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Stoked: 1901
... light and power plants, street railway power stations, coal mining plants, blast furnaces, rolling mills, smelting and refining plants, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/20/2012 - 10:49am -

Chelsea, Michigan, circa 1901. "Boiler room, Glazier Stove Company." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saidIt's cool in the furnace man, oh yeah! A airy 275 degrees. Close EnoughJudging from the logos just above the dial -- those doors are installed upside down. Workmanship is alive and well! Stirling Water-Tube BoilerAccording to the 1895 Catalogue of the Stirling Water Tube Safety Boiler, the boiler at Glazier Stove Co was rated at 66 horse-power which is at the smaller end of Stirling boiler power range. The Stirling Water-Tube Boiler, Babcock & Wilcox, 1912 The Stirling Boiler in Service Stirling boilers have been in operation since 1890, and their performance since that time has clearly demonstrated their right to all of the claims of excellence which have been made for them. The ease with which the Stirling boiler may be cleaned, its efficient and substantial baffling and its flexibility under varying load conditions, have caused it to be adopted extensively in plants representing practically every industry throughout the world. Over 3,000,000 horse-power of Stirling boilers are in use in electric light and power plants, street railway power stations, coal mining plants, blast furnaces, rolling mills, smelting and refining plants, heating and lighting plants in educational institutions, sugar mills, breweries, cotton mills, lumber mills, ice plants, oil refineries, and their allied industries. The Stirling boiler has proved entirely successful in the use of anthracite and bituminous coals with both hand and stoker firing, lignite from the various lignite fields, oil fuel, wood and saw mill refuse, green bagasse, tan bark, blast furnace, coke oven and natural gas, and waste heat from brick kilns, cement kilns and smelting furnaces. Upside down doorsI guess that you couldn't get good help even back in 1905. At 275 PSI pressure, that boiler probably furnished power for all the machinery in the factory. Hold still!Missed his chance for immortality by moving. It's in the DetailsEven something as functional and mundane as a boiler has intricate and artistic metalwork. It was a piece of machinery most people would never see. Proof that someone took pride in their trade. You know the old saying"It takes an oven to make an oven." An Awfully big boiler!This is far more heavy duty than we would expect for just space heating. Note the 2 furnaces, and below them the doors for emptying the ash (a messy but routine duty for stokers). It looks like the doors above the gauge, needed for cleaning the gas side, might have been installed upside down -- note that the shield seems to be inverted. The equipment was made by the ___ Stirling Co. in Chicago. The gauge says the pressure is 275 pounds per square inch (or maybe the temperature is 275 degrees F) -- either way it's more than you would need for space heating. Note the pipe coming out of the steam drum to the gauge and the wonderful little petcock (in the open position) that you could use to isolate the gauge from the steam should the device leak. No electronics here -- just a spring and bellows, or whatever, that needs a direct connection to the fluid to be measured. Now I wonder what all that steam is being used for -- generating electricity? Turning machine tools by a network of belts and linkages, driven by reciprocating engines? I've been to Chelsea, Michigan, in 1978 -- a nice little town almost entirely made of red brick. Was it a company town for the stove maker? 100, not 275.Or maybe 99. The clockThe dial indicates steam pressure. Which would be going down as the open door is cooling the firebox, punching holes in his fire, and cooling the flues, risking a leak. No wonder the indicator and our friend are in motion. On the wall, to the rightNow that's a man's fireplace-poker set! Volga BoatmenWonder why this song is going through my head? My last name One of the first things I noticed on the picture was my last name. It says "Stirling," a last name my family had at about that time. It originally was "Starling" when we were in England, then it was "Stirling" when we moved to the USA and Canada, and now it is Sterling. I just thought it is pretty cool. Boiler Reamer MemoriesBack in 1970 (while still in high school) I worked in a furniture factory in eastern Wisconsin as a night watchman and had a wide range of jobs. Being part of maintenance I also acted as "fireman" and helped with routine maintenance including boiler tube reaming. The factory occupied about three city blocks and most of it was four stories high. There were two active boilers, each about three times the size of the one shown here. They operated at 160 PSI and had been converted from pulverized coal to natural gas. Both boilers also were capable of burning sawdust that the factory generated. The doors above the pressure gauge are access covers to the boiler tubes, where the water passes through and boils into steam. Behind the doors is another bulkhead with many small access covers that need to be removed for maintenance. A long air-driven reamer is inserted into each tube and the slag (from minerals in the water) need to be cleaned from the inner walls of the tubes in order to maintain proper flow. In the summer they would shut down one boiler and we'd ream the tubes and inspect the interior walls (and patch with a asbestos mixture, without ANY masks). It would take about a week for the boiler to cool down enough to enter it. A third boiler was three times bigger than the two that were in operation. It had been taken offline sometime in the late 50s when a set of steam driven electric generators were removed. This picture brings back many fond and HOT sweaty memories! Oh. And during the energy crunch (1977?) there was fear of having the natural gas cut off so we installed two 300,000 gallon oil tanks and added oil burners to both boilers. Not so old! I worked in Brooklyn, on a pair of Stirling's, that had been converted, first to coal dust, then to bunker oil. They were awesome beasts. Prone to fouling and dusting of the later mandated safety electric eyes in the ducts, but, God, could they put out BTU's. Still, I'm happier with my modern HVAC! (The Gallery, DPC, Glazier Stove Works)
National Tube Works: 1910
... artesian, salt, oil or gas wells, rods and columns used in mining, grate-bars, hand-rails, telegraph poles, gas and air-brake cylinders, ... a turnout and a turntable seems unlikely. Those new coal ''gons'' belong to the Lake Shore & Michigan ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 1:32pm -

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1910. "Furnaces, National Tube Works." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Tube City King's Handbook of New York City, 1892. The National Tube Works Company, the New-York office of which is at 160 Broadway, conducts one of the gigantic industries of the country. It was originally a Boston institution, and the office of its Treasurer remains there. The New-York office is that of its General Manager. Its principal works are at McKeesport, Pa. The establishment there covers forty acres, thirty being occupied by buildings. The product includes every variety of wrought-iron pipe, boiler-tubes, pipes or tubes used for artesian, salt, oil or gas wells, rods and columns used in mining, grate-bars, hand-rails, telegraph poles, gas and air-brake cylinders, drill-rods, Converse patent lock-joint, wrought iron kalameined and asphalted pipe for water and gas works mains and trunk lines, and locomotive and stationary injectors. An important branch of manufacture is that of sap pan iron, kalaineined and galvanized sheet iron, cold rolled iron and steel sheets, and corrugated and curved sheets, for roofs and ceilings. Another speciality is the celebrated "Monongahela" brand of Bessemer, mill and foundry pig-iron. The company finds a market for its goods not only in the United States but also in Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, Australia, and Africa. The works have a capacity of 250,000 tons of tubes and pipe yearly. The company was one of the first to use natural gas as fuel in the manufacture of iron. The gas is brought from its own wells, through twenty miles of pipe, to the works. The Monongahela: River of Dreams, River of Sweat, 1999. McKeesport became a heavy-industry town. It was home to the largest producer of steel pipe and tubing in America, National Tube Company, which opened in 1852. The city's nickname was Tube City. … Mckeesport is one of the small cities that suffered because of the decline of the steel industry. For a long while after U.S. Steel closed the plant in 1984, the riverside complex was a mass of rubble, grass, trees, and unused buildings. Now much of the old plant has been razed. A mini-mill and a couple small companies have moved into the area, but there is still much vacant land. The former docking facility, from which a bargeload of pipe was shipped every day for so many years, is still idle. Glazier Wantedfor large Tube and Pipe Factory. Must have own tools and access to large quantities of glass. Estimated replacement of 200 panes of glass. All inquiries to Mckeesport Factory site. LS & MSI've often hoped to stumble across a railroad car marked LS/MFT, but here we see a couple rather new looking Lake Shore and Michigan Southern hopper cars in the company of the Baltimore and Ohio units. I wonder what track arrangement got that solitary LS & MS car snugged against the bumper? Hardly looks like room for a turnout and a turntable seems unlikely. Those new coal ''gons''belong to the Lake Shore & Michigan Railway which was mostly owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt and was absorbed into the New York Central in 1914, the LS&MS logo seems to be a large (mail sack) with a lock. Note the small NYC logo before the NYC amalgamation. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
Shenandoah: 1938
... County, Pennsylvania, 1938. "Shenandoah. House fronts in a mining town." Medium format acetate negative by Sheldon Dick. View full size. ... a land company laid out the town. The beginning of the coal industry brought English and Welsh miners, followed by Irish. Subsequent ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/15/2018 - 7:33pm -

