Black Gold
This story begins many million years ago. At the time, much of the earth was covered with heavy vegetation. Forests of trees and ferns were thick and lush. Unlike today’s, strange creatures, animals, and birds were everywhere. The earth was going through a pre-historic age. Many changes were to take place over the next millions of years. The earth would go through terrible heat periods and gigantic freezing. Ice burgs would grow to enormous sizes and travel across the land. As the weather changed, the vegetation and prehistoric life died out. Icebergs and earthquakes ground down the land. They covered decaying plant life with soil hundreds and thousands of feet deep. As the earth changed, the vegetation became petrified organic material or fossilized plants. In places, the black or brownish petrified sedimentary rock was exposed. Weather and water erosion expose the material near rivers or eroded banks. The black material became known as COAL. Coal was found throughout the entire world. A man somewhere, somehow (est. 2,000-3,000 BC), learned that soft, black stone would burn to produce heat and energy. Coal is the largest source of fuel for the generation of electricity worldwide. This is the story of the organic fossil and how it affects the world of the coal miner and everyday life. Coal fueled the Industrial Revolution from the late 1700s to 1940.
Many of the American coal miners’ ancestry goes back to Wales. Coal mines in the Welch countryside produced coal for England, Wales, and Scotland. In South Wales (1780), coal mines dotted the countryside everywhere. The 1st Industrial Revolution had begun. Coal was needed for the iron furnaces throughout England. My people were very poor. They lived off small incomes, without company or government benefits. In British society, coal miners were considered the least desirable individuals. Life was difficult. The families were large, and the homes were small. Children were expected to work at a very young age. It took the labor of several family members to make ends of meet. The homes were close to the mines. This made them dirty because of pollution from the coal industry and smoke in the air. Mines burnt tons of coal to produce steam in boilers. Breathing problems were the major health problem of the communities. Lungs were filled with harmful heavy coal dust polluted air. Miners often got sick with “Miners Consumption.” It was caused by breathing in sharp coal dust while working underground. This disease led to severe coughing up of blood, choking, and death.
A major boost for the mid-west coal industry was the advancement of the nation’s railroads. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act. This allowed the nation to build the first transcontinental railroad. Coal was in great demand. Coal mines feed the steel industry and railroads steam engines. The eastern mines became impractical as the railroad progressed into the western territories. The mined coal had to be shipped by rail and stockpiled along the network. This discovery of coal in several western areas opened new opportunities and industries. Coal miners were in demand.
COAL CAMPS BETWEEN 1880 AND 1920
To understand coal miner life, you must know about the living conditions in a small coal town. You should also learn about the environment there. Coal towns were often called coal camps. The coal camp usually included the name of the mine, for example: “Blue Ribbon Camp.” I don’t know how “camp” came about, but tents were common during the mine’s early digging. Often, the workers lived with their families in the tent cities. As the mine developed, so did the communities. I have attempted to capture the life of coal miners in a small town at the turn of the Century.
When covering mining history, I mustn’t leave out the importance of the homemaker. Several texts talk about mining towns in the late 1800s. They often overlook the struggles families endured. Life was very hard and even complex, requiring family teamwork. People refer to the old days as “the good old days” or “the simple life.” After reading through some of these living experiences, you decide.
Life in a coal-mining town is not pleasant in today’s standard of living. The term “The good old days” was not the sentiment I heard from our mine family. Life was everything but simple.
WIFE’S CHALLENGE
The miner’s wife had a nightmarish life compared to today’s housewife. Keeping the household together was more difficult than coal mining. The wife was up with the workingmen and boys fixing big breakfasts and packing the miner’s buckets. During the week, each of her 15-hour days had designated chores. The miner’s wife was hurt. She had to work, but her efforts weren’t always valued. Women worked pregnant right up until the time the baby was delivered. Recovery from childbirth was short, often less than two or three days. Being sick was not an excuse for not attending to the household’s needs unless bedridden.
THE MEALS
Preparing meals was a major project that started hours before eating. Before breakfast, the housewife had to make up lunches for the men of the family. The miners all carried a lunch bucket. The lunch bucket was exactly that: a two-part bucket that fit together like a double boiler pan. The upper part was the drinking water section, and the bottom was the food compartment. Usually, the lunch had sandwiches, cookies, fruit, and candy if available. Most men had tobacco in their buckets. The buckets were full because the men worked about twelve hours and often ate twice during the shift.
