STORIES: In and Out of the Dark: coal8

Mike Wallace's youngest daughter, Abby, watches as he leaves their Cucumber, W.Va., home on his way to the evening shift at Brooks Run Coal Company's Cucumber Mine. A month earlier, two miners working on Wallace's shift were killed when part of the mine's roof caved in. Wallace says he accepts that danger is part of the job and prefers mining to anything else.

Mike Wallace's youngest daughter, Abby, watches as he leaves their Cucumber, W.Va., home on his way to the evening shift at Brooks Run Coal Company's Cucumber Mine. A month earlier, two miners working on Wallace's shift were killed when part of the mine's roof caved in. Wallace says he accepts that danger is part of the job and prefers mining to anything else.