I have been in N.E. PA for years - having grown up there, but never once had I given much thought to the reason N.E. PA thrived so much up until the 1960s. It was Anthracite Coal. ![]()
As opposed to the other kind of coal that was very soft and heard to light, Anthracite Coal burned clean and there was ALOT of it. England was bad to get some but mining it was another issue. So thousands of immigrants were shipped in from all over the world to go into the earth and bring the stuff out. They were called 'coal-crackers' which aptly described their job. But mining coal really took off when the trains started to run through the area making it easier to get the black rock to the coast. Bad things came with it though. Thousands died underground. Beginning in the last decades of the 19th century, coal miners formed unions and demanded safer working conditions and higher wages. These attempts at unionization were initially met with brutal repression. On Sept. 10, 1897, at the Lattimer mine near Hazleton, PA, a sheriff's posse shot and killed 19 unarmed striking immigrant coal workers; the incident, dubbed the Lattimer massacre, was widely reported and won sympathy for coal miners from large segments of the American middle class. The incident increased the strength of the United Mine Workers, which then called a strike of 100,000 anthracite coal miners in eastern Pennsylvania in 1902, threatening the heating coal supply for the entire Northeast; after President Theodore Roosevelt intervened (the first case of federal arbitration in a labor dispute in U.S. history), the strike ended after 154 days, with management agreeing to moderate pay increases and de facto recognition of the union. However, vicious labor battles in Pennsylvania continued until 1933, when the National Industrial Recovery Act was passed; after 1933, U.S. labor unions were legally recognized, and the next several decades saw dramatic improvements in both the wages and the working conditions of U.S. coal miners.
As opposed to the other kind of coal that was very soft and heard to light, Anthracite Coal burned clean and there was ALOT of it. England was bad to get some but mining it was another issue. So thousands of immigrants were shipped in from all over the world to go into the earth and bring the stuff out. They were called 'coal-crackers' which aptly described their job. But mining coal really took off when the trains started to run through the area making it easier to get the black rock to the coast. Bad things came with it though. Thousands died underground. Beginning in the last decades of the 19th century, coal miners formed unions and demanded safer working conditions and higher wages. These attempts at unionization were initially met with brutal repression. On Sept. 10, 1897, at the Lattimer mine near Hazleton, PA, a sheriff's posse shot and killed 19 unarmed striking immigrant coal workers; the incident, dubbed the Lattimer massacre, was widely reported and won sympathy for coal miners from large segments of the American middle class. The incident increased the strength of the United Mine Workers, which then called a strike of 100,000 anthracite coal miners in eastern Pennsylvania in 1902, threatening the heating coal supply for the entire Northeast; after President Theodore Roosevelt intervened (the first case of federal arbitration in a labor dispute in U.S. history), the strike ended after 154 days, with management agreeing to moderate pay increases and de facto recognition of the union. However, vicious labor battles in Pennsylvania continued until 1933, when the National Industrial Recovery Act was passed; after 1933, U.S. labor unions were legally recognized, and the next several decades saw dramatic improvements in both the wages and the working conditions of U.S. coal miners. 
Unions had a purpose in their early history but now they're nothing more than a money laundering machine for Democrats (Jimmy Hoffa anyone?). Worst of all probably was the use of very young children to work in the mine picking through coal as it comes down the coal cracker to get rid of rocks, etc. 
So after all this time driving past the mine and seeing the huge coal breakers and then the infamous mine fires still burning because the empty mine shafts were great places to throw out your garbage which in turn lit the coal, we decided to take the mine tour at McDade Park. We went to the museum first and got a nice surprise in that since I'm still active duty there was no charge at all. Saved $16.00 there. It is a very detailed, comphrensive place and pretty modern. We next went on the ride down into the mine which stays a constant 53 degrees year round. And there's my first awakening - it must have REALLY sucked to be a miner in those days. It was dingy, wet, dark, and if you're a claustrophobic - forget it. Lots of them were English, Welsh, Irish, Polish, German or from some Slavic country - Lithuania mainly. They were heavily recruited by the Coal Barons of the time to get the coal out of the ground and do it fast. Of course that's where all the "Company Store" stuff started and you got paid with scrip,' which you could only use at the Company Store." That's why there were 6 different languages on the coal car as we rode down since most of those guys didn't know English.
Most famous probably were the "Molly Mcguires." Still a rather nebulous organization, historians think they arose out of the Irish Fuedal society where the Irish peasants would rise up against the landlords. They brought their brand of thinking to the States. Threats against unfair, cruel bosses was the popular method to get a Boss to listen. Side note...When I joined the Army in June 1973, 40 of us from NorthEast Pennsylvania joined and were shipped out together to Basic at Fort Dix. We were called the "Molly McGuires" by the Scranton Times.
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