The breakfast included fried eggs, thick bacon, oatmeal, and leftover potatoes from the day before. The meals always included bread. Pancakes were made from bread flour, but syrup and sugar were expensive and hard to come by.
When miners returned home, tired and hungry after long shifts, they were often grumpy. The wife would always have big dinners to feed the appetites of her hard-working family. The evening meal was usually a standard meat and potatoes dinner. After dinner, the family would sit around and visit about the day’s events. Families visited, discussing things in the small world they lived in. One or two oil lamps lit to lighten the room as it got darker outside. The kerosene lamps provided adequate light to move around but were poor to read by.
In towns without electricity, radios were useless and unavailable for entertainment. Entertainment was often the result of a family member’s initiative. World, national, and local news usually was days old before reaching rural communities. Most miners could not afford newspapers.
THE DAILY BREAD
Baking bread was on top of a weekly list of things to do. This task required a very long day, as with many other chores. The bread was made in very large bowls. The ingredients were wheat flour, milk, eggs, water, salt, and yeast. The ingredients were hand mixed in the large bowls, a strenuous and tiring job. The fist-sized ball of bread with active (life) yeast was always saved for the next week’s batch. The starter ball often recovered the same way for years and was kept in a cool, not cold, place. The housewife would cover the kneaded bread, place it in a warm place, and let it rise. This procedure was done several times before putting the bread into baking pans. The bread was baked in the coal-burning stove oven. It was brushed with butter to seal the crust when it was taken out. This helped preserve the bread throughout the week. The bread had to last about one week. Bread items were kept in wooden breadboxes to keep out as much air as possible.
The bread dough was used to make other items, like sweet rolls and cookie bread rolls. Sweets were limited to the availability of sugar and to holidays, especially Christmas.
A PRESSING THING
Another day was set aside for ironing. Ironing was done with a heavy steel iron weighing three to five pounds. The irons were placed on the stovetop until hot enough to press. Ironing was an all-day job, often working into a second day. Warmed-up irons were also put under the covers at the foot of the bed during the winter to keep them warm.
HOUSE CLEANING
A wife usually cleaned her house during the designated days of weekly chores. House cleaning was not easy in a dirty, dusty, coal-mining town. The streets and walkways were dirt. When winter came, the home had to remain somewhat warm inside. This meant the wife would have to carry heavy coal buckets from the coal shed into the kitchen. A home that burned coal would become smokey and smelly. The smoke carried a fine dust that covered everything, including the walls.
The floors were wood, usually covered with rugs in traffic places. The rugs were taken outside, hung over a fence, or placed on the cloth line. A broom or long stick was used to beat dirt and dust out, which was hard.
A SPOT IN THE LOT
Gardens were essential to the household. Every spring, a garden was prepared. The ground was tilled, fertilized, and prepared for planting. Gardens provided fresh vegetables through the summer. The garden also was vital for growing vegetables for fall canning. Depending on the region, gardening seasons differ. Various vegetables like melons, corn, peas, tomatoes, beans, and carrots were grown. Cauliflower, broccoli, okra, and radishes were also planted.
THE MASON JAR
During the early days in a mining camp, the women had to cook everything from scratch. Store-purchased items were hard to come by and too expensive for most of my family. Most food was grown during the warmer months and canned (preserved in Mason jars) for the cold months. Canning was done whenever the vegetables were ripe. The season would last from mid-summer to late fall. Canning was like everything else: a hot all-day job lasting several weeks. The meat was also canned but not as common as vegetables. Meat canning took a special talent to preserve in a safe and sanitary way. The family often had chickens, rabbits, and hogs for meat. Beef was not common and was also expensive. Without refrigeration, all meats had to be used immediately after butchering. Chickens were kept for eggs until they were no longer produced, and then they went into the frying pan.