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1938. "Shenandoah. House fronts in a mining town." Medium format acetate negative by Sheldon Dick. View full size. Pennsylvania is for LoversLotta love on the ground floor, lotta lovers' leaps above. Passive-Aggressive AA Intervention LeagueThat's the building where they house the town drunks, and the only Muzak playing is the Waits/Richards cover of Shenandoah. IdlersIf you have time to loaf, you have time to paint! From the WPA Guide on PennsylvaniaSHENANDOAH (Ind. daughter of the skies), 2.5 m. (1,300 alt., 20,782 pop.), is crowded into a comparatively small area in the center of a valley. Washington Avenue is locally called the 'Sunken Street,' because it has settled several feet; in some places houses are propped to prevent collapse. On March 4, 1940, a cave-in affecting a 16-block area damaged the homes of 4,000 persons, broke gas and water mains, and opened wide cracks in streets. Shenandoah was first settled in 1835; mining on a large scale began in 1862 when a land company laid out the town. The beginning of the coal industry brought English and Welsh miners, followed by Irish. Subsequent immigrations brought Germans, Poles, Lithuanians, Russians, and other nationality groups. A fire in 1883 virtually reduced the town to ashes. The first Greek Catholic parish in the United States,St. Michael's, was organized here in 1884, and the church was erected three years later. Although the principal industrial activity is mining, the town has three textile mills and two meat-packing plants. If ever there was a crooked manI think we've found his house. Big Band Brothers' BirthplaceShenandoah is the birthplace of big band leaders Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, born in 1904 and 1905, respectively. (The Gallery, Mining, Sheldon Dick)
Old Salts: 1910
... Looks downright pleasant compared to working in a coal mine. Oh the humidity! I hope they also have a Delray Rice Company ... barrels. Fifty men are employed. (The Gallery, DPC, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 1:33pm -

Delray, Michigan, circa 1905. "Delray Salt Company." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Looks downright pleasantcompared to working in a coal mine. Oh the humidity!I hope they also have a Delray Rice Company in the same building. I wouldn't want to try and move that salt after a humid Delray summer. Salt tamperLook like some sort of tamper, with a massive wooden head. Probably just what's needed to get the casks packed tight. Family connectionMy great-grandpa worked here as a watchman. In 1905 Detroit annexed Delray. This salt mine is still in use and you can tour it! They don't look happyexcept for the kid in the cardigan sweater perhaps getting ready to leave. Sharing the mine?I drove a truck locally in Detroit a few years ago and made two or three deliveries to the Morton Salt Co. property that is very, very close to Delray. (It could actually be this same place.) I was just curious as to whether anyone knew if different companies shared the famous Detroit Salt Mines. I've seen pictures, but never read a company name attached to them. Much less sneezingThis salt mine may be stifling in the summer, but it is a LOT nicer than the famed PEPPER MINES of Grand Rapids. Those guys must have beeninsanely thirsty all the time! Good WoodIt's a good thing this is not a steel frame building. It would look just like our cars! De-touredI managed to get a tour in 1984, but since the delray salt mine has changed hands, and they no longer offer any tours. Delray Salt Co. Michigan Geological and Biological Survey, 1912. Delray Salt Co., Delray, Michigan. Incorporated, 1901. Capital stock $100,000. N. W. Clayton, Pres.; A. A. Nelson, Sec.-Treas.; Jos. P. Tracy, Gen. Mgr. This company operates both grainer and vacuum pan blocks and also manufactures table salt. The grainer block contains six cement grainers (16' x 160' x 22") and the vacuum pan block, three pans (respectively 9, 10, and 11 feet in diameter) run "triple effect." Live steam furnished by three 335 H. P. boiler is used in evaporating the brine supplied by two wells. The daily capacity is 2,000 barrels and the storage capacity 100,000 barrels. Fifty men are employed. (The Gallery, DPC, Mining)
America: 1900
... trip west to Virginia City -- the tale of Tom Quartz, the mining cat, is particularly precious and, not to forget, hilarious -- and on to ... into the 1980s. It was a small one used to shuffle coal barges around a loading terminal, and was most likely diesel powered. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/20/2012 - 9:53am -

"America, Mississippi riverboat, circa 1900-1910." Note the group of convicts in prison stripes. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size. Sam'l Johnson would have loved it:Going to prison, with a chance of drowning, indeed! ConvictsAre the convicts on the way to prison or did the riverboats use them as free or cheap labor? SternwheelerI can never see a photograph of a paddle boat without thinking of Mark Twain. It's such a shame that these lovely ladies went the way of the dinosaur. Mark Twain's river steamers.Contributor "heks" rightly mentioned Mark Twain. He worked as a river boat pilot for a while. You could do worse than read his book "Life on the Mississippi." Then read his follow-up book, "Roughing It," about his trip west to Virginia City -- the tale of Tom Quartz, the mining cat, is particularly precious and, not to forget, hilarious -- and on to San Francisco, thence to Hawaii. These are by far his best books -- and probably the least known! A superb photograph. The ConvictsObviously they are being sent "up the river" Mark TwainI've been thinking about Mark Twain during these, too. Finished "Life on the Mississippi" late last year, finished "Roughing It" this year. Interestingly enough, Mr. Clemens would leave us to believe the river boat was long dead by the 1870s-1880s, but the dates of these pictures show not so. Probably nowhere near the traffic levels at its height, but it takes a long time for a transport model to completely die. Sternwheel LongevityThey actually lasted longer than most people think, though in a freight hauling capacity once passengers defected to the much faster railroads. But they pushed their share of barges after that. There was a working sternwheeler around Charleston WV on the Kanawha River (Ohio River tributary) into the 1980s. It was a small one used to shuffle coal barges around a loading terminal, and was most likely diesel powered. Used to see it all the time when I was out fishing. Long-lasting river navigation.Contributor "Jim" is correct that it takes a long time for any form of transport to completely disappear. Here in New Brunswick, Canada we had stern-wheelers, side-wheelers and screw ships on the St. John River and the various arms of the river. The last run of the last serving ship, the Motor Ship D. J. Purdy, downbound from Fredericton, where I live, to Saint John, was September 30, 1946. The record runs of several of the boats on the St. John River were faster than the Canadian National Railways trains that pretty well followed the river! Granted, the railway was very much a secondary line, not a main line, but still . . . . I have a set of the 1977 navigation charts for the river, very interesting. S. S. KlondikeCanadian riverboats have shown up a couple of times in the comments, so I'll add my two bits. The S.S. Klondike operated on the Yukon River until 1955. She presently sits on the bank of the Yukon River in Whitehorse, where I drive past her every day. The Klondike has been meticulously restored by Parks Canada. If you are ever in this neck of the woods the tour is worth every penny. More info here (there is some fantastic 8mm film shot in 1941 on that site). [I've been to Whitehorse! The Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia are spectacularly gorgeous. - Dave] Fire CanoesThere were steamboats (sometimes called "fire canoes" by the Native people) on the Saskatchewan River system from the 1860s into the 1910s. The last sternwheeler to work the lower South Saskatchewan was the City of Medicine Hat which had an unfortunate encounter with the Traffic Bridge in Saskatoon in 1908 and sank. Sternwheelers worked the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories until around 1940. While it's true that train travel was faster and more efficient for passengers, it is also a fact that the most economical means for transporting bulk cargoes - in terms of cost of energy per ton of goods per mile is moving them by water...when you can. Sternwheelers then, tugs and barges today make a tremendous amount of sense. Convicts on the SteamboatI did a little internet research, being curious about the convicts in the picture. This appeared in "Plantation Days at Angola: Major James and the Origins of Modern Corrections in Louisiana." Until he died in 1894 (the lease survived him, not expiring until 1901), Major James ran what Dr. Carleton has called "the most cynical, profit-oriented and brutal prison regime in Louisiana history." Convicts worked on private property--both Major James's and that of other plantation owners who sub-contracted their labor --for the profit of the lessee, Major James. They worked the land, farming and cutting timber, they performed as household servants, they travelled not only "up the river" but down the river as well, on Major James's steamboat, repairing and building levees in the never-ending struggle to contain the Mississippi and protect the rich farmland. History of Riverboat "America" 1910I would like to find more info concerning the Riverboat "America" during 1910. My grandfather worked on it as a carpenter but died in 1918. Since then all his children also are deceased but info in my father's writings stated the above info. There was another "America" but it collided with another steamship, flipped, and burnt at Warsaw, KY in 1890's. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Mineral County Coal Miners
My great-grandfather's mining crew circa 1915 in Mineral County, West Virginia. His name was Thompson ... he is in the front row, crouched just to the right of the coal car tracks. The young boy in front of him was my great-uncle "Metty." ... 
 
