SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
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| August 25 - 31 Our picks of the week's best pictures
LIFE OF A MINER:
A coal miner enters "the hole" at the beginning of the 10 hour evening shift at the Mathies coal mine in western, PA. The Mathies mine, which employs 164 miners, is one of the few underground room-and-pillar mines still operating. Unlike surface strip mines that use less men and more machines, underground mines are very labor intensive. The coal mining industry, once nearly extinct in Pennsylvania, has made a recent comeback as a centerpiece to President Bush's energy plan. Sunday, August 26, 2001. 
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