One of the worst jobs, if not the worst, in US coal mines up to the beginning of the last century was the boys sorting the slate from the coal in the breaker.
The dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view. This dust penetrates the utmost recess of the boy's lungs. 1911.
🔗Pittston-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-003[linkphoto]Pittston-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-003[/linkphoto][/link]
Lunchtime
🔗Pittston-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-004[linkphoto]Pittston-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-004[/linkphoto][/link]
Then Mr. A. Langerfeld invented a machine for picking coal which did away completely with the use of breaker boys. The percent of slate that goes in with the coal separated by this machine is 1% to 2%, where the percent with the old primitive method of using boys is from 15% to 60%. This picture was taken at the breaker of the Spencer Coal Co., at Scranton, Pa., on March, 18, 1913. Location: Scranton,
Pennsylvania
🔗Personal-Album-272-Image-34475[linkphoto]Personal-Album-272-Image-34475[/linkphoto][/link]

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Wow thanks for posting these Carnkie. I didnt know anything about this. That photo at the top is really quite something.Wonder what the average age of death would have been due to respiratory diseases?

I always found the expressions on the boy's faces in the second photo a bit haunting.

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I agree, and the one in the album not shown here, with the boss man standing over them with a big stick is really disturbing too. Stuff like this really makes me appreciate the life I have now and glad I wasnt around back then.

Just to add a few stats to this. In the mines of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1870, the total workforce was 15,778.
This included 3,980 boys, of whom 886 worked below ground and 3,094 in the breaker picking slate.

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