He volunteered for jobs with increasing risks.

We walk into the shafts. I share that my grandfather had been a lead miner as he shows us the coal car system. He shows us the thin seams of coal and describes how you had to lay on your shoulder in cold water to work the seam and extract the coal. He grows a little pensive as he remembered the dark and the endless dust.

I ask lots of questions as I want to understand his experience. Though he always answers, at times he seems lost in the past and reluctant to talk about the hardships. When I ask if he was in any of the photos of the working mine in the small interpretative center, I finally got a full smile. After we leave the mine, he takes me to his photos and shares the names of his mates between the constant coughs. A light returns to his eyes, ever so briefly. The mine has closed but the memory of friends lives on.