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The coal-mining area in Northeastern Pennsylvania, called The Coal Region, is comprised of the North Anthracite and the South Anthracite Coal Fields.

Anthracite coal was discovered in 1762, and the first mining of anthracite began near Pittston in the North Anthracite Region in 1775. It wasn’t until 1790 that anthracite was discovered near Pottsville in Schuylkill County. Around the same time it also discovered at Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) in Carbon County and at Shamokin in Northumberland County, all three towns are located in the South Anthracite Coal Field.

Anthracite, called hard coal, is a clean burning fuel and produces a lot of heat; however, it is not easy to ignite and at first was primarily used by blacksmiths. It was first used to heat a home in 1808 at Wilkes–Barre in the Northern Anthracite Coal Field. As heating furnaces became more popular and the public learned how to control and burn the coal, it eventually began to be used more widely to heat residential and commercial buildings. In 1810, the mining industry was just getting underway and only 350 tons of coal was mined that year. In the early days, transporting coal was a formidable undertaking and teams of horses’ hauled wagons loaded with coal very long distances to city markets.

By 1820, large shipments of hard coal were being shipped from the Lehigh Coal Mining Company to metropolitan areas. At that time, loading coal into boats and using canals was the main method of transporting it to the large cities in the east.

During the 1830s, a number of very small villages called “patch towns” got started in isolated areas throughout the region. Many immigrant workers were drawn to the area seeking employment and some lived in houses that were owned by the coal companies. They were mainly European families: the Germans came first followed by the Welsh and then the Irish. Later, Polish, Italian, and Lithuanian families arrived. It was a pattern that occurred throughout the area at the time. Shenandoah, which was settled in 1835, was one of those small towns. It is located in Schuylkill County one hundred miles northwest of Philadelphia.

By 1840, approximately 250,000 tons of coal was being mined yearly. With the advent of railroad into the anthracite region in 1842, the transportation of coal by canals decreased steadily. By 1853, the coal operators were producing 11 million tons of anthracite coal yearly and two decades later the yearly production reached 21 million tons. During the decade of the 1850s, anthracite coal was being used to manufacture about one-half of all the crude iron produced in the country. After the Civil War, the population in the region grew rapidly with the expansion of the mining and railroad industries.

In the early years of mining, it was common to see precautionary multilingual information signs regarding safety, which were posted in various places because workers came from different backgrounds and many could not speak English. In some cases, early mine workers used canaries to detect the presence of lethal gas. When exposed to toxic gases, canaries suffered ill effects and soon died, sending a signal to the mines to exit quickly. The phrase, “a canary in a coalmine” has become a popular expression that serves as a warning to others.

Other times, a lighted lamp would be lowered down into a mine to detect lethal gases such as methane that would explode when ignited. The older experienced miners (many who were superstitious) would often say that you had to watch and see what the rats were doing down inside the mine. They felt that rats could detect lethal gas or a creaking roof overhead that was about ready to fall down, and that they would scurry out fast--and if you were smart, you would follow the rats out.

Eventually, safety officials called “fire bosses” were employed who were responsible for determining whether conditions were safe for miners to start their working day. The fire bosses would inspect the mine for the presence of noxious gases, dangerous overhead ceilings and other hazards.

The rich and autocratic coal operators, however, took advantage of the poor coal miners: working conditions were deplorable and wages were also low. Sadly, safety procedures were not a top priority for the coal companies. The owners were generally forced to comply with increased safety measures for miners, and in many instances new safety programs were only introduced after a mining accident or disaster. Finally in 1868, poor working conditions led miners to create the Workers’ Benevolent Association (WBA).

In 1869, the devastating Avondale mine disaster, which took the lives of 110 miners, got the public’s attention on how unsafe conditions were in the mines. After that horrible tragedy, Pennsylvania began enacting the first mine safety laws in its history. (Harry M. Bobonich provided a detailed account of the Avondale mine disaster in Big Mine Run: Recollections of the Coal Region.)

Anthracite Miners and Their Helpers

While the workers’ formed other bargaining associations, the coal operators were not cooperative. The bitterness and resentment of the workers increased since the mine owners showed no interest in improving working conditions or increasing the miners’ wages.

In the 1870s, the numerous violent acts against the coal company properties as well as serious injuries and murder of some coal company personnel, all originated according to the coal operators with the militant Irish miners who were members of the Irish-American secret society called the Molly Maguires, commonly referred to as the “Mollies.” Some historians feel that the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-American fraternal organization, was a front for the activities of the Mollies.

By 1873, Franklin B. Gowen, President of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as well as President of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, was a powerful leader who used ruthless tactics against the unions. He sought the help of the Pinkerton Detective Agency to solve the problem he was facing in dealing with the Mollies. Pinkerton chose a bold, tough detective from Chicago named James McParland to be an undercover agent against the Mollies.

James McParland

McParland, who used the alias “James McKenna,” succeeded in infiltrating the Molly organization. He set up his headquarters at different times in Pottsville and Shenandoah; over time, he gained the confidence of the Mollies and became a trusted member. Over the next several years, McParland was able to collect enough evidence and other pertinent information, which he passed on to his Pinkerton manager who was assigned to the Coal and Iron Police to coordinate a plan of action to bring a significant number of Mollies to trial.

