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DIGITAL HISTORY FEATURE - MINING

On July 24, 2002, a mining accident trapped nine miners at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Although the men were later rescued, the accident accentuated the fact that modern technology has still not made mining safe. The same dangers that imperiled miners two hundred years ago continue today.

These dangers make for abysmal working conditions which, when coupled with low wages, have triggered some of America's most violent labor strikes. Much of the history of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, for example, has been characterized by labor violence and violent repression among workers; the Molly Maguires, for example. As the problems and dangers persist, so too, does the role of organized labor in the mining community. Miners continue to organize and lobby for improved pay and working conditions-the same things miners clamored for one hundred years ago.

These dangers make for abysmal working conditions that, when coupled with low wages, have triggered some of America's most violent labor strikes. Much of Pennsylvania and West Virginia's history, for example, has been characterized by labor violence among workers; the Molly Maguires illustrate a case in point. And since these problems and dangers persist, so too does the role of organized labor in the mining community. Miners continue to organize and lobby for improved pay and working conditions-the same resolutions miners clamored for a century ago.

These materials, which include oral histories, photographs, and legislative documents, provide a glimpse into the working conditions of America's miners. Using these documents, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

  • Who would work in a mine?
  • Why have relations between miners and mine owners frequently turned violent?
  • How has mining affected the communities that surround the mines?
  • In what ways has mining changed during the past century?

Required Viewing: Click on image to explore full size.

Coal mining scenes: two images: 1.) miner lying and using pick; 2.) man kneeling beside coal car and looking at a piece of paper. c1899.
Miners in car entering slope shaft which is 5,000 feet deep, Calumet-Hecla Mines, Calumet, Mich.
Boy shoveling coal next to man with punching machine that drills into coal, Laura Mine, Red Star, W. Va. 1908 Sept.
Three coal miners of the Lorain Coal & Dock Company, Lorado, West Virginia. 1918.
      

Required Reading:

  1. Read: "In the Beginning ... The Early Days of Mine Rescue"
  2. Read: "PIONEER STORY -- Albert Zeigler"
  3. Read: "The Shirley letters from California mines in 1851-52"

Brief Edition Chapter References:

  1. mining industry, 626, 638, 759,1017, 1164
  2. coal industry, 610, 686
  3. and strike of 1902, 791-92
  4. Tredegar Iron Works, 521
  5. Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, 666-67

IMAGES

  1. View: Striking miners drawing rations, West Virginia. Miners ration line III.
  2. View: Man using drill in mine.
  3. View: Seventy-one years, or, My life with photography. Two thousand feet down mine, Barberton, Ohio, Jan. 18, 1942.
  4. View: Men and machinery in mine.
  5. View: Mine tipple in West Virginia.
  6. View: Hoisting ore & lowering miners, Lead Homestake Mine.
  7. View: Loading a mine car.
  8. View: Copper mine, interior.
  9. View: Open cut in the great Homestake mine, at Lead City, Dak.
  10. View: 531 Chance Mine.
  11. View: Pack train for the mines.
  12. View: African-American woman picking up coal from old slate heaps in mining community. The "Patch," Cassville, West Virginia.
  13. View: Part of one family living in miner's boarding house. One woman and six children live in one room. Two beds, no water, no heat. Mohegan, West Virginia.
  14. View: Woman (probably Hungarian) coming home along railroad tracks in coal mining town, company houses at right, Pursglove, Scotts Run, West Virginia.
  15. View: Dead coal miner under rock after cave-in in tunnel.
  16. View: Miners pushing an "empty" (sides of tunnel show depth of coal vein), coal mine, Pittsburg, Pa., U.S.A.
  17. View: After lunch in Chance mine.
  18. View: Lead City Mines and Mills. The Great Homestake Mines and Mills.
  19. View: At work in the stope of the California mine, Eagle River Canyon, Colorado, U.S.A.
  20. View: Coal mining scenes.
  21. View: Stripping the coal at Missionfield Coal Company's Mine, surface mining west of Danville, Ill.
  22. View: Treadwell Gold Mine five hundred feet under the ocean (Alaska).
  23. View: Montana Mine.
  24. View: "Gold Dust." Placer mining at Rockerville, Dak. Old timers, Spriggs, Lamb and Dillon at work.
  25. View: Miner working in coal mine.
  26. View: Boring for a blast in the depths of a coal mine, Pittsburg, Pa., U.S.A.
  27. View: Scenes from mining, #2.
  28. View: Breaker boys, Woodward Coal Mines, Kingston, Pa.
  29. View: The Klondike, Discovery claim.
  30. View: Miners in car entering slope shaft which is 5,000 feet deep, Calumet-Hecla Mines, Calumet, Mich.
  31. View: Coal mine.
  32. View: Group of miners underground.
  33. View: Boy shovelling coal next to man with punching machine that drills into coal, Laura Mine, Red Star, W. Va.
  34. View: Down in a Colorado gold mine--taking out ore, Eagle River Canyon, Colorado, U.S.A.
  35. View: Harry and Sallie.
  36. View: Gold mining.
  37. View: Miner panning gold.
  38. View: Three coal miners of the Lorain Coal & Dock Company, Lorado, West Virginia.
  39. View: Washing gold.
  40. View: Just up, Hecla [i.e. Calumet and Hecla Mine] shaft No. 2, Calumet, Mich.
  41. View: 2 boys and a horse in a coal mine, West Va.
  42. View: War Labor Board anthracite hearing.
  43. View: View of the Utah Copper Company open-pit mine workings at Carr Fork, as seen from the railroad, Bingham Canyon, Utah.
  44. View: Miners return to work.
  45. View: Breaker boys in Kohinor mine, Shenandoah City, Pa.
  46. View: Going to work.
  47. View: Andrew Scavnicky and John Mikula in a coal mine, Hazelton, Pa.: Walking in tunnel.
  48. View: Row of coal miners' shanties.
  49. View: Pack train leaving Ouray with supplies for the mines, Colorado, U.S.A.
  50. View: Strikes - coal miners, Penna. - strikers mass meeting at Indian Mound, McKee's Rocks.
  51. View: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (vicinity). Westland coal mine. Miners in "mine trip" enroute to the mine.
  52. View: Chinese Miners--Columbia, Tuolumne County.
  53. View: Miner's cabin, Sierra Nevada Mountains.

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DOCUMENTS

  1. Read: U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration.
  2. Read: American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940: Item 22 of 500 [Albert Zeigler].
  3. Read: The Shirley letters from California mines in 1851-52: LETTER the ELEVENTH.
  4. Read: Legislative wrongs to labor and how to right them

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