There are coal mines in North Dakota, and we had a coal stove in our bottom floor of the house (supplemented with propane heat.) We'd get pickup and trailer loads of coal from the local co-op, you'd drive into a bay and they'd release a chute and it dropped into your truck and then you'd pull up into for the trailer. My dad would make my brother and I haul in bucket after bucket of coal to this under part of our shop that was attached to our house. It was all dirt and dug out, and that's where the coal excess would go, then we had this big wooden box when you walked into the shop where we'd keep the "more immediate" coal. There was a hatchet we'd use to break up bigger chunks into more manageable chunks. We wore handkerchiefs but it didn't matter, coal dust penetrates like a kid on prom night. You're blowing black snot for hours.