near Blairsville. Commodore Mines, Nos. 1 & 3 (drift mines), No. 2 (slope mine), Green Twp. Empire "F" Mine (1910-?), Shanktown; a drift mine, mining the "B" coal seam, mining done by machine, owner Pioneer Coal Company, Clearfield. Empire "M" Mine (McKean Mine) (1906-?), a drift mine, non-gaseous, mining a 38" thick seam of Lower Kittaning coal using compressed air machines; ventilation provided by an 8' Stine steam-powered fan, Clymer, PA. Rodkey Mine(1906-?), a drift mine, Clymer. Ernest Mine No. 2 (1903-1965), a drift mine, at Ernest, Rayne Twp., Indiana Co., PA. Tennessee The Fork Mountain, TN, drift portal entered an 84-inch unnamed seam of coal (see picture above). Most coal seams in Tennessee were not this thick. Virginia The first coal mine in the Pocahontas Coalfield with its famous 13 feet tall seam of Pocahontas No. 3 coal, the Pocahontas mine is a drift mine. West Virginia Many, many references to and photographs of WV drift mines in the Scrapbook of Appalachian Coal Towns, including Sprague, Kaymoor, Nuttallburg, Venus, Layland, Elverton, Casselman (aka Castleman), etc. Historical US drift mining (gold) Alaska Drift mining methods were used extensively to mine placer deposits during the early years (1899- ) of the Nome mining district. During summer, surface deposits could be worked, but some placer deposits were buried too deeply for surface placering. In addition, water to wash the gold from the placers was not available in the winter. Many miners tunneled into deep placer deposits, bringing out the high-grade gravels to be washed at the spring thaw. Most of the ground in Nome is permafrost. By drift mining, miners were able to recover much of the gold buried under the permafrost. Gold at Nome was concentrated in three ancient beach lines, now inshore, above sea level, and buried under roughly fifty feet of permafrost overlain by two feet of tundra. Gold was usually found on top of "false bedrock," a layer of clay that occurred at the base of the beach or stream deposit. Miners initially sank shafts to prospect for the pay streaks by building a fire atop the permafrost, then as it melted, shoveling away the mud. The process would continue down to either a pay streak or bedrock. When gold was found drift mining began. Miners would tunnel horizontally from the bottom of their prospect shaft to follow the gold along the surface of the bedrock. The tunnels