This historical photo captures a close-up portrait at the Montour No. 4 mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, dated November 1942. The image centers on a miner wearing a hard cap with a mounted lamp bracket, his face marked with coal dust and the unmistakable texture of long, physical work.
Details in his clothing—an open work jacket, a patterned neckerchief, and a small whistle hanging on a cord—help convey the everyday tools and dress of the era. In the soft-focus background, rail tracks and several vehicles suggest an active industrial setting beyond the frame, grounding the portrait in the larger rhythms of a working mine.
As a snapshot of wartime-era Pittsburgh coal mining, this photograph highlights the people behind the industry as much as the place itself. It’s a compelling piece for anyone exploring Pennsylvania history, labor and industrial heritage, or archival images of miners and coal company operations in the early 1940s.