This is the third in the Coal Heritage series and is a slight departure from the style of the two precious depicts a mine office, circa 1950's, the French invention and design of the methane detecting instrument of the Flame Safety Lamp , car checks on the mine foremen's small slant top desk. A pipe and tobacco (both smoking and chewing types) are also present. The pipe and smoking tobacco are in the mine office, the only place are also present. The pipe and smoking was safety permitted, although some regularly "sneaked" a smoke underground. Many miners Chewed tobacco and carried their "plug" of it in the mines with them at all times. The check board ( a wooden board with nails and round numbered brass discs) told who was in the mine and who wasn't. Each man was represented by the numbered brass disc. The original use also was for a brass " safety pin" . The miner would place one of those discs on each car of coal he had loaded and sent outside. These checks would be paid for each car of coal he had loaded. The miners safety and well being was the initial reason for this and other measures as evidence by the stack of safety notices that are seen posted in the mine.
The mine portal can be seen through the window. This is a combination of still life and landscape in order to place us in office and outside all in one painting.
The title Lower Elkhorn No. 1 is a reference to the name of the main scam of coal that underlies this area of the Appalachians. It was one of the richest and most productive of coal deposits ever mined in the world.