January 1911. Breaker boys in #9 Breaker, Pennsylvania Coal Company mine at Hughestown Borough near Pittston. Smallest boy is Angelo Ross, 142 Panama Street, Hughestown Borough. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.
Submitted by SgtOldSchool on Sat, 05/17/2008 - 12:11am.
Growing up in West Virginia, I often heard my relatives talk about working in the coal mines and heard the stories about what it was like back when my great-grandfather and my grandfather worked the mines. Safety was not of real concern to the Company owners. Ventilation was poor and as a result my grandfather suffered his whole life from black-lung disease. My father has spent all his adult working life in and around the mines. I avoided that life myself by going to college and then joining the military.
This doesn't mean I don't respect the coal miners, I just wasn't cut out for underground work.
If I recall my mining knowledge correctly, I think the breaker house was where the larger chunks of coal were broken down into smaller, more manageable sizes. This was accomplished using a series of augers and large rollers. I've heard stories of breaker boys falling into the machinery and being mangled. The companies didn't care. Common business mentality was that workers were just cogs in the machine to be replaced when they were of no further use to the Companies.
Oh man, the kid in the front with the blue eyes is freaking me out! Not to mention the kid behind him to the right who looks like he's about to either burst out in tears or kill someone.
... These kid, these kids. This is messed up. How could this have been going on just a hundred years ago...?
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sat, 02/23/2008 - 2:28am.
I love this web site. The photos are fantastic.Keep up the good work.
I live in the bituminous coal country of western Pennsylvania. According to my now retired mining expert, in the days when mules were used in the mines, the mules were often more valued and protected than the miners. If a mule was injured or killed, a replacement had to be bought. If a miner was injured or killed, he could be replaced for free by another miner willing to take his place. Thank God for John L. Lewis and his UMWA. I shudder to think what the mining profession would be like today if it weren't for Mr. Lewis, those miners and their families of long ago who suffered so much so that today's coalminer could go underground in safety and get paid decent wages for what surely must be the most dangerous job in the world.