THREAD AND NEEDLE
Sewing was a way of life for the housewife. The women in the house made most of the clothing. Mending and repairing was a constant job. Clothing was rarely discarded. As one child outgrew the garment, it was passed on to a younger one. A shared social gathering was the wives and girls had been quilting making. Women would meet at someone’s home and visit while sewing. Quilts were made when enough rags were gathered to cut into small squares. The ladies would sew the cut-up pieces together and make quilts. They stuffed soft rags between the outside and inside layers to insulate the blanket. This helped keep the blanket warm.
THE LIGHT
Candles or oil lamps were used for lighting throughout the house. The oil lamps were two-part lighting fixtures. The base had a wick that soaked up the oil and produced a firelight when lit. The higher the wick, the brighter the light. The reserve oil was kept in a one or five-gallon container with a large filling cap and a spout, both with a screw cap. The oil was named “coal oil” because it was made from black petroleum. It was refined to become a purer, higher-grade burning oil. Oil was usually purchased at the local mercantile store.
The upper part of the lamp had a glass chimney. Every morning, the glass chimney was cleaned. Suit from burning gathered and had to be removed. The chimney needed to be ready for the evening. The lamp bases must be refilled daily to last through the evening. The lamp light was not the best light for reading.
Housewives would make candles if the tallow, a hard white animal fat, were available. Several women sharing materials and labor often assembled candles. The tallow was melted on a hot stove and then poured into a mold containing the wick.
THE FAMILY TUB
A miner’s work was hard in a dirty environment. At the end of his shift, he would be covered with black coal dust. The only clean areas of his face were his eyes and mouth, which stood out over the blackened face. The miner looked like a player in a minstrel show. Miners were lucky if they had shower rooms at the mine. They could shower daily with hot water from the boilers before going home.
The family bathed only once or twice a week. Home bathing was a big job. Water had to be carried in buckets from the well. It would take several trips with heavy, full buckets of water to fill the bathing tub. The bathing tub was a large, galvanized, oblong, flat-bottom vessel. The tub was also used for washing clothing. Water was heated on the kitchen stove, pail by pail. There was an order to bathe adults first, then children. The whole household uses the same bathwater. By the end of bathing, the water was cold, stinky, soapy, and a little rank.
SLOSHING ON A WASHBOARD
A wife would wash clothing one day a week, most likely on Monday. The mine families were people of little means. The family members had few garments to be worn. Clothing was limited to actual needs. Each member may have a Sunday outfit and a normal daily outfit. On washday, most all clothing would need to be washed. Separating the coal-black garments from the rest of the washing. The cold water would have to be carried in heavy pails from the well, often requiring several trips. The housewife’s only relief would be if she had children old enough to help. The buckets of water were dumped into a large pan centered on the stovetop to be heated for washing.
Once the water was hot, it was dumped into a washtub, usually on the floor. The garments were swirled around in soapy water with a large wooden paddle. After they soaked for a while, they were scrubbed on a washboard and put into a tub of rinse water. If the family was lucky, they had a hand-turned-wringer to squeeze the excess water. Usually, hand rung and twisting until water no longer dripped. Then carried out and hung on a clothesline wire to dry throughout the day. Sheets were the most difficult to ring out and hang on the clothesline. By afternoon, the clothes had to be removed from the cloth line and into the house. On cold winter days, the sheets would freeze and be so stiff that they were carried into the house like plywood. The white clothing had to be soaked in lye and a liquid dye called Wrights Liquid Bluing. This process was dangerous and difficult.
THE RESTING (LIBRARY) PLACE
Outhouses came in as many variations and were as different as their owners. The home always had an outhouse as far from the house as possible. Outhouses usually smelled rather repulsive. Most outhouses had two seats. I don’t know why, but two people could use them simultaneously. Often, standing men used a trough along one side or the other so the seat area would remain dry. One never had to do without reading the material in the outhouse. Toilet paper was a rarely available luxury. The methods of wiping clean were pages (hard paper) from a catalog or the newspaper. I can only imagine there were a lot of posteriors with black printer ink designs from one end to another. The privy was usually quiet, giving uncommon privacy in daily life.
It was hard to get the energy and willpower to go to the outhouse on a snowy, cold night. The walk was far from the house, and the toilet seat would have been extremely cold. There usually was no light or only that of a candle. Rats were found near outhouses, making people worry about what might be under the toilet seat.
The following is a quote from an acquaintance.