McParland’s testimony resulted in the arrest of many Mollies and the conviction and hanging of 20 others for murder. In June 1877, ten Mollies were hung one day in Pottsville and four in Mauch Chunk. This bizarre event became known as the “Day of the Rope” or Black Thursday. It was the largest hanging in one day handed down by a court in the history of Pennsylvania. In 1878-79, there was an additional ten Molly Maguires hung—three each in Pottsville, Mauch Chunk and Bloomsburg and one in Sunbury.

Another 45 Mollies were identified and charged, but only 33 were rounded up since 12 escaped: the remaining 23 received jail sentences. Nine ended up in one of the following categories: (a) convicted, not sentenced; (b) charged, but never tried; (c) pardoned and (d) tried and acquitted.

Extreme justice is extreme injustice. --Marcus Tullius Cicero

One of the Mollies sentenced was Patrick Dolan Sr. who was the ancient Order of Hibernians bodymaster in the village of Big Mine Run, in Schuylkill County. Dolan was convicted of conspiracy to reward Thomas Hurley for the murder of Gomer James and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

A Dolan family was still living in Big Mine Run where I (Harry) lived for the first 18 years of my life. As a youngster, I talked with Joe Dolan on several occasions; his grandfather Patrick was one of the Mollies. The last time I visited Big Mine Run, the red-roofed Dolan residence was still standing in that patch town.

There was considerable controversy about the manner in which the Mollies’ trial was conducted. Irish Catholics were not allowed to serve as jurors, while non-speaking immigrants were accepted. On the other hand, Welsh immigrants, who were on unfriendly terms with the Irish in Schuylkill County, were selected as jurors.

Gowen, who was well known as a union buster, was largely responsible for the notoriety of the Mollies. He not only initiated the investigation of the Mollies, but also was the one person to gain the most from destroying the emerging trade union movement. By 1883, the powerful Reading Railroad Magnate left his post as president of the company and returned to practicing law. In 1889, he supposedly committed suicide by placing a revolver to his head and pulling the trigger. There were wild rumors that the Mollies finally got even? But, did they—or didn’t they?

James McParland went on to become the superintendent for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. In later years, he became overweight and still continued to drink heavily and became increasing paranoid about his safety. How many times at night did he hear a strange noise and suddenly feel his heart beat faster? One can only wonder how many times he looked over his shoulder wondering if some descendants of the Mollies might still be planning to murder him? Alone and overly suspicious to the end, McParland died in Mercy Hospital in Denver in 1918.

In 1890, the United Mineworkers of America became organized and also had significant bargaining power. Then, in 1899, the union won a strike against a subsidiary of one of the large railroads in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. The anthracite strike of 1902, however, was a major event: it lasted for five months and created a national crisis. Factories shut down, hospitals closed, schools closed and of course unemployment rose. It was the first time a President of the United States intervened in a labor management arbitration: President Theodore Roosevelt brought the two sides together in order to settle the dispute. While the miners did receive some benefits including a wage increase, management also got some concessions such as an open shop. Clarence Darrow, the famous labor leader, made the closing arguments for the miners.

While the miners often had to deal with poor working conditions over the years, none was more tragic than the youngsters (kids really) who worked in the coal breakers in the collieries—and some died. Boys from the ages of 10-14 were regularly employed, and in some cases kids as young as eight years old were hired. Furthermore, they had no bargaining power.

Coal Breaker Kids Off to Work

The production of anthracite coal continued to rise through World War I. In 1917, the anthracite industry employed approximately 156,000 men and produced 100 million tons of coal. The industry, however, began to go into a steady decline following the war. By the 1920, Shenandoah had 31,000 residents, 22 nationalities, 22 churches and one synagogue. It also had many barrooms and also several breweries. Shenandoah had a daily newspaper called The Evening Herald. The first issue was published on Saturday, May 23^rd in 1891.

While the 1920s were still good years for the larger coal mining companies, they began to shutdown during the Great Depression. While coal mining was an important early industry, the garment and other businesses began to take over.

Since many miners were now unemployed, they began opening “coalholes” on property still owned by the coal companies to earn a living: it was called “bootlegging.” My father and several uncles worked in a coalhole, which was very hard work and also dangerous, but it was a common practice throughout the region at that time. I have been down many coalholes, and I can tell you that it’s a scary place “down there” hundreds of feet underground with not much room to move about.

It’s dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew, Where the danger is double and pleasures are few, Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines, It’s dark as a dungeon way down in a mine. --Merle Travis

The coal companies eventually hired private police to crackdown on these illegal operations and at times the Pennsylvania State Police assisted them.

John R. Lindermuth, in his well-researched book, Digging Dusky Diamonds wrote:

An article in the January 9, 1934 issue of Nation estimated that 100,000 men, women and children in Schuylkill and Northumberland counties were directly involved in bootlegging and accounted for the “theft” of four and a half to five million tons of coal from the company lands in the previous 12 months.

There was a short period of prosperity during World War II, but by 1950 the demand for coal decreased significantly with competition from the gas, oil and electrical industries.

For approximately 200 years, the Coal Region has produced over five billion tons of anthracite coal. In 1974, The United States Bureau of Mines estimated that there was still 17.4 billion tons of anthracite coal remaining underground. Anthracite coal was a key factor in the turning point that changed this country from an agrarian society into an industrial society.

Shenandoah grew and declined with the rise and fall of the anthracite industry. In the 2010 census, Shenandoah only had 5,071 people. The glory days of King Coal are far in the past: its reign is long over. (Bobonich 2005)