This story about a Lancaster County, PA community that had run out of anthracite coal demonstrates the widespread impact of the 1902 Coal Strike in the anthracite coal fields.
Millions of people were concerned about the strike lasting into the cold weather months and fuel shortages that could see thousands freeze to death. These fears led President Theodore Roosevelt to take the unprecedented step of bringing the federal government in to negotiate a settlement between the coal operators and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).
From the Philadelphia Inquirer, October 1902:
FEAR OF A FUEL FAMINE PRECIPITATES A MERRY SCAMPER FOR WOOD PILES GATHERING WOOD FOR WINTER NEAR EPHRATA, PA.
EPHRATA, Pa., Oct. 14.
This borough has been without anthracite coal for several weeks. In consequence of the shortage saw mills have been erected on the neighboring hills and many car loads of wood are being shipped to various points. Fear of a fuel famine in view of the protracted strike has set hundreds actively to work in gathering wood.
The illustration herewith shows a well-known Ephrata family actively engaged in replenishing bins.
Read more about the 1902 Coal Strike
A different kind of labor leader | A profile of John Mitchell during the 1902 Coal Strike
Scenes at a coal yard in the Lower East Side of Manhattan | October 1902
A photograph from the 1902 Coal Strike in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
End of the 1902 Coal Strike | October 23, 1902
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