Posted by RefugeRoad - 01/04/2008 - 9:55pm -

My great-grandfather's mining crew circa 1915 in Mineral County, West Virginia. His name was Thompson Metcalf, and he is in the front row, crouched just to the right of the coal car tracks. The young boy in front of him was my great-uncle "Metty." Thompson died in the flu epidemic of 1918. My grandfather gave me the carbide lamp that Thompson wore. It appears they all had their lamps lit for the photo. They even included the most valuable members of the crew (at least to the mine owners). Some mine owners were of the opinion that "If you lose a man, there is always another one ready to take his place, but if you lose a pony or mule, you must BUY another one". This crew worked the mines in the Beryl, West Virginia area. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Working Lunch: 1900
... Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boy, Woodward coal mines." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. ... with this motivational poster: (The Gallery, DPC, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/20/2012 - 3:19pm -

Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boy, Woodward coal mines." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Generous lunch breakTen minutes and all you can eat. Cold RealityThere's nothing like this photo to give me a much-needed slap in the face when I start to complain about things. We all need to stop complaining, and be grateful that we Shorpsters aren't living this sort of life nowadays. BuddiesDid this kid know Shorpy? Lunch pailsHave you seen any on Ebay? Bet they would go for a pretty good price. Lone wolfA previous Shorpy pic was shot at the same location and probably the same lunch break. Illuminate meNot sure why a breaker boy would have an oil lamp on his hat. Didn't they work outside the mine in daylight? I'd guess he was a nipper or spragger or some other job inside the mine. [Breaker boys worked in the breaker. -Dave] Shiny things againAh, here we have a close view of the shiny things that had flummoxed me earlier. Now the question is, what's the round structure on the top? Other examples of early lunch pails I've located online have cups with handles attached like that, but these here are all much shallower. Shiny thingsSince tterrace was flummoxed (I love that word!) I decided to see if I could google around and find anything similar. I say thats a miners lunch pail, even if the "cup" is quite shallow. Just like this one: Poster BoyThank you for this great photograph! It made me think how much these kids suffered to make our day. They're actually our great-grandparents, who built our civilization on their backbones. So, I decided to honor them, most still unknown heroes, with this motivational poster: (The Gallery, DPC, Mining)
Woodward Breaker: 1900
1900. "Woodward coal breaker, Kingston, Pennsylvania." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, ... I do believe that it's a mule. (The Gallery, DPC, Mining, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/03/2018 - 11:12am -

1900. "Woodward coal breaker, Kingston, Pennsylvania." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. I spotted himdid you? What RR served this breaker?I see the numbers on the end of the hoppers, but no railroad lettering. Just one?I spotted three. Which one?3rd window or top of stairs? And I spotted the other Breaker Boy there's twoOn the Railroad service. I would imagine the Reading RR. To connect with the PRR. Portal?I wonder what that portal / tunnel at the base of the hill could have been. As Did IWonder who else has noticed him? Lackawanna's biggest in 1900The Woodward Breaker was served by Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. Opened in 1888, it was the largest mine on the DL&W at the time. In 1921 it was the third largest mine in Pennsylvania and closed in the 1960's. It also was one of the most gaseous mines in the state. I'm gonna need a breathing mask just looking.I believe a total of six men in this pic. Seven if someone is sleeping by the fire. Body countPlus one horse or a mule! and one camera. Not a HorseWith those ears, I do believe that it's a mule. (The Gallery, DPC, Mining, Railroads)
Breaker Boys: 1911
... "Group of boys working in No. 9 Breaker. Pennsylvania Coal Co., Hughestown Borough, Pittston, Pennsylvania. Smallest is Sam Belloma, ... hand only. I imagine they looked down the belt as the coal approached and tossed the rejects to their left. The dust most certainly ... bless their memory. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/24/2021 - 11:20am -

January 1911. "Group of boys working in No. 9 Breaker. Pennsylvania Coal Co., Hughestown Borough, Pittston, Pennsylvania. Smallest is Sam Belloma, Pine Street." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size. One GloveI can see two of the boys are wearing gloves on their right hand only. I imagine they looked down the belt as the coal approached and tossed the rejects to their left. The dust most certainly shortened their lives. What's a breaker boy, you ask?I didn't know, so I looked it up. Breaker boys worked in anthracite coal mines in Pennsylvania. They hunched over conveyor belts, and would pick through the coal to remove contaminants, such as slate, before the coal was shipped out. A Vivid Reminderthat the "deregulated" good old days weren't really so good for so many. All but unbearableI made the picture as big as I could and looked long into each boy's eyes. It was hard to do. God bless their memory. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Dark Room: 1938
... by four years. I was born in a one room cabin in the coal mining area. I suspect the cabin was similar. Morgantown, Ky. Dad worked the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/07/2009 - 3:42pm -

May 1938. New Madrid County, Missouri. "Interior of house without windows, home of sharecropper, cut-over farmer of Mississippi bottoms." 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. DepressionThat little baby's face is pretty comical, but it's hard to laugh when you notice the squalor surrounding the family. With everything we're privileged with today, it's hard to remember people used to live like this not too long ago. SeptuagenariansThose kids would be in their seventies now. Wonder if any of them are still alive and browsing the internet. Shoo FlyJudging from the number of critters crawling on top of the tables amongst the food and dishes, there was little in the way of screening on this house. When the one door opened all the flies came right in. Happy endings.I love this picture. So many unanswered questions. Mom looks healthy and the children well fed. The boy would be about 72 today and his sister 74. Young by today's standards. I would like to think they both succeeded in life and have done well. Words fail meI can't find words to express the heartache of this photo. BuggySo many flies in there. Every single one...Has got creepy hands! Like an ovenWithout cross-ventilation, this little shack must have been stifling in the hot, humid summers of the Mississippi bottoms. The table is covered with a cloth to keep the flies off the food. The flies were a misery, yet closing the door would made the house an oven. The flies remind me of something an elderly fellow in Kentucky told me about his childhood in a house without screens. On summer nights, even when it was very hot, they pulled the sheet over their faces to keep the flies off. Product PlacementHoney Dew Brand Pure Lard! Wooden washboardsI was born in the 60s and I remember seeing those wooden washboards. I haven't seen one in many years now. Before My Timeby four years. I was born in a one room cabin in the coal mining area. I suspect the cabin was similar. Morgantown, Ky. Dad worked the mines for a dollar a day. 1938 - Same year I was bornI was born just outside of Fornfelt, Missouri (now Scott City), in 1938 in a house not much better than that one appears to be. My dad was a deck hand on the Mississippi river. My mother stayed at home to take care of house and kids as most women did in those days. We were poor but apparently more prosperous and (judging from my memories and the family pictures) somewhat cleaner than this family appears to be. My mother was a fanatic on cleanliness. But then, my mother could afford to be. She never had to work in the fields. I suspect this woman did fieldwork all day, then took care of the family's needs. Flies may have been a problem, but mosquitoes were worse. Even in the hottest weather we stayed covered up with a blanket or quilt at night. The skeeters could poke right through a sheet. There was no air conditioning in those days and we sweltered through the summer nights. SadlyI met a family similar to this in many respects only about five years ago. They lived in a small condemned neighborhood which is no longer there. The house was not clean but rather filthy with rooms open revealing deep piles of dirty clothes. The floors were greasy and dark. There were two children very much like this pair. They were well fed but dirty and unkempt. The walls and floors and pretty much every inch of the home was covered in not flies but roaches. The two babies scurried outside to play with a couple of fat dogs out on the dirt porch. I gingerly and half afraid sat on a stool to talk with them. I was afraid the roaches would climb all over me. I am an IT guy and offered to help them fix their computer. I had no idea this is how they lived. There was the mom, a young daughter about 17 and a son in-law about 19 who had just got out of jail and the two children. They were by far some of the kindest and nicest folks I have ever had the privilege to have met but their lives was something I don't think I could have been able to deal with. They moved to Oklahoma and I have not heard from them since. I wish I could have photographed them as this image is not unlike what I saw but better in some ways. (The Gallery, Kids, Russell Lee)
Petersburg: 1864
... Regiment which was drawn from the Pennsylvania coal mining country. Pleasants himself was a mining engineer and he and his men had ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:25pm -

