This silent short documentary shows the audience the coal mining region centering around southwestern Pennsylvania. We get to look at the overt operations of a coal mine, including the dirty job of getting it out of the mine walls. After that, it's a look at it being "cooked" into coke, and finally laded on ships.
It's a dull, grim job, and the low, moaning score emphasizes that. Signs all about the mine warn the people present of the danger, ad the casual way that the miners use explosives to bring down a shelf of coal is sartling.... ans is the collapse of the coal onto the mine's floor.