Early Coal Mining in the Anthracite Region
5/5
()
About this ebook
Four distinct anthracite coal fields encompass an area of 1,700 square miles in the northeastern portion of Pennsylvania. Early Coal Mining in the Anthracite Region is a journey into a world that was once very familiar.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, underground coal mining was at its zenith and the work of miners was more grueling and dangerous than it is today. Faces blackened by coal and helmet lamps lit by fire are no longer parts of the everyday lives of miners in the region. These vintage photographs of collieries, breakers, miners, drivers, and breaker boys illuminate the dark of the anthracite mines. The pictures of miners, roof falls, mules, and equipment deep underground tell the story of the hard lives lived around the hard coal. Above ground, breaker boys toiled in unbearable conditions inside the noisy, vibrating, soot-filled monsters known as coal breakers.
Related to Early Coal Mining in the Anthracite Region
Related ebooks
The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death in the Mines: Disasters and Rescues in the Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMinersville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Coal Country of Northeastern Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSnyder County Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stowe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoanoke Locomotive Shops and the Norfolk & Western Railroad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMammoth Cave and the Kentucky Cave Region Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pennsylvania in Public Memory: Reclaiming the Industrial Past Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilkes-Barre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCountry Stores of Vermont: A History and Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains: The First Frontier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Compendium of Curious Colorado Place Names Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vermont-Quebec Border:: Life on the Line Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManistique Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMahanoy Area Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistoric Photos of Delaware Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A History of Maine Railroads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVermont's Marble Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoices of the Great Depression--The 1930'S Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Little Book of Galway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lehigh Valley Railroad across New Jersey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlano: An Historic Walking Tour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiscovering Yorkshire's History: A Guide to Places and People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDalton Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFort Delaware Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKnoxville Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lost Steel Plants of the Monongahela River Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Technology & Engineering For You
The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Book of Maker Skills: Tools & Techniques for Building Great Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power in Practice: The 3 Most Powerful Laws & The 4 Indispensable Power Principles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Logic Pro X For Dummies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Systems Thinker: Essential Thinking Skills For Solving Problems, Managing Chaos, Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rethinking Narcissism: The Bad---and Surprising Good---About Feeling Special Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Night Lives On: The Untold Stories and Secrets Behind the Sinking of the "Unsinkable" Ship—Titanic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wuhan Cover-Up: And the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ASVAB Prep Plus 2024-2025: 6 Practice Tests + Proven Strategies + Online + Video Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Disappear and Live Off the Grid: A CIA Insider's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Total Motorcycling Manual: 291 Essential Skills Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Homeowner's DIY Guide to Electrical Wiring Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Artificial Intelligence Revolution: How AI Will Change our Society, Economy, and Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Tinkering: Meet 150+ Makers Working at the Intersection of Art, Science & Technology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Repair Briggs and Stratton Engines, 4th Ed. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Basic Engineering Mechanics Explained, Volume 1: Principles and Static Forces Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5U.S. Marine Close Combat Fighting Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ham Radio: From Beginner to Badass Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Early Coal Mining in the Anthracite Region
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Early Coal Mining in the Anthracite Region - John Stuart Richards
GLOSSARY
INTRODUCTION
This book takes the reader back in time to the early days of anthracite coal mining and to the heyday of Pennsylvania mining, between 1880 and 1930. From Wilkes Barre in the northern coal fields of Pennsylvania to the southern fields near Pottsville, the reader gets a historical view of 19th- and early-20th-century coal mining. The images depict the men and young boys who worked deep inside the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania. They show the blackened faces, the fire lamps burning on the miners’ caps, the young boys working in unbearable conditions, and the different types of equipment used in the mines. The mining conditions are keenly depicted, and the aura that surrounded the men and boys is brought to life by these vivid images of the collieries of northeastern Pennsylvania.
Anthracite coal was first mined in the northeastern section of Pennsylvania in 1775 on an outcrop of surface coal in the Wilkes Barre area near the Susquehanna River. By the 1790s, coal was discovered in the Schuylkill and Lehigh regions of Pennsylvania. The first anthracite coal company, the Lehigh Coal Mining Company, was formed c. 1820. This company would begin the first processing and shipment of anthracite coal to market.
In the 1840s, anthracite coal mining became a full-time occupation for thousands of men throughout the anthracite region. The first miners came from England, Wales, and Scotland, bringing with them the knowledge and skills acquired from many years of mining experience. By the 1860s, Pennsylvania anthracite coal mining was a major industry, supplying all of the mined coal for the heating and industrial uses throughout the United States. By 1914, the anthracite region of Pennsylvania employed more than 180,000 workers. Coal production by 1917 exceeded 100 million tons per year (declining to 4.8 million tons per year in the 1990s). Along with this large industry came the fact that safety was needed within the mines. Between 1847 and 1980, more than 121,200 people died in coal mining accidents in the United States. By 1870, close to 15 men were killed in the anthracite mines per million tons of coal mined, bringing forth tough mine safety laws. Even with the advent of mine safety laws, more than 32,000 people have lost their lives in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania since 1870. By 1900, a large majority of ethnic groups—Irish, Slavic, Hungarian, Polish, Lithuanian, and Italian—had settled in the anthracite region to work in the mines.
The images in this volume depict the daily lives of the miners. They reflect how the career of a miner progressed from being a young breaker boy to driving mules in the mines. Many of the images will bring back memories to the thousands of families whose grandfathers, fathers, uncles, and brothers worked in the anthracite coal mines of northeastern Pennsylvania. The photographs also show the process of mining coal, the digging of shafts, the driving of gangways, the working of the breasts, the blasting of the coal seam, and the hoisting and haulage methods. Shown, too, are the wonderful mules who shared the dangers and hardships with the men and boys of the mines. Also, the breakers that once dotted the landscape of northeastern Pennsylvania by the thousands are shown in unique views. The children who worked in the cruel and harsh conditions of these industrial monsters, the coal breakers, are vividly depicted. These images are just small sample portraying what the vast industry of anthracite coal mining was all about. It is the hope of the author that these long-gone historical