August 1864. "Petersburg, Virginia. Group of Company D, U.S. Engineer Battalion." Wet-plate glass negative, photographer unknown. View full size. These could be some of the guyswho tunneled under the Confederate front line and laid the mine whose explosion started the famous Battle of The Crater at Petersburg. They managed to blow up a considerable section of the Confederate line and Union infantry occupied the crater. If there had been a sucessful exploitation of the gap, Union troops might have broken through to Richmond and possibly ended, if not shortened, the war. Poor planning by the Union High Command and lack of discipline by the troops holding the crater allowed the Confederates to recover, counterattack and re-take control of the gap. Thus, the War slogged on for another year. Gentlemen's QuarterlyForgive me, but this grouping of soldiers looks like a picture from a men's clothing catalog rather than of war-weary survivors. They look as if they were modeling, posing with hands on the hips, looking away to the distance, hands on knees, etc. And then there's that ubiquitous fellow in a recumbent pose in the front. There always seems to be one or more of those fellows in photos of this nature. Builders not fighters.Although war anywhere near the front must've been wearying, these men were engineers not warriors. I would imagine thet spent more time surveying and drawing, rather dodging bullets. CrateringThe Army Engineers had nothing to do with the construction of the great mine at the Battle of the Crater. That was dug by Colonel Henry Pleasants' 48th Pennsylvania Regiment which was drawn from the Pennsylvania coal mining country. Pleasants himself was a mining engineer and he and his men had considerable knowledge of extended tunneling, probably greater knowledge than the army engineers. A Confederate viewOne of my ancesters was killed in this battle. He was a private in the South Carolina 1st Batallion sharpshooters and as best as I can tell, they were standing right over the explosion. (The Gallery, Civil War)
I'm De Whole Show: 1913
... six messages a day is WAY better than some of the coal mining and factory situations we've seen here. And I bet half the reason ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:26pm -

Waco, Texas. November 1913. Isaac Boyett: "I'm de whole show." The twelve-year-old proprietor, manager and messenger of the Club Messenger Service, 402 Austin Street. The photo shows him in the heart of the Red Light district where he was delivering messages as he does several times a day. Said he knows the houses and some of the inmates. Has been doing this for one year, working until 9:30 P.M. Saturdays. Not so late on other nights. Makes from six to ten dollars a week. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. (Shorpynote: Isaac was born March 20, 1901, and died in May 1966 in Waco.) IsaacGood to know that lamp was non-explosive ... I love the look on this boy's face, and his world-weary eyes. Not too bad - butI would bet that this kid gave the money to his mom, who probably had 6 or 7 kids to feed. Not too badEight dollars per week in 1913 is the equivalent of about $160 today. About $8500 per year. Not bad for a 12-year-old. Bike LightProbably not many bicycles today have kerosene lanterns on the handlebars. Fascinating. Re: Bike LightAre you sure of it being a kerosene lamp? Looks like a carbide light like miners used to me. Re: Re: Bike LightIt looks like one of the kerosene lamps below. Esp. the "Jim Dandy." Bicycle LampsPeter Card has a richly detailed web site on early bicycle lamps. See the page, especially, on oil (kerosene) lamps, which I think is the type Master Boyett is sporting on his handlebars in this Hines photo. Agree: this young lad does have world-weary, seen-it-all eyes. Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska [That really is a great Web site. Thanks for the link! - Dave] 1913 = today?Ok, how does a 1913 photo demonstrate child abuse "today"? As far as child labor goes, I'd say riding a bicycle around and delivering six messages a day is WAY better than some of the coal mining and factory situations we've seen here. And I bet half the reason he's grimacing is that he's facing into the sun. TragicThis photo illustrates the failure of capitailism and the abuse of children that continues today in the USA. This child should be at home, playing and enjoying childhood while he can. [Dumb comment of the day (so far). - Dave] Ah, yes...The "good" old days. As bad as some things are now, at least we have very few 12 year olds spending all their time running messages for ladies of loose morals to their johns. Reply to LC2You're right...now 12 year olds deliver crack cocaine instead of messages. I'm going to start playing aI'm going to start playing a Shorpy drinking game and down a shot any time somebody grumbles about "kids today." Assuming my liver is up to it. Messenger Boy in Waco, TexasThis is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. I interviewed one of Isaac's daughters. I now have his interesting, but brief story on my website. http://morningsonmaplestreet.com/2015/01/01/isaac-boyett/ (The Gallery, Bicycles, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Where the Sun Never Shines: 1908
October 1908. "Drivers in a West Virginia Coal Mine. Plenty boys driving and on tipple." Photograph and caption by Lewis ... shaft - they have room to stand up! The guys who cut the coal (hewers) would work on their knees or lying on their hips, swinging ... 1910 to 1955. (The Gallery, Horses, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 7:46pm -

October 1908. "Drivers in a West Virginia Coal Mine. Plenty boys driving and on tipple." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. candlesThose are candles on their heads? Send the expendable ones down first! [Gasoline or oil headlamps with open flames. More here. - Dave] OopsAbout to be immortalized on film, and the one on the left shuts his eyes. It looks like he led a bit of a miserable life; shame he couldn't even get the photo. Poor horse, too, of course. [Both his eyes are open -- and closed -- in this time exposure. - Dave] YikesI think this photo will give me nightmares. Just creeps me out. The lucky onesThese lads and their pony are being photographed near the bottom of the shaft - they have room to stand up! The guys who cut the coal (hewers) would work on their knees or lying on their hips, swinging pickaxes for hour after hour, and breathing in all sorts of dust. Don't ever let anyone romanticise coalmining. I come from near Newcastle, and I know that the earth under my feet contains the bones of centuries of colliers. Horrible! Son of a MinerThose are oil lamps on their heads, not candles. They also used carbide lamps. Don't feel too badly for the horses (usually mules), my dad said they typically worked shorter shifts. He worked in the mines at about this same era as a boy, from around 1910 to 1955. (The Gallery, Horses, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Shorpy Higginbotham: 1910
... of grease, and is often in danger of being run over by the coal cars." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor ... history and nostalgia! (The Gallery, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/14/2014 - 10:46am -