“We had to use the outhouse every morning or at least daily. It was an unpleasant experience. The odor always directs itself between your legs and into your face. Outhouses have a draft that rises from the seat hole. This brings the stench, flies, and insects attracted to decaying feces in summer up to you. Most of us became adept at not using the outhouse until an emergency. When you went to the bathroom, you used the “Monkey Wards” catalog paper to clean yourself. It only took a few seconds longer than getting dressed on a cold morning.
I remember one that never seemed to have a door. Its owner was either an exhibitionist or very lazy. I remember another family that put a foundation under theirs. Several large families built two or three “holers.” This allowed several members of the family to use the facility at the same time. Once, when I was about eleven years old, I selected the center hole at a farm family’s outhouse during a visit. I had just sat down when I was joined by an older brother and father of the boy I was visiting. The two of them took the remaining holes on either side of me and proceeded to urinate. Even though it was a “three-holer,” it was not a spacious building. The holes on each side of me they attempted to use were only about six inches from my bare bottom. They both directed their urinating poorly, splashing around. With their hands on their hips, they nonchalantly discussed their work as though I were not there.”
Most families had one or two honey buckets in the house for night use. The name “honey bucket” came from the color of the contents found in a used bucket. A honey bucket is a steel bucket with a round bottom and a tightly fitting lid. The bucket is covered with porcelain. The bucket was used for relieving oneself in the house during the night hours. Someone had to take the honey-filled bucket outside and dump it in the outhouse every morning. The bucket had to be washed out for the next night’s use.
COAL BENS / WOODSHEDS / WELL WATER
The backyard was a busy place. One would find a shed used for storing coal and wood kindling. The shed usually had a large, high square door at the back at the level of a truck bed. This design allowed the coal deliveryman to shovel the coal from his buggy or truck into the bin. Small chopped-up wood (kindling) was kept dry inside the shed. The winter’s cords of wood would be stacked and stored alongside the shed. Also, the outhouse was in the backyard.
A water well was also located in the yard. This hole was dug into the ground until (hopefully) finding water. Then, a wood platform was built over the hole. A large hand pump with a pipe attached extended to the water. The pump is attached to the platform. The pump handle took several up-and-down pumps to get the water up from below before it discharged. Often, the pump had to be primed with several cups of water to get the pump to work. It was always a concern that the water was fit to drink. The neighborhood homes all had outhouses in backyards, causing impurity concerns. Questionable water was boiled.
DOWNTOWN PLEASURE, AN OUTING
Shopping was a very limited experience. Most shopping was done for essentials only. Shoppers rarely buy for enjoyment or personal items. Shopping was normally done in a local mercantile store in their town. It was not a regular daily thing.
The exception of shopping locally was a trip to the nearest large town. This would be considered an outing. Shopping in a city or large town was adventurous and educational. The wives and children would see the large merchandise only seen in catalogs. Now, they could see and touch merchandise they had never seen before. Things only dreamed of would now be within hands reach. The problem was the family most likely could not afford the merchandise. Nevertheless, the trip was a great adventure and a wonderful experience.
TRADING-BARGAINING, A WAY OF LIFE
Trading and barging with neighbors and farmers were a way of life. During the canning season, women would trade canned items with each other. Services were used in bargaining. A woman may arrange to sew for another household for something in trade. Men with carpentry skills could be traded for materials or something of equal value. The merchants needed woodwork, possibly cement work, or maybe plumbing. The skilled worker would trade his labor for the merchant’s goods. A local grocer would trade goods for fresh-grown field products. Usually, the local doctors were the losers in the trade game. The doctor’s service was for everyone, including those without money to pay. Small communities often did not have doctors due to lack of payment.
TOWN BUSINESSES / EDUCATION
Mining towns were usually rural towns away from cities. The towns were normally small with little convenience of the city. Most towns started around the coal mine due to travel and closeness to the working place. As the town grew, business could be supported, and soon, the main street was dotted with stores. Most coal towns had very limited business centers. A one-room schoolhouse was usually built at the edge of town. The children of all grades were taught in the one-room classroom. One could usually find a general mercantile store, a post office, a livery stable, and, if lucky, a drugstore. As the towns grew, churches, a bank, and the Town Hall were built. The mercantile store carried almost everything a family would need. It handled canned goods, fresh meats, and dry foods. The mercantile store also handled basic clothing, shoes, and sewing materials. Hardware was available in the store. During the holiday, special merchandise was usually available. Miners had difficulty making ends meet and had little money, not known to use the local bank. A lumber company would often move into the area, not necessarily for the local citizens. The lumber business depended upon surrounding mines as well as the farming community. The coal industry, as well as the residents of the community, needed lumber. It was common to have a local tavern on the main street. Miners liked to drink.
The town was extremely fortunate to have a doctor available. Doctors were spared very thin throughout the communities. Doctors generally made the rounds regularly, so one would have to wait for him to show up. Sometimes, the sick or needy must travel miles to see a doctor. When there were mine accidents, miners often had to wait long for medical help. Death often occurred without medical help. Medical help was often a housewife dedicated to attending to those in need. These women were midwives and home nurses. Women who helped others died from diseases they caught while caring for sick people.
Education was limited to a few residences. Coal miners felt that the children needed to work and support the family. Frequently, the boys were taken out of school as soon as they could read and write. Boys often never attended school at all. Mines allowed children to work alongside the men. Girls were allowed to stay in school much longer, often finishing the twelfth grade.
The lack of education showed in the adult character and understanding of life. Often, a miner was ill-tempered to the point of irritating and upsetting others. The miners were often poor husbands and fathers to the children. It was not unheard of that men beat their wives and children for little reason.
The educated people of the town were customarily limited to a few occupations. Druggists, bankers, clergy, and schoolteachers had higher education. Of course, doctors were at the top of the educated.
Churches and various religious groups would become part of the community. Most church activities were held in homes in small towns. It took a large membership to have funds to build churches. Morality and love thy neighbor were always a challenge.
BE HEALTHY
Health problems were common in mining towns. Several national epidemic diseases spread quickly, killing people within a few days. Some major killers were influenza, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, cholera, phenomena, and polio. Often, the entire community would be stricken with very contagious diseases. Life came to a standstill with so many inflicted in the communities. Help and medical care were hard to find. Doctors were swamped and could not cover all those who needed their service. Many housewives risked their lives helping others. Families were often quarantined to keep sick people away from healthy ones. Many women volunteered to help. They were quarantined in someone else’s home. They couldn’t go to their families for weeks. Women who helped others often caught diseases from the people they assisted and died.
A major health problem would eventually overpower the miner’s health. The disease was called “Miners Consumption.” It was caused by breathing in coal dust for many years. This disease was life-threatening and affected the lungs. The ailment started with coughing, which soon developed into spitting up blood. The breathing was limited to short breaths. Lungs were filling up with blood due to the lungs lining dust damage. The miners’ end was due to loss of breath and phenomena like symptoms.
CHILDHOOD GONE
Child labor laws had not been enacted; children were at great risk. A child’s life was put in jeopardy very early. Safety was very relaxed, and work was extremely dangerous. The first national attempt to have child labor laws was in 1904. The Supreme Court struck down the law. In 1924, a child labor law was blocked once again. The first child labor law was enacted in 1938 and signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The child coal miner would get up with his father early in the morning before daybreak. He normally would have a big breakfast and then dawn his dirty coal dust clothing from the day before. He would wear oversized coveralls and a long-sleeved shirt. His footwear was laced ankle-high boots with a hard-toe when available. In the early days, miners wore hats made of leather or processed material. The material was coated with a hardening substance and then boiled. The miners often called these hats hard-boiled hats. This hat resembled and looked like fiberglass. On the front of the hat was a place to hang an oil lamp used for light in the darkness. The miner’s child carried a two-piece lunch bucket, like his father. Water was in the lower bucket, and food was in the upper insert section. The mines made shorter-handled picks and shovels for children.
I have seen several photographs of young boys dressed in dirty work clothing from head to toe. Rarely a smile on the coal-blackened face. Children who worked often got sick and died young from breathing in damp or coal dust-filled air. If the breathing doesn’t get them, accidents may.
The coal-mining boys were robbed of life in many ways. Education was of little concern to the household head. The father felt he didn’t get an education and his children wouldn’t either. It took a good man, strong and progressive, to overcome this way of thinking. Due to this type of uneducated thinking, men grew up with little ambition towards change. Frequently, the girls of the household would go to school longer, often through the 6th grade. In a mining family, the women usually could read and write enough to communicate at a much higher level.
Schoolchildren often taught parents.
THE END OF LIFE
Many causes of death in the coal mining industry are listed:
UNDERGROUND: Coal dust, gas explosions, and defective lamps cause mishaps. Coal cave-ins, timber failures, and runaway gondolas follow suit. The bucket fell down the shaft, falling into the open shaft. Runaway mule, kicked by a mule. Drowning in rushes of water (Iowa mines), suffocation after a cave-in.
SURFACE: Train locomotives, railway cars, moving machinery—dangerous situations to avoid. Boiler explosions, dynamite mishaps, and electrocutions are all risks.
When a miner was killed at work, a replacement worker was immediately hired. The deaths were an expected hazard. The dangerous death traps were seldom corrected.
Death was frequent due to accidents and sickness. The diseases were handled quickly. The communities usually did not have a mortuary or a mortician to take the body for preparation. The family prepared the body, dressed it nicely, and displayed it for viewing. The viewing was called Wake. Without embalming, the body needed to be buried within a day or so. It was customary for the body to be taken to a local cemetery by horse and buggy. A family member usually dug the grave. The grave markers were normally made of wood. When possible and within budget, stone markers replaced the wooden grave markers.
UNTIL DEATH DO, WE PART
Marriage was not necessarily because a couple fell in love. Finding a mate in a remote area was not an easy task. Families pushed the young adult kids out the door to make room for the younger children. Young men were forced out if he was not contributing to the household expenses. Also, young adults often wanted to escape the large family environment. It was not uncommon to marry at the age of sixteen. The whole community knew the available singles. The reunion was not necessarily of love. Young people were often persuaded and pressured by family by parents.
The young couple wanted to leave the nest to start their own life. They knew of opportunities that were often elsewhere. Their work compensation was their own. They could have a home and start a family with a non-shared income.
THE MARY WIDOW / WIDOWER
The death of a provider meant a certain disaster for the home. Men that died left family’s homes with a financial void that was devastating. The wife was forced to do outside work such as washing clothes, cleaning homes, or sewing. This outside work had to be done along with keeping her family as comfortable as possible. Every penny she could make was needed. If the miners’ families lived in company-owned houses, they would have to move out. The mining companies did not have much sympathy or consideration. The house was to be made available for a working miner. Finding a new home with children and no money was devastating. Hopefully, other families would look out for them and temporarily make room. Without work or help, the family would be broken up and separated. Relatives or friends took in children. The widow lost everything. Her husband had died, her children were gone, and she had lost her home. Jobs for unmarried women were often risky, undesirable, and looked down upon. It’s hard to imagine the strength it must have taken to keep living.
The man who lost his wife was burdened with house chores and homemaking. Keeping a family was impossible for a man working fourteen hours daily. The children were given the burden of keeping the house and making the home presentable. Many times, the widower had to give up his children and home. If a family member did not take the children, they were wards of the state. The widow and widower would look for a companion as soon as the death grief was over. Finding a mate was done through necessity, not necessarily love. Often, the match was an understanding of what each wanted. Marriage was because society expected it. If a man and woman lived in the same house and weren’t married, they were the talk of the town and considered sinful.
GETTING AROUND
Transportation was generally done using animals. People either walked or rode in buggies pulled by horses. Most miners usually did not own a horse and buggy rig but could rent one from a local livery stable. Very few men rode around on horses. A family would rent a rig to visit nearby mines or towns to see relatives or friends.
Mules often did the heavy field and yard work. The mines were noted to have mules for their strength and pulling power. Some mines had mules that lived in stables deep down in the earth. The stables were stocked with hay, feed, and water. Many of the mules never were on the surface after being taken down into the depths of the mine. The mules pulled the coal trolleys from the tunneling area to the mine elevator. When a mule was no longer producing as required, it was brought to the surface and destroyed. The mules had to be destroyed because the bright daylight blinded them.
Most coal towns had a train system. A passenger train would often stop at the depot if the railroad tracks were on the main line. Trains pulled the coal cars from the mines to the marketplace. The whole nation required coal to function. Cities need coal for steam power and heat. The largest industry in the country was the train transportation system. Most all trains operated on coal. Steam power seemed to run everything, and the coal produced the steam. Coal was the essential fuel for the country’s advancement. Coal was mined across the entire country.
ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL
The mining industry took full advantage of the workers. Wages were poor, working conditions were terrible, and work hours were long. The work was dangerous and had long-term health effects on the miners. The mine owners practically enslaved the workers. A man’s life was of little value to the mining business. Miners were constantly swindled out of pay. If a miner died, the family did not get any benefits. The mining company wouldn’t pay for funeral services. If a miner was maimed for life, he was laid off and sent away; he would never receive any financial help. Children were often used in the most dangerous jobs without any concern for their health. A miner who had a complaint was usually fired. There was no such thing as the rights of the workers.
The workers became restless. The mine owners were unfair and unwilling to negotiate. The miners started to organize themselves to have power as a working group. Organizing started real problems in the coal industry. The coal miners formed a strong bond with each other that soon spread to other mines. At first, there were several unions, mostly regional organizations. The union was first organized in 1890. It took several years to spread throughout the nation. One of the first demands was an eight-hour workday; unionized mine owners granted this in 1898. Creative bargaining would not become a standard engagement until 1933. Retirement benefits came into existence in 1946. The living conditions started to improve with workers’ rights. The union mines had protection rules for child labor. The workdays and hours were reduced, health benefits were introduced, and pay increased.
UPON THIS ROCK
Religion was usually not a driving factor in the life of a coal miner. First, most coal miners and their wives could not read. The religion they knew was a verbal history passed on by family or a traveling evangelist. The lack of religion often showed in the behavior and lifestyle of the miners. Miners were very rough men who could become violent over very minor issues. As soon as the town started to grow, a saloon moved in. The saloon became a community center and drew the workers very quickly. Drinking was an escape from life’s hard labor. Fistfights were common, the language was vulgar, and the noise was great. If a town had elected a lawman or sheriff, the officer would be very busy with drunken miners. Unfortunately, it was not unheard of to have a murder or serious physical maiming of a victim.
The lack of religion was a concern for many families. The adults could see that the children needed to believe in faith and catalysts to unite the family. Several small coal towns had religious gatherings. Sometimes, large families and neighbors would gather for Sunday meetings. As these groups grew, they built churches. Religion was often associated with an organized faith. Traveling speakers and officials came from a church headquarters. Evangelists were strong speakers. They attracted large crowds and convinced people to follow their beliefs.
THE TIN STAR
Small towns often did not have a local sheriff. Law enforcement usually comes from the county or state. The lawmen traveled and would often only come into the community upon request. A crime would often be investigated days later, giving the criminals time to escape. Without a sheriff, the community took things into their own hands. Vigilante groups were often the only law enforcement available. When the vigilantes caught someone breaking the law, they would tie him up with rope and lock him in a storeroom. Then, the state or county sheriff would transfer him to a jail.
Unfortunately, wife-beating was not considered illegal. Women did not have rights. A married woman was at the mercy of her husband. Several states did not investigate wife beatings or when it resulted in death.
BRING FORWARD THE CHILDREN
Childbearing was a continual process. As soon as a child was born, within a few months, another was in the oven. Childbirth took place in the bedroom. A family member or midwife was usually present. Difficult childbirth concluded with the death of the newborn, the mother, or both. Housewives cared for several children while managing household duties. Hard work persisted until before the baby arrived. After a child was born, the wife would return to a full day’s work within a few days. The mother had to care for the newborn if the family did not have older girls. She must nurse the child, get up several times at night, and care for her other children. Miners did not get up at night for crying babies or sick kids; wives cared for the family. Before sunrise, she would cook breakfast, pack lunches, and send kids off to school.
Rural medicine was mediocre at best. Children would often die of epidemics and childhood diseases within a few years. Smallpox, pneumonia, typhoid fever, diphtheria, cholera, flu, and polio were deadly.
**The photographs are intended only to help you understand the story. They have been taken off the internet, copyright-free photos.
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