I have recently been reading a little on the history of the Anthracite Coalfields of Pennsylvania and from what little I know it gives a new meaning to the word complicated. Concentrating on just one aspect, injuries and fatalities in the mines, gave me pause for thought. As an aside, apparently one of the warning signs of impending disaster was the sudden movement away from the coal face by the thousands of rats that lived in the mines. Did this also happen in British mines?

Anyway minds were concentrated after the disaster at the Streuben Shaft at the Avondale Mine in 1869. See http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Avondale-Coal-Colliery/?gowhere=%2fmines%2f%3fpid%3d1%26ac%3dA%26ad%3d50 
I’m not sure the account there is completely correct as the fire seems to have started in the furnace halfway down the shaft and then spread to the breaker. But the key point was that the shaft was the only way in and out for the men. They stood no chance. The Governor of Pennsylvania, John W. Geary, blamed the grossly negligent operators. But it was his additional statement, and subsequent historical evaluation of his comments that made me ponder.

He said that the failure of the operators to provide the mine workers with the safety they needed and deserved, “renders our mining system worse than that of any other country, whilst our mining interests are unequalled by those of any other part of the world.” Governor Geary had a point and this is what caught my attention. Historians have estimated that the rate of injury and fatalities in the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania were three times as high as in Britain!! Given the appalling record in Britain during the 19th century regarding deaths and injuries the conditions in Pennsylvania are difficult to comprehend. It should be remembered as well of course a vast number of the miners were British, Irish and European. Legislation was introduced after this but the law still did not require separate means of entry and exit from the mines.

Some of the details above were thanks to Kevin Kenny’s, “Making Sense of the Molly Maguires”.

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