        On Shorpy.com's seventh birthday, a look back at our namesake, the teenage mine greaser Shorpy Higginbotham, shown here in 1910 at age 14. His life was cut short by a mine accident in 1928, when he was crushed by a rock. December 1910. Jefferson County, Alabama. "Shorpy Higginbotham, a 'greaser' on the tipple at Bessie Mine, of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. Said he was 14 years old, but it is doubtful. Carries two heavy pails of grease, and is often in danger of being run over by the coal cars." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size. Shorpy, we're glad to know yaHappy Birthday Shorpy -- and at least on this blog, you'll live on to have many, many more... we love you, man. HopeShorpy would be a bit mystified at the technology involved, but pleased with the interest this site has aroused for him and others from our past. Here's to the next seven and even more to come. And, Thank You, Dave! Happy Birthday to YOU!!!Congrats and Happy Birthday to Shorpy.com! What a wonderful site it is. I was going to cut you folks a birthday check for, let's say, $1 per site visit, $5 for every comment you've allowed me to post, $10 for every comment of mine you had the good judgement not to post, and $15 for every fact I've learned on your site, but then I realized how embarrassing it would be to have a check of that size bounce. So I send you my best wishes and thanks instead. Thanks Shorpy!Thanks Shorpy Higginbotham, For inspiring this most wonderful website! Happy birthday, Shorpy!And Shorpy Valentine's Day... Happy Seventh!I "discovered" this site in 2008, been back every day since. Adding my greetings on this felicitous occasionA very happy and well deserved birthday to Shorpy.com, with special kudos and accolades to Site Meister Dave for all the fine work he does maintaining the site and moderating our comments. As others have posted, I have learned a lot here, seen things I would not have otherwise seen, and had my curiosity titillated. And thanks to tterrace for his photos and valuable insight. All in all, I am so glad to have found you guys. Happy Borthday, Shorpy!And thanks for the memories...! Every picture tells a story....don't it.. Bravo to shorpy.com, where I come to get my regular fix of social history and nostalgia! (The Gallery, Lewis Hine, Mining)
South Pittston: 1911
Shaft No. 6 workers at the Pennsylvania Coal Company's South Pittston mine. January 1911. View full size. ... my Granddad, an immigrant, went to work in a Pittston coal mine at the age of 14 as a water boy, and lived in Pittston for 18 years ... What a world. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 9:06am -

Shaft No. 6 workers at the Pennsylvania Coal Company's South Pittston mine. January 1911. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. Pittston MinersThese photos wowed me because my Granddad, an immigrant, went to work in a Pittston coal mine at the age of 14 as a water boy, and lived in Pittston for 18 years before moving to Utica, New York. He "worked his way up," becoming a miner ... Does anyone know if the Pennsylvania Coal Company had the only coal mine in Pittston at that time? Or were there others? These photos may well have been the very place where my Grandfather started out his life here in the USA. Who knows, one of those kids in the pictures might be him! [Very interesting! What year was your granddad born? - Dave] American DreamGranddad was born in 1870 in poverty-stricken southern Italy and came to the USA in 1894 to Youngstown, Ohio, where he stayed only a very short time. He was then brought to Pittston, Pa., by his father, who had immigrated earlier and was working in the coal mine. Granddad started work there at the age of 14 as a water boy, then as a miner as he got older. He saved enough over the next 18-20 years to open a small grocery and then a private bank in Pittston, lending to new immigrants from different countries. Sort of the "American dream" story. So young, so very young.So young, so very young. Their eyes have no light left, only reflecting. What a world. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Serafino and Chub: 1911
... "Serafino driving Chub, his mule. Shaft #7, Pennsylvania Coal Company mine at South Pittston." Bright spots are open flames of lamps on ... Mule Lifespan I wonder how long a mule lasted in a coal mine? Ghostly Images of a Mine Amazing how this photograph seemed ... part of the mine. (The Gallery, Horses, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2009 - 8:55pm -

January 1911. "Serafino driving Chub, his mule. Shaft #7, Pennsylvania Coal Company mine at South Pittston." Bright spots are open flames of lamps on the boys' hats. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Serafino & ChubThis photo is so surreal. Serafino's eyes are amazingly creepy! Looming up from the darkness. Sam KeysIt says Samuel Keys up the left beam. [Funny. Doesn't sound Greek. But yes. I think you're right! - Dave] S.K.While delta would be more sexy, I still think that if a girl was working down there, it'd read "S [heart] K [heart]". :) AhhhI think this is the most terrifying picture. Also, I think those are initials: S.K. You weren't being sarcastic, were you? [It's S-delta-K-delta. With the name "Sami" underneath. Looks Eastern European/Bulgarian/Serbian/Turkish. - Dave] Mule LifespanI wonder how long a mule lasted in a coal mine? Ghostly Images of a MineAmazing how this photograph seemed to capture a gathering of ghostly figures at a dark, almost misty looking part of the mine. (The Gallery, Horses, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Bachelor Miner: 1937
... March 1937. Scotts Run, West Virginia. "Employed bachelor coal miner at home in Sessa Hill. This scene is typical of hundreds of ... emigrated from Europe in 1893 (naturalized in 1906), was a coal miner in Pennsylvania. Here’s his May 27, 1899, miner’s license, ... this is. (The Gallery, Kitchens etc., Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/11/2013 - 12:12pm -

March 1937. Scotts Run, West Virginia. "Employed bachelor coal miner at home in Sessa Hill. This scene is typical of hundreds of bachelors who belong to a group of immigrants whose family was separated by immigration restrictions. This man may, or may not, have a wife in another country." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. Decor by Coca-Cola. Large format acetate negative. View full size. 3 calendarsOr maybe he's covering something up? Art is where you find itI think our miner just wanted something on his walls, and calendars were free. Maybe he's a Welshman and the picture reminds him of the ocean. Maybe he just wants a scene with sunlight. I have a miner friend here in Utah who just hates to go to movies, because he's in the dark all day and wants light. Another possible reasonOften, you'll see several calendars up, with current plus succeeding months displayed, but why a lonely miner would want that kind of scheduling, and why it would be last year's calendar, I can't guess. Better timesMaybe he has three of them because the subject matter of the calender reminds him of better times. Coca Cola fanThree copies of the Coke 50th anniversary calendar! Wyeth calendarThe Coca Cola 50th anniversary calendar hanging on the wall is done by the renowned illustrator N. C. Wyeth. It's a pretty picture, though why this miner wants to display three copies of the same calendar is a puzzle. About that helmetMy paternal grandfather, who emigrated from Europe in 1893 (naturalized in 1906), was a coal miner in Pennsylvania. Here’s his May 27, 1899, miner’s license, cropped and reduced to get under the Shorpy Rule of 480 so I hope it’s reasonably legible. The misspelled last name was not uncommon when non-English speaking immigrants were processed through arrival ports such as Ellis Island back then. His son Joseph, my father’s younger brother, was killed in 1928 by a falling rock in a coal mine, just as this site’s namesake died five months earlier. He was 20 and at best would have been wearing a cloth cap similar to young Higginbotham's. The helmet in the photo, known as a turtle hat, was made either of boiled leather, canvas or a composite, glued and shellacked to create some level of protection. I think the fluted areas were meant to deflect what falling debris they could. The front plate held a carbide lamp, ignited by gas given off by dampened carbide pieces. I know from personal experience if you pour a handful of carbide in a big paper bag filled with cotton waste (a thin strand byproduct of cloth manufacturing), add a little water, tie it shut and let some gas build up, the resulting explosion that happens a second after dropping a sparkler on it will blow out a neighbor’s garage window in the alley not too far from your house where your parents are trying to listen to "Fibber McGee and Mollie". He should have keptthose calendars, one sold for $4,000 at an auction, they are extremely collectible May have ... May not have ...As my former professor of rhetoric might say, "Guess that covers all the bases." Garrison Keillor's bachelor Norwegian farmers could view this scene and have cause to rejoice in their own relatively less miserable surroundings. Mr. Struke -- thanks for sharing your ancestors' stories. I suspect that the ribs or ridges on the improvised helmet were meant to give it more rigidity, making it less likely to deform under impact to the detriment of the wearer's skull. The account of the conditions under which your forebears labored (particularly the poignant death of your uncle) help explain to a largely union-averse world of today the appeal of past labor movements and pugnacious leaders like John L. Lewis. Cap LampDon Struke is correct about carbides nature. It gives off acetylene gas when wet. I believe that even today all acetylene for cutting and welding comes from this process. As a collector of carbide lamps one of the first things I noticed was the cap lamp on the shelf behind the stove. Unfortunately the resolution of the image, my screen or my eyesight prevents me from seeing what brand of light this is. (The Gallery, Kitchens etc., Lewis Hine, Mining)
Dave: 1910
... that Dave is a "pusher." What is a pusher's job in a coal mine? I want to know more about him! Too bad all we have is his ... we have. (The Gallery, Birmingham, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/26/2011 - 3:49pm -

