In an earlier blog for Cowboy Kisses I talk about Coal
mining and the dangers that lurk in the belly of the mountain. I posted a
picture of a group of youngsters working in a mine but never delved into what
life was like for them.
I look at my twelve-year-old son and I couldn’t imagine him
crawling around the inside of a mountain, putting his life in danger every day. I think about what these mothers must've gone through each day sending their child to work not knowing if they'd return safe.
In
order to rid the mines of explosive and poisonous gases, a crude ventilation
system was built in the early 1800's. Young children called Trappers would sit
underground for hours opening and closing trap doors that went across the mine.
This created a draught and could shift a cloud of gas, but it didn't always
work. Trap doors could also stop the blast of an explosion damaging more of the
mine.
Crouched over a barrel boys picked out slate and other
refuse from the coal for hours and hours. As they grew their shoulders hunched
forward and their backs rounded, making them look far older then what they were. The coal is hard, and cut, broken or crushed fingers were
common among the boys. Sometimes there are worse accidents; a boy falls down an
open shaft to be pulled out later broken and dead. Cave in’s are a grave danger
to these young boys who are small enough to crawl into the tiniest of places
and help set dynamite, or pick away at a vein of coal.
Children were often used in the mines because of their size. They were hired to crawl into the dark dank tunnels where men could not fit. They undertook small jobs suitable for nimble fingers, like threading weaving machines, getting into nooks and crannies in the mountain, and making matches. The dangers they faced in their every day life can be imagined...add that there was no electric light, no rest breaks, no food or water provided, and they worked up to fourteen hours a day
Miner’s
consumption: pneumoconiosis A chronic disease of the lungs would
eventually affect these boys, a result of repeated inhalation of dusts,
including iron oxides (e.g., rust and filings), silicates (e.g., talc and rock
dust), and carbonates (especially coal dust). Particles collect in the lungs
and become sites for the formation of fibrous nodules. As the disease
progresses, fibrous tissue increasingly replaces elastic lung tissue. Loss of
lung function is signalled by shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, and
difficulty in expectorating. Sufferers are particularly vulnerable to
infectious lung diseases such as tuberculosis. Pneumoconiosis is incurable and
treatment is purely symptomatic. Because the inhaled dusts cause darkening of
the lung tissue, the disease is also known as black lung. Silicosis, the form
of the disease prevalent among miners, is commonly called miner's lung.
4 comments:
Even though he hadn't mined coal for decades, black lung is what killed Louis L'Amour. Such a tragedy that so many children were treated as expendable.
I am a huge fan of Louis L'Amour and I never knew that's what caused his death. So sad.
I also am a huge fan, I never realized he mined coal, or died of black lung. Wonderful writer.
Thanks for sharing this information. It was very interesting. I'm also a fan of L'Amour and I own about 75 of his books. I think it's safe to say that reading his books as a teenager, and loving his heroes, is what influenced me to write westerns, albeit in the romance genre.
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