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Although many towns were flourishing and lots of money being made, there were several settlements of working class miners and laborers. Bimba states that these workers left home "not reasonably certain when he leaves home for the pit mouth that he will return alive".(p.20) These mines were literal death traps in that there were no provisions for safety or proper ventilation in the pits. There were no mine inspectors to ensure the safety and well-being of these poor souls. Nothing could be done because state legislature was being controlled by and under the influence of the coal operators. The book states that in Schuylkill County 566 miners were killed and almost two thousand injured as a result of mine conditions. .
On top of this wages were incredibly low, paying no more than $1.25 per day. These low wages and low living standards were equally active in arousing the militant mass of miners that demanded improved conditions. I find this interesting to me because minimum wage per hour is $5.50 now much less per week. The wages dropped and the companies were taking money for supplies and housing which left the workers with nothing to show for their labor. But it gets even worse, the miners were not even paid in money. They were given credit to buy things at the company shops which resembled an endless struggle which made the rich richer. I view this as an outrage which is so crooked and underhanded that it is beyond belief. Sometimes if mine owners were having financial difficulties they wouldn't even pay their workers at all. All they needed to do was transfer their money to another location and leave the workers with nothing. This book gives so many details and descriptions that I can get an accurate depiction of what these miners lives might have been like in late 19th century Pennsylvania. As I have mentioned before this was only adding fuel to the fire which would eventually lead to the first great coal miners strike in 1849.