Dave, a young "pusher" at Bessie Mine. Jefferson County, Alabama. December 1910. View full size. Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. this is in Birmingham, AL.this is in Birmingham, AL. we're trying to turn Red Mountain, where this may have been taken, into a huge recreational park bigger than Central Park in NYC. Check out the info: www.redmountainpark.org nice pictures all around! cheers! nick Huck Finn!If ever there was a picture of Huck Finn, this has got to be it! PusherI noticed that Dave is a "pusher." What is a pusher's job in a coal mine? I want to know more about him!Too bad all we have is his first name, or I would be begging Joe Manning to do research on Dave! I wonder if it would be possible to find out about him, given the information we have. (The Gallery, Birmingham, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Houses on the Hill: 1935
October 1935. Coal miners' houses in Omar, West Virginia. View full size. 35mm nitrate ... was mentioned as a chicken coop could also be a wood or coal shed, wash house and possibly even a chicken coop. These were also most ... on your way to the outhouse. (The Gallery, Ben Shahn, Mining, Small Towns) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 12:22pm -

October 1935. Coal miners' houses in Omar, West Virginia. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn for the Farm Security Administration. Outhouse These were most likely Company owned houses and everything was built with ease of maintenance in mind. You'll notice a large trap door at the base of the rear of the outhouses in the picture. These doors allowed access for the "honey dippers" to clean the outhouses and keep down odors and avoid the need to relocate the outhouse every few years. The building that was mentioned as a chicken coop could also be a wood or coal shed, wash house and possibly even a chicken coop. These were also most likely foreman homes since they seem to be much larger. SmokehouseInteresting--large houses, every one has its own outhouse and there's even a smokehouse and what appears to be a chicken coop at the one on the left. Very interesting house designs, would look good today. OuthousesThere was a James Garner TV-movie (he worked for a railroad) where each time he went across his back yard headed for the outhouse, the annoying little neighbor girl would say, "I know where YOU'RE going!" OmarGreat image. These duplexes near the tracks look nicer than the ones on the hill. I wonder what you say to your neighbor as you walk past on your way to the outhouse. (The Gallery, Ben Shahn, Mining, Small Towns)
New Jersey Zinc: 1911
... producing these small locomotives, with most of them being coal fired, while a few were oil fired. This one is most likely the former. (The Gallery, Factories, Mining, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/21/2016 - 10:54am -

Paterson, New Jersey, circa 1911. "American Locomotive Co. Rogers Works. 0-4-0 locomotive for New Jersey Zinc Co." 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Fireless steam locomotive This may be a fireless steam locomotive and not a saddle tank. They were often used as industrial switchers, especially at armament factories. NJ Zinc Co / Palmerton PA Superfund siteTheir zinc smelting operation deforested a long section east of town that has been the site of a Superfund reclamation project. Hike east from Palmerton along the Appalachian Trail and you'd swear that you were on Mars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmerton,_Pennsylvania "Light Locomotives for Domestic Service"Order one here! Surprisingly intactNow the Paterson Museum. You know those times... when people speak of the majesty and beauty of the great steam engines? This is not one of those times. Salt of the EarthA subsidiary of New Jersey Zinc, Empire Zinc of New Mexico, was the subject of the 1954 movie "Salt of the Earth," based on the Bayard, N.M., miners' strike. DerailedThe Rogers Works produced nearly 6,200 locomotives starting in 1837, and in late 19th century was the second largest locomotive builder in the US. Besides the pocket size industrial locomotive shown here they built surprisingly large main-line locomotives as well, and were known for quality and innovation. Surprisingly, the plant had no direct rail connections, and all incoming materials and outbound finished locomotives were hauled by horse-drawn wagons several blocks on the streets of Paterson to the nearest rails! The plant closed in 1913. BTW, did you spot the photobomber? Photo Bomberto the right mid picture behind the large post. Took a while Interesting little WorkhorseLet the thing with the majesty and beauty of the steam locomotive to get away, and focus on the image. There is an interesting locomotive with a lot of interesting details. The compact design reminds us that there is a locomotive for use under technical equipment (loading bridges etc.). Steam Locomotives for the real underground use are rather unsuitable (What to do with all the smoke?). Also interesting is the artifices which had to apply the designers to go from the low-lying frame back to the standard coupling height. The generously dimensioned buffer beams indicate that the track position in the field of application would not likely to have been the most amazing (In the event of a derailment preventing such buffer beams that the wheels of the locomotive firmly dig in the mud). Further interesting the saddle tank - a feature that was actually more common in England. The equipment with external engine and internal control is also not been so common in North America at the time. The nameplate on the smoke chamber support is another unusual detail - but was on the smoke chamber (the normal place for this plate on north american locos) just not a place because of the saddle tank, so they just have shifted the nameplate down slightly (in Europe, especially in Germany were nameplates on the cylinders usual). The cover of the cab with (Yes what, anyway? Fabric? Tar paper?) Is another detail that you as looks more on wagons to locomotives. And the lack of side doors finally point out that the locomotive may have been coupled in everyday life with any Tender well - another meaningful reason for a single wide opening in the rear wall of the cab will not occur to me. Not fireless.This is not a fireless locomotive. It's one of a type of small locomotives that were typically called "Contractor" locomotives due to their size. Rogers was known for producing these small locomotives, with most of them being coal fired, while a few were oil fired. This one is most likely the former. (The Gallery, Factories, Mining, Railroads)
Boy in Mudville: 1911
... 76 Parsonage Street, Hughestown Borough. Works in [coal] Breaker #9. Probably under 14." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes ... is apparently dying. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/07/2011 - 10:22am -

January 1911. Pittston, Pennsylvania. "Tom Vitol (also called Dominick Dekatis), 76 Parsonage Street, Hughestown Borough. Works in [coal] Breaker #9. Probably under 14." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. What's With That?Two names? Good thing Dave didn't find this photo first or our favorite photo site might have been called Vitol-Dekatis. No need for colorThis is one of those pictures that I suspect would look pretty much the same taken with color film. The dreariness of the scene is accented by the contrast between the tight focus on Tom/Dominick and the soft focus of the surroundings. Very eloquent photograph. One of those coincidences'Twas only yesterday, literally, that I re-read "Casey at the Bat", whence the origin of the pun "Boy in Mudville." And nowThis was taken at the back of 76 Parsonage Street. The houses at the back are on Miller Street. View Larger Map Wipe those feet!Googling the location I think I found one or two houses that might be this one. The street does look bleak. According to a real estate listing, 105 has been fixed up nicely, on the market for $129,000. Pittston is apparently dying. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Anthracite Alley: 1940
... August 1940. "Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. Small historic coal mining town in the Lehigh Valley. Houses in East Mauch Chunk." Acetate negative ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/05/2020 - 11:54pm -

August 1940. "Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. Small historic coal mining town in the Lehigh Valley. Houses in East Mauch Chunk." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Keep 'er StillThe infamous log parking brake. Now Jim Thorpe, PAThe "Switzerland of America", so named due to the famed Native American athlete being buried there (he began his career 100 miles away at a technical school), in spite of numerous lawsuits which sought to move his remains to his native Oklahoma. (Wikipedia) St. Joseph's Catholic ChurchI suspect this photo was taken looking northwest bound from about the 100-block of on East 4th or 5th Street. On the right is the unmistakable steeple of St. Joe's at North (Route 903) and 6th Streets. Car ID suggestionsFront to back: 1929 Oakland, 1928 Packard, 1929 Buick. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Mining, Small Towns)
Nanty Glo Slag Pickers: 1937
Boys salvaging coal from the slag heaps at Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania. 1937. They get 10 cents ... by Ben Shahn. Nant Y Glo Nant Y Glo is Welsh for Coal Valley My Dad walked off seconds before the famous pic was made. ... funeral in 1988... (Ben Shahn, Great Depression, Kids, Mining, NYC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 11:31am -

