Seeing Life At The Local History Museum In Karaganda

Nothing better than finding out what a local museum deems worthy of display. What are the highlights, where is the pride? Time to take a peek at some exhibits from the main museum in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

It's always good to start with some nature. After all, those lovely animals were around before and probably after us messy humans. Nice coat.

Right, humans. They showed up a while ago and found caves and fire. Light it up. Or battle it up. Such an angry species, humans. Not the horses!

What makes Karaganda Karaganda, mining. Hero as driller.

The mundane and the exalted. Fixing a humble tractor and a drink from a gold bowl.

Fun with reality, an example of a typical family apartment from the 1950s. You've got a real table, chairs, a snazzy TV, stereo. Oh, you want real walls and a window? Forget it!

Down A Hollar To Dante, Virginia

You might think you've gone to hell, but Dante rhymes with "paint." Get your southern accent on and it rolls off the tongue. Dante is classic coal, a tiny town crammed into a hollar, created by a coal company that brought tracks into the area to pull all the black gold out. Glory days and heavy mining are long gone. Left behind, signs of another era.

Empty hopper cars outside the center of town.

You've arrived. A friendly greeting. Main street is a set of railroad tracks with company houses dotting the sides.

Old Christmas decoration in the dilapidated train depot.

Ball field. Iconic view, tracks through a hollar.

Never able to forget why the town exists.