Railroads, Anthracite, and the Molly Maguires
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Announcements:
(1) Review session: Thursday 2:00-4 in Fernow room 304
(2) Three handouts today— take home midterm, study guide for midterm, and chapter 10 from Adler and Van Doren, "Criticizing a Book Fairly"
(3) Krech writing assignments and comments re: Krech assignment handed back at end of lecture
I. Introduction to Anthracite Coal industry
See Chandