Human ingenuity led to the industrial revolution but it was powered by coal. Long hours and low pay, coal miners fed the machines in Detroit that built Ford Model T’s on a production line, the locomotives that shipped them all over the world, and cooked the food of the people that made them. One such mine was near Allentown, PA.
The tours depart as soon as they fill up and last for about an hour underground. While you wait for the tour, you can see a movie about coal miners and see the hoist house. Anthracite, the best quality coal, existed in remote areas in mountainous terrain. Working men and children endured tough conditions because union organizers found it difficult to reach anthracite towns.
Miners and minor miners were often injured or died and didn’t get to surface until the end of their shift even if they were unconscious. Mine companies exploited their workers by forcing them to live in designated housing and buy from company stores where they could only spend company scrips. Mining families were stuck in poverty traps if they were lucky and died in the mines if they were unlucky.
