Industrial Revolution Coal

Before The Industrial revolution, coal was used, but what coal was mined came from just below the earth’s surface. And although deep mining had already begun in Britain in 1880, America had yet to catch up. During the Industrial Revolution, the demand for coal increased rapidly, therefore mines became deeper and deeper throughout the years. In the early 1900s, two main types of coal existed - anthracite and bituminous coal. Anthracite burns much cleaner than the latter, and therefore was used more frequently and preferred by the majority of Americans, especially for residential use. The main Anthracite mine was located in the “Coal Region” in Northeastern Pennsylvania. While the mines became deeper, the workplace conditions were on a steady

Also, sometimes things called tornadoes would happen, which is when the methane gas and coal dust combust to create a tornado like effect. Coal by itself gives off a gas called “white damp” which is undetectable. So, this gas combined with the coal dust in the air and the flame from a miner’s lamp ignites instantly. “There were coal fires, for example, where entire series of coal cars, two and three cars coupled together, were flung in a tornado-like fashion through the mine for distances of up to a quarter of a mile.” According to PBS - The dangers of mining. Nobody with claustrophobia could work there. The thousands and thousands of pounds of dirt and rock that were held above the mines were constantly sagging, like they could collapse at any given moment. The maximum depth of a mine was 220 meters in the 1900s, or approximately 722 feet. In 1900, 1,489 miners died, out of 448,581 workers originally employed. Fairly frequently, catastrophic mining disasters occurred. These called for safety regulations in the mining industry. For example, in Pennsylvania, there was a Bureau of Mine Safety which passed certain safety regulations. Although there were these regulations, many times, the mine inspector worked for the very company that the mine was owned by. These among other reasons are why The United Mine Workers of America and other associations came into

The operators did not agree to these demands, but instead they agreed to meet with the miners in a month. The National Civic Federation met with both the mine operators and the UMWA while serving as a “middle man”. The mine operators refused to meet any of the worker’s demands or to make any compromises. Because of this, Mitchell and other delegates of the UMWA reduced their ask to 10% pay increase, a 9 hour workday and the ability to weigh coal. The coal operators steadfastly