/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>58251645
I too am fascinated by the history of mining.

>>58204744
>coal miners

People tend to think of the horrors of the Industrial Revolution in terms of working conditions in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which of course were very harsh, relatively speaking. But that's when the labor movement was already showing its head and the topic was getting much more popular attention. Reforms were even being made by then.

The early 1800s are when the worst horrors occurred, as depicted in that sketch above of a mother and kid pulling a heavy basket of coal out of a low mine. Many miners would get only a few days off per year for major holidays and would work 12+ hours a day. They lived their jobs. I hear many coal miners today about how tough miners were in the 1970s. Yeah, they were probably tough, but if it's a "misery contest," then miners of the late 1700s and first half of the 1800s win, especially in Britain, where the Industrial Revolution started first.

Here is a sketch from the early days of industrial-scale coal mining. Child labor in mines didn't end until a few decades into the 20th century.

>>57938929
The woman in the sketch was doing this work in the early 19th century. I can't find the exact sketch, but it was in an old high school text book.