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United States Mining History

What Made the Battle of Blair Mountain the Largest Labor Uprising in American History – by Abby Lee Hood (Smithsonian Magazine – August 25, 2021)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/

Its legacy lives on today in the struggles faced by modern miners seeking workers’ rights

Police chief Sid Hatfield was a friend to the miners of Matewan, West Virginia. Rather than arresting them when they got drunk and rowdy, he’d walk them home. For his allegiance to the unionized miners of southwestern West Virginia, rather than the say, the nearby coal companies who employed them, Hatfield was gunned down on August 1, 1921, on the steps of the Welch, West Virginia, courthouse, alongside his friend Ed Chambers as their wives looked on in horror.

Their murder catalyzed a movement, the largest labor uprising in history, that remains resonant to this day. The Battle of Blair Mountain saw 10,000 West Virginia coal miners march in protest of perilous work conditions, squalid housing and low wages, among other grievances. They set out from the small hamlet of Marmet, with the goal of advancing upon Mingo County, a few days’ travels away to meet the coal companies on their own turf and demand redress.

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Will we go back? Exploring the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck 49 years later – by Josh Berry (Fox 17 Online – November 10, 2024)

https://www.fox17online.com/

OTD in 1975: The SS Edmund Fitzgerald lost to the depths of Lake Superior

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It’s part of Michigan and midwest lore. Lost to the depths of the Great Lakes, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank on November 10, 49 years ago. We took a look back through the lens of a man who has laid eyes on the site himself.

“Because of the notoriety, because of the song from Gordon Lightfoot, everybody wants to know about the Edmund Fitzgerald,” said Ric Mixter. There aren’t many people better suited for answers on the wreckage than Ric Mixter. He’s published a 300-page book on the Fitzgerald, three documentaries, and a four-hour podcast.

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Book Brings W.Va. Mine Wars History To Young Readers (West Virginia Public Broadcasting – November 6, 2024)

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The West Virginia mine wars played an important part in U.S. history, but for decades were often left out of history classes. A new book aims to change that. It’s titled The Mine Wars: The Bloody Fight for Workers’ Rights in the West Virginia Coalfields, by Steve Watkins.

The mine wars occurred in the early 1900s as the United Mine Workers tried to unionize coal mines, and coal companies fought back — literally. The conflict culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain, which was the largest armed insurrection in the US since the American Civil War.

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‘We were expendable’: Downwinders from world’s 1st atomic test are on a mission to tell their story – by Suasn Montoya Bryan (Associated Press – August 25, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — It was the summer of 1945 when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan, killing thousands of people as waves of destructive energy obliterated two cites. It was a decisive move that helped bring about the end of World War II, but survivors and the generations that followed were left to grapple with sickness from radiation exposure.

At the time, U.S. President Harry Truman called it “the greatest scientific gamble in history,” saying the rain of ruin from the air would usher in a new concept of force and power. What he didn’t mention was that the federal government had already tested this new force on U.S. soil.

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[American] Mining Hall of Fame announces 2024 inductees (Leadville Herald Democrat – July 3, 2024)

https://www.leadvilleherald.com/

The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (NMHFM) recently announced the class of 2024 National Mining Hall of Fame inductees and the recipient of the Prazen Living Legend of Mining Award. The 37th Induction Gala will be Nov. 2 at The Cable Center in Denver.

Arthur C. Daman – (1889-1968)

Arthur C. Daman, known as “Mr. Denver Equipment,” was a pioneer in modern mineral processing. He founded Denver Equipment Company (DECO) and obtained over 50 patents during his 40-year leadership. Daman and his team wrote what many called “the bible on mineral processing and process equipment.” Published in 1954, his Denver Equipment handbook is still well known today.

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Uranium Firms Revive Forgotten Mines as Price of Nuclear Fuel Soars – by Jacob Lorinc and Maria Clara Cobo (Bloomberg News – March 3, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Across the US and allied countries, owners of left-for-dead uranium mines are restarting operations to capitalize on rising demand for the nuclear fuel.

At least five US producers are reviving mines in states including Wyoming, Texas, Arizona and Utah, where production flourished until governments soured on the radioactive element following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

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Heart of gold: the legend of Nellie Cashman – by A.J. Roan (North of 60 Mining News – March 1, 2024)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Undertake an adventure through the riveting tale of Ellen “Nellie” Cashman, perhaps one of the most inspiring women of the 18th century.

Perhaps no other individual could be regarded as true an American pioneer as Irish immigrant Ellen “Nellie” Cashman. Easily regarded as a quintessential gold mining stampeder with her acumen in business and the nose to sniff out opportunity, she traveled the width and breadth of America, leaving success and hope in her wake.

Known as the Angel of the Mining Camps, this is the story of a woman whose family name may have once been O’Kissane, but through her exploits, lived up to the name Cashman.

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Filmmakers aims to honor Appalachian culture in ‘King Coal’ – by Miles Layton (Vinton Jackson Courier – February 13, 2024)

 

https://www.vintonjacksoncourier.com/

“King Coal” is one of the best movies I’ve seen depicting the people, places and culture of Appalachia. The film was shown as part of From the Hills and Hollers: Appalachian Stories Film Series on Feb. 8 at the Athena Cinema.

Initially, without knowing anything about “King Coal,” I was worried it was going to be a documentary that negatively portrays Appalachian people (poverty porn) before a sermon about coal’s impact on climate change and possibly includes a cameo from Al Gore. None of that could be further from the truth. It was an accurate presentation about the culture surrounding coal.

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Old Tyrone a mining utopia in wartime – by Robert L. Conley (Silver City Daily Press – February 5, 2024)

https://www.scdailypress.com/

Known today for their vast resources of copper ore, the Little Burro Mountains of Grant County were first famous for their deposits of turquoise. For countless generations, until interrupted by non-Indigenous visitors, Native Americans operated shallow mines to extract the decorative blue-green stone.

The name of the first white man to discover turquoise here is unknown, but it is said that anyone who entered the area before the early 1870s was never seen alive again. The Apache were thought to blame. But by 1879, prospectors had staked out workable claims and, perhaps due to safety in numbers, were less prone to disappearing. The turquoise found here, just a dozen or so miles southwest of Silver City, was judged to be at least equal with the stones from the best mines in Persia — and good enough to gift President McKinley during his tour of New Mexico in 1901.

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The fighting priest of the Nevada mining camps – by Sean M. Wright (Detroit Catholic – August 14, 2023)

https://www.detroitcatholic.com/

Many Irishmen arrived in California during the California Gold Rush. Among them was the brawny Patrick Manogue (pronounced “Manigan”) — “Paddy” to his friends, one of seven orphaned children.

Born in County Kilkenny in 1831, the young man left college and emigrated to the United States, landing in the gold fields in Moore’s Flat, California. Many disputes occurred among the prospectors in the mining camp, and Manogue was never one to turn his back on a donnybrook. Although only in his early 20s, he stood a muscular six feet, four inches tall. A fair man, Paddy Manogue was often asked to arbitrate these disputes.

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[Historical Profile] The Pike’s Peak Gold Rush and Colorado Territory – by Steven F. Mehls (Legends of America – 1984)

Legends of America The mountains of northeastern Colorado held vast treasures of silver and gold, and it was here that initial discoveries of those metals were made. While fur trappers used the area’s animal wealth, they did not know about or were not interested in the resources beneath the ground. Some mountain men like James …

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‘King Coal’ First Look: Visually Stunning Documentary Captures Mythic Power Of Appalachian Coal Country – by Matthew Carey (Deadline.com – July 21, 2023)

 

https://deadline.com/

EXCLUSIVE: Only about 40,000 people work in coal mining in the U.S., a modest number compared to other lines of work – 1.7 million people, for instance, are employed in the auto industry.

And yet coal and coal mining occupy an almost mythic place in the American imagination that belies the labor force statistics. In the documentary King Coal, Oscar-nominated filmmaker and Appalachia native Elaine McMillion Sheldon examines a part of the country deeply embedded, one might say, in the charred rock. As America increasingly turns away from coal as an energy source and towards renewables, the future of coal country remains uncertain.

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[Coal Mining History] Opinion: The Redneck Army Refuses to Stay Buried – by Cassady Rosenblum (New York Times – July 21, 2023)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The striking miners were 10,000 strong on the first day of September 1921 as they charged up the slope of Blair Mountain, propelled by a radical faith in the American dream. According to an Associated Press reporter who crouched behind a log and watched through field glasses, each time they pressed forward, a “veritable wall” of machine gun fire drove them back.

As the barrage peeled through the hollows, reminding some of the action they had just seen in the forests of France, the advancing miners soon heard a different sound: deeper, earthshaking explosions. From biplanes above, tear gas, explosive powder and metal bolts rained down. “My God,” screamed one miner fighting his way up Crooked Creek Gap. “They’re bombing us!”

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Inside The Molly Maguires, The Secret Society That Fought Bloody Battles For Workers’ Rights In The 1800s – by Genevieve Carlton (All Thats Interesting – July 19, 2020)

https://allthatsinteresting.com/

When mine owners cut wages in 1870s Pennsylvania, the Molly Maguires fought back. But with a private military on their side, the mine owners ultimately won what would become the first labor war in U.S. history.

In the 1870s, the Molly Maguires assassinated 24 mine foremen and supervisors and sent “coffin notices” to scabs during mining strikes. The secret society carried out assaults, arsons, and murders for years before a Pinkerton detective infiltrated the organization to bring them down from the inside.

The Molly Maguires fought for better working conditions in the deadly mines of Pennsylvania. But their violent methods caught up with them in a trial that sent twenty men to the gallows. Were the Molly Maguires vicious murderers or desperate workers fighting for their rights?

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33 Incredible Photos From The California Gold Rush, The Mining Craze That Captivated The World – by Kaleena Fraga (All That’s Interesting – January 26, 2023)

Lion Heart Film Works and Mill Creek Entertainment Video Production About California Gold Rush (Above)

https://allthatsinteresting.com/

The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in January 1848 sparked a mass migration to California — but not everyone was lucky enough to strike it rich.

In 1848, a carpenter building a sawmill near Coloma, California, caught a glimpse of something glittering along the banks of the American River. It was gold. And his discovery would launch the California gold rush, a frantic, hopeful, and transformative period in American history.

Seeking riches, hundreds of thousands of people — mostly men, but some women, too — flooded the territory. Borrowing money or using their life savings, they came from the East Coast, Europe, and even China. From roughly 1848 until 1855, they mined for gold across the state, eventually extracting some $2 billion worth of the precious metal.

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