All I ever needed to know I learned from Dr. Hamerski of the Winona State University Physics Department. Not really – I have learned several interesting tidbits of information from the couple of classes I have taken with him.  Such things include: the amount of time it would take me to brake after seeing a goose in the middle of the road, how many decibels it would take for a church bell ringer to go deaf, where to find a nuclear power plant in the state of Minnesota, etc.

Yesterday in class, Dr. Hamerski introduced his next lecture on coal. He brought in a small piece of coal for the class to pass it around to look at and feel. He went on to tell us about Winona when it had a booming coal industry. In the year of 1910, the coal industry was brought to Winona because of its prime location of being a river town with a passing railway.  Also, a brickyard that had been started 40 years earlier which used the coal. By now, I’m sure you’re wondering what the little white building pictured has to do with Dr. Hamerski and the coal industry of Winona. Well Dr. Hamerski went on to say, that the coal yard was near the corner of Fourth Street and Carimona Street and on this site, a little building was constructed out of large chunks of coal. Within the last couple years, the owners of the building painted it white and the memory of the coal industry appears to be hidden – the things you learn in physics.