Prof shares decades-old coal miner tools with OCCC
Jennifer Pearsall/Pioneer
History professor Ray McCullar shows his father’s miner’s hat and lamp from the mid-1930s. A collection of Dee McCullar’s mining gear is showcased in front of the Social Sciences office located near the Aquatics Center.
STACI BRINKMAN
News Writing Student
During the Great Depression in Oklahoma, coal mining offered hard, dangerous work with low pay for long hours, said Ray McCullar, OCCC history professor.
McCullar has brought to campus artifacts from his father’s life as a coal miner in the 1930s.
Dee McCullar’s coal mining experience is presented through paraphernalia in a showcase in the Social Sciences area, located in the Main Building between the Aquatic Center and the Student Union.
The display includes a collection of 70-year-old tools and objects that were used by Dee McCullar, such as a carbide light, a coffee maker, a coal mining lunch pal, and a brief summary of the history of coal mining.
Ray McCullar said his father’s role was deep down in the mines where he would pick out coal and load it onto coal trucks.
Mining accidents were commonplace, Ray McCullar said. It was not uncommon for coal miners to lose body parts as a result.
“Scraps of food were left in the mines by the miners to feed the rats,” McCullar said.
“If a natural gas leak developed, the rats smelled it first and began to leave the mines. When the rats began to leave, the men went also.
“My father didn’t spend his whole life there,” McCullar said.
He said his father worked in the mines for four to five years in Poteau, a small town in southeastern Oklahoma.
In 1951 his father, mother and two sisters left their small town when Ray McCullar was 5 and moved to Oklahoma City where his father went on to become foreman of the mail room of The Daily Oklahoma.
Ray McCullar said he was inspired to create the exhibit when he saw the empty case.
He said he thought it would be interesting to display the history of his father’s short-lived career in the mines.