Boys salvaging coal from the slag heaps at Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania. 1937. They get 10 cents for each hundred-pound sack. View full size. Photo by Ben Shahn. Nant Y GloNant Y Glo is Welsh for Coal Valley My Dad walked off seconds before the famous pic was made.Two lifetimes and ten thousand memories ago, the two boys in the world famous photo were my fathers best friends. The boy on the right was "The Swede". The boy on the left had a Disney nickname, I think it was "Cricket" after Jiminy Cricket which he got in High School. I do remember my father saying he was never without the hat as it hid the fact his folks were too poor to afford a decent haircut. To see a picture of my Old Man seven years later with the two lads image search Lou Mc Hugh. Find the WWII picture of the sailor posing with the Nanty Glo football team. "The Swede" is standing to my fathers right. The other boy is front row second from right. They were saying good bye to my dad as he shipped out for Atlantic Fleet convoy duty. To verify my dads Depression Nanty Glo credentials, click on the Lou Mc Hugh picture of the sailor in helmet posing next to the naval cannon. See the inscription on the barrell. Nanty-Glo. Now subtract 8 years from a 1943 sailor and you get an eleven year old boy. I met the Swede at my moms funeral in 1988... (Ben Shahn, Great Depression, Kids, Mining, NYC)
Factory Town: 1910
... died, my mom took me to the small Pennsylvania coal mining towns (at that time) of Bradenville and Loyalhanna. I was very young at ... and everyone's emotions. Train tracks were everywhere and coal trains ran continuously. I'm sure it has changed now but this picture ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 1:32pm -

Homestead, Pennsylvania, circa 1910. "Homestead Steel Works, Carnegie Steel Co." 8x10 inch dry negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. U.S. Steel - Tom RussellHomestead Pennsylvania, the home of the U.S. Steel And the men down at the Homestead Works Are sharing one last meal Sauerkraut and kielbasa, a dozen beers or more A hundred years of pouring slab, They’re closing down the door And this mill won’t run no more. There’s silence in the valley, there’s silence in the streets There’s silence every night here upon these cold white sheets Were my wife stares out the window with a long and lonely stare She says “you kill yourself for 30 years but no one seems to care” You made their railroads rails and bridges. You ran their driving wheels And the towers of the Empire State are lined with Homestead Steel The Monongahela valley no longer hears the roar There's Cottonwood and Sumac-weed inside the slab mill door And this mill won’t run no more. So, me, I'll sit in Hess' bar and drink my life away. God bless the second mortgage and the unemployment pay And my ex-boss, Mr. Goodwin, he keeps shaking my one good hand. He says "Son, it's men like me and you who built the Promised Land". We made their railroad bridges. We ran their driving wheels And the towers of the Empire State are lined with Homestead Steel The Monongahela valley no longer hears the roar There's Cottonwood and Sumac-weed inside the slab mill door And this mill won’t run no more. I used to live up the hillI used to live up the hill in Pittsburgh, back when this steel mill produced one-third of the steel used in the United States. It is now a shopping center, with a few pieces of machinery and a line of old smokestacks from the soaking pits left to mark the spot. The town of Homestead is pretty much dead at this point. Remembering PeteLittle boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one, And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same. Mom's birthplaceThis photo may show the house where my mom was born. I can't wait to get a copy of it in her hands. The properties from 8th Street to the Monongahela were all bought up by the steel companies and torn down to accommodate expansion in the early 1930s. Thanks for providing this. Sic TransitHome of the epic 1892 strike that was the start of union breaking in the steel industry. The plant, eventually owned by US Steel, closed in 1986 and today the land is home to The Waterfront shopping center and Sandcastle Waterpark. ParticulatesI look at this and just imagine all the lung disorders in the nearby population. They must have waited for a holiday shutdown to take this shot. 100 years later.I'm using those same rollup bamboo blinds on my porch as the house in the foreground. Nice to see some things don't change! Shades of GrayIn 1943 when my maternal grandmother died, my mom took me to the small Pennsylvania coal mining towns (at that time) of Bradenville and Loyalhanna. I was very young at the time but I remember it clearly as it was my first long train trip from Connecticut to Pennsy, overnight. As we passed through many similar industrial towns, I could not help but notice that everything was gray, whether by plan or by the never-ending soot in the air. We stayed a week in a house just like these but the roads and "sidewalks" were charcoal gray dirt, all the homes were gray and for that entire week, so were the skies and everyone's emotions. Train tracks were everywhere and coal trains ran continuously. I'm sure it has changed now but this picture really took me back there to my gray period. Nice people though, ALL very kind, very hard-working and very giving. Ikea et alI know it's a given that much of the old development will, in time, be replaced with new. But how much we have lost over the decades in regards to industrial development. I can't see much to interest me in new development or office buildings, or high tech industrial. Driving through Emeryville, CA this morning I realized what a wasteland of totally new buildings it is today. It used to be an industrial area with a large train yard. Now it's filled with Ikea and other large stores and huge apartments. I could never live there. Found itThese houses still exist, but as others have already mentioned, the factories are gone. Based on the roof styles and the pattern of house construction, I found the houses. They're at the east end of E10th Ave. Since the time of the photo, four more houses on both the north and south sides have been added, but you can figure out which these are based on the roof patterns on Google Maps. The photographer was likely positioned on the rise at the end of the alley (Park Way). Taking a 'drive' down the alley you can see the backs of the two houses in the foreground - they're still the same. Houses in the background on 9th Ave also match up, though it appears that not all the lots were constructed, and since then some of the houses at the right end in the photo have been torn down, where Toth Carpet is now located. The row of flat roofed dwellings still exist, on 9th Ave and Andrew Street. It looks like the sidewalks might originally have been brick, which there is still some today. In front of most homes the approx. one foot wide area where the trees were planted is now sidewalk, though there is still evidence of that previously unpaved area. An earlier picture from the same spot!Isn't it amazing how clean the houses on the left side of the picture are? I can remember in the 1950s, going back to Ohio after a weekend at Grandma's (I'm a Whitaker boy) and watching the bath water turn a reddish brown -- I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in one of these homes. The mill under construction is immediately adjacent to 8th Avenue, and the intersection of 9th and Martha is plain to see. My mom was born in 1925 in a house on 4th Avenue, in what I suspect is one of the houses still visible in this shot. These photos were taken from an accessible bluff (lots of trees, though) just east of where 11th Avenue turns south to avoid going into the ravine. I'll try to get there this summer to get an updated photo of the area. The original can be found here and can be blown up to your heart's desire. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories)
Mountain Mamas: 1938
September 1938. "Wife of unemployed coal miner, suffering from T.B., with her mother and children. Family living in old company store. Abandoned mining town of Marine, West Virginia." Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. View ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/17/2015 - 9:35pm -

September 1938. "Wife of unemployed coal miner, suffering from T.B., with her mother and children. Family living in old company store. Abandoned mining town of Marine, West Virginia." Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. View full size. A disease of povertySadly, tuberculosis is still a disease found on U.S. Indian reservations, and far too many other locales. TB should be long gone, but it is with us still. Family TBMy paternal grandmother, Katherine Marie Kavanaugh, bless her memory and her legacy, already had TB when she bore my father in 1925. By the time my Dad was 5, she had died and it was suspected the my Dad was infected also. By his 10th year, Johns Hopkins gave him a clean bill of health. Dad died in his 87th year still fearing, every day, the return of TB to his lungs. HauntingThat poor mother's expression is haunting. I wonder how much longer she lived. The kids look healthy enough now, but before antibiotics, TB (called consumption then) took whole families. It took several of my relatives around 1920 and two spent time in a sanitarium and recovered, including my maternal grandmother. Not long for the worldThe children are healthy, the grandma looks hearty enough, but the poor mother with TB! Her bedraggled hair, bony frame, sunken eyes. As though things weren't bad enough. (The Gallery, Kids, M.P. Wolcott, Mining)
Barnesville Mine: 1908
... pails. Trappers were boys who opened trapdoors to let coal cars pass and then closed them again to maintain proper airflow in the ... Well, it was my job. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 8:59am -

"Drivers and Trappers Going Home." Barnesville Mine, Fairmont, West Virginia. October 1908. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. Note oil-wick lamps on the hats, and lunch pails. Trappers were boys who opened trapdoors to let coal cars pass and then closed them again to maintain proper airflow in the tunnel ventilation system. One trapper's description of the job, which paid about $1.60 a day: Trappers were responsible for opening and closing the underground ventilation doors. In those old mines, they had a system of doors between sections to direct the flow of air. Air was supposed to go up the main haulage and back to the fan. So a trapper sat all day by his door with an oil lamp on his cap. There was a "manhole" - a shelter hole in the wall by the track. The motorman would blink his light at me, and I'd throw the switch and open the door for him. Then, I'd jump into the manway until he was past, and run out and close the door. A trip would come along about every hour. Was I bored or lonely? Well, it was my job. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Double Jeopardy: 1940
... by Jack Delano. View full size. What Is Coal Dust and Cigarette Smoke, Alex. Sixteen Tons If you see me comin', ... the left one will! My Grandfather worked in the coal mines in the Lehigh Valley and contracted the black lung disease. My ... contact. - Dave] (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/18/2018 - 4:03pm -

August 1940. "Miner at Dougherty's mine, near Falls Creek, Pennsylvania." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. What IsCoal Dust and Cigarette Smoke, Alex. Sixteen TonsIf you see me comin', better step aside A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died One fist of iron, the other of steel If the right one don't a-get you, then the left one will! My Grandfatherworked in the coal mines in the Lehigh Valley and contracted the black lung disease. My grandmother told me when I was about 8 that she would place newspaper on the floor on his side of the bed at night because he would wake up and start hacking out some very bad black stuff. In the morning she would wrap up the newspaper and put it out in the trash. She did this for about ten years until he died just before WWII began. When he quit the mines he found a job as a train conductor on on the Lehigh Valley railroad and I wound up with his Hamilton pocket watch that he used as part of his job. I'm originally from the patch. Very close to Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe. This poor guy is probably about 17 years old. Black LungBig Coal: "It's the cigarettes!" Big Tobacco: "No, it's the coal dust!" Tale of belt holesFrom the way the holes in his belt are worn it looks like he gained a bit of weight (the hole to the right of the one currently in use is stretched), then he lost a good bit (he had to punch a hole to make the belt even smaller than the last hole allowed), and now he's moved up to the last machine-punched hole again. Troubles Come in ThreesIt is bad enough that he is exposed to coal dust in his work and that he could get lung cancer from the cigarettes but that tumor on his right eye needs to be looked at also. Poor guy probably couldn't afford to get medical attention. [Or he smacked his head into something or someone. I had an egg just like that caused by head-to-pavement contact. - Dave] (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Mining)
Industrial Tableau: 1900
... the loaded United States - Ontario Steam Navigation Co. coal cars waiting for the boat, the port was also used for Northbound traffic ... Shenango No. 1 and Shenango No. 2, brought railcars of coal crosslake to Port Dover, Ontario. Conneaut hosted another carferry ... never been located. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Mining, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2016 - 10:11pm -

Lake Erie circa 1900. "Harbor entrance at Conneaut, Ohio." Where ore from the Lake Superior iron ranges was unloaded for transport by rail to the smelting furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. The other end of the trailWe saw the Marquette, Michigan docks where they load the boats with ore a few years ago on Shorpy. (Yes, they are called boats on the Great Lakes, even if they're 1,000 feet long). Conneaut? Looks like a poor man's Ashtabula. Nice photo. Switchman's nightmareLook at all the switches in these tracks. It must have been a nightmare for the switchman. Or did a worker walk alongside and change the switches as needed? 2 Way TrafficAs shown by the railroad ferry slip in the center, and the loaded United States - Ontario Steam Navigation Co. coal cars waiting for the boat, the port was also used for Northbound traffic across Lake Erie to Canada. That smoke looks realLooks like a very well made model train layout. Love my puzzles.If any photo would make the perfect jigsaw puzzle, this is it. RR Car Track ScaleThe building in the foreground with the steeply-slanted shed roof is a Scale House for weighing RR cars. The tracks in front have two pairs of rails. You will see two sets of track switch points, but no switch frogs. One pair is the "dead rails" - non-moving rails for the locomotive to traverse without crushing the scale. The other pair are the "live rails" - cars on these rails are going over the scale platform. In those days, the scale was a mechanical marvel that worked much like the balance scale in a doctor's office. Some had huge read-out dials, but many were moving counterweights on beams. The concept might be simple, but making this work accurately on something as heavy as a loaded RR car was no mean feat of design. The pier in the far right background has what might be Hulett unloaders. These were featured on Shorpy not long ago. Once again, a photo rich in satisfying detail and excellently composed and exposed. Re: Track ScaleNice description of the scale system! So, was there enough freedom in the couplers to allow the locomotive to divert to the dead tracks and pull the loaded car through? Beats having to uncouple and drop the car, then pick it back up... The first Hulett unloader constructedwas at Conneaut in 1899, and can be seen in the very middle of the photograph, above the carferry slip of the United States & Ontario Navigation Company, the carferries of which, Shenango No. 1 and Shenango No. 2, brought railcars of coal crosslake to Port Dover, Ontario. Conneaut hosted another carferry service, the Marquette & Bessemer Dock & Navigation Company, which ran the Marquette and Bessemer No.1 and No. 2 (the former a collier which loaded coal directly from cars into its hold) to Erieau and Port Stanley. The first Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 disappeared with all hands on December 9, 1909, and the wreck has never been located. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Mining, Railroads)
No. 9 Breaker: 1911
... 1911. Boys working in the #9 breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. mine at Hughestown Borough near Pittston, Pennsylvania. In this group ... real idea where it is. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/10/2007 - 3:10pm -

January 1911. Boys working in the #9 breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. mine at Hughestown Borough near Pittston, Pennsylvania. In this group are Sam Belloma of Pine Street and Angelo Ross of 142 Panama Street. View full size. Don't let anyone ever call them...the good old days. These boys would have grown up just enough by 1917 to get sent off to France and World War I. Doubtful..many of these were drafted. Draft age in World War I was 21. Draft AgeWhile the draft age was 21, there were plenty of examples of younger draftees due to fibbing about the age. Then plenty of time to regret it after the fact. My great-grand uncle Emmitt went into the Army when he was 22, and died the next year, of the Spanish Flu. They buried him the next day in a trench, with many others. This trench has no marker, no real idea where it is. (The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)
Harry and Sallie: 1908
... West Virginia. "Harry and Sallie. Driver in Maryland Coal Co. Mine near Sand Lick. Was afraid to be photo'd because we might make ... View full size. Maneless mule Mules and ponies in coal mines were shaved all over to keep them from collecting coal dust. Note ... Great photo. (The Gallery, Horses, Lewis Hine, Mining) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/08/2009 - 11:46pm -

October 1908. Grafton, West Virginia. "Harry and Sallie. Driver in Maryland Coal Co. Mine near Sand Lick. Was afraid to be photo'd because we might make him go to school. Probably 12 years old." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. Maneless muleMules and ponies in coal mines were shaved all over to keep them from collecting coal dust. Note the short stubbly coat and total lack of mane. When Hairy Left SallieYes, Sallie has been roached. What a wonderful big old mule! Hard workAfter seeing this, I am feeling incredibly lazy and pampered. Some face for a 12-year-old. Great photo. (The Gallery, Horses, Lewis Hine, Mining)
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