Vocab
This long, braided leather was used to control the mules.
What is a whip?
This job went to boys in their early teens, who brought full coal cars, weighing about one ton, out of the mine chambers.
Who were mule drivers?
Beside mules, these animals were plentiful inside the mines.
What were rats?
Most coal mine operators didn't care much about this, and there were no laws to protect it.
What is worker safety?
This is an organization of workers, formed to protect their rights.
What is a labor union?
These youngest workers broke up coal into common sized pieces and separated out rocks, clay and soil as coal came down the conveyor belt.
Who were breaker boys?
This bird was used to detect the presence of harmful gases in the mines.
What is a canary?
At the Lattimer Massacre, the 400 striking miners were carrying this when 60 of them were shot by the sheriff and 87 deputies.
What is a flag
What is a Black Maria?
The youngest of the underground mine workers, their job was to open and close the heavy wooden doors inside the mine to let coal cars through.
Who were nippers?
These people were considered very bad luck in the mines and never went in.
Who are women.
This man went from being a coal miner to one of the most effective union organizers in the region.
Who was Johnny Mitchell?
This machine broke coal down into useful sizes.
What was the breaker? (Or coal breaker?)
Even though boys as young as six worked in the coal breakers, they were by law supposed to be this old.
What is twelve?
They paid for the tools used to dig coal out of the mines--the shovel, pick ax, black powder explowsive, etc.
Who are the miners.
This Irish secret society fought back against the greed and exploitation of the coal companies.
This long piece of wood was stuck into the wheels of the coal car as it was moving to slow it down.
What was a sprag?
The fastest boys were chosen for the job of controlling the speed of mine cars as they rolled down the slope.
Who were spraggers?
Boys were supposed to be this age to work inside the mines.
What is fourteen?
This person doesn't belong to the union and goes in to work when others are on strike for better conditions.
What is a scab?