In September 1902, a reporter from the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper traveled to the Coal Region to document life during the Great 1902 Coal Strike.

The reporter interviewed a striking mineworker at his house about how they were supporting themselves during the strike by picking coal from culm banks located near the town of Plymouth, Pennsylvania:

“All that we have is what we get from the culm banks… All of us rich and poor people alike, pick coal these days. If we don’t we don’t, we don’t have any fire. That’s all…

They say in the papers that we are not allowed on the culm banks, but just you look there.”

He walked to the side of the house and pointed to the huge bank nearly a hundred feet high. Its sides and base were covered with people picking coal and carrying it away in baskets, buckets, bags, and wagons.

They were of all ages from the very oldest women in the town to the youngest toddlers that could tell the different between coal and slate. Mothers were there surrounded by their children, and many of the children were dressed entirely too nicely to be allowed to play or work on a culm bank.

Each was armed with a hammer and a hoe, and as the culm was scraped away, every likely looking rock was tapped to see whether it contained a black diamond or whether it was worthless.

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(Story – Brooklyn Eagle, September 1902 – Photograph from a postcard of the same era showing children at a culm bank in Northeastern Pennsylvania)

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Read more about the 1902 Coal Strike

“Among the Pennsylvania coal-strikers” – A dispatch from the 1902 Coal Strike

A Thanksgiving sermon in the aftermath of the 1902 Coal Strike

Coal Region Books: Theodore Roosevelt’s leadership during the 1902 Coal Strike

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