Joshua Bower

At age 14 I rode my bike to farmers lands to dig irrigation ditches. By age 16 I was servicing equipment after football practice and during summer I was doing demolition work and miner haulage with a trackhoe, ford pickup and a flatbed. At 18 I supervised the night shift crew running a coal washplant and support equipment on a minesite. I was being groomed to take over my father's company unfortunately there are slow times in the subcontracting world. I worked underground to get a schedule I could stick to living in Denver while my wife (girlfriend at the time) completed becoming a surgical technician. Business booming for my father I went back to Foreman in my home town building highwalls for highwall miners, stripping and haulage of topsoil, underground portals, and landslide relief which stopped dragline production with a strict deadline for the coal company. I was able to build my own house and start a family. It got slow afterwards after being so busy I was running 10 to 20 guys completing jobs holding daily safety meetings and my priorities were different too. I seeked a retirement plan, steady job, health care for my children, and a father son relationship instead of a work one. I decided to take a job at Trapper Mine. I excelled quickly there getting to pay grade 1 and using my Foreman papers accepting a Leadman role were I would fill in as a Production Foreman. One of my mistakes in life was deciding to leave Trapper. With the negativity surrounding coal I chose to go to work for Moffat County Road and Bridge but mining was always rich in my blood and I missed it too much. I decided to go back to the place I wish I hadn't left to Trapper Mine were I hope to excel once again furthering my career in mining or whatever opportunities it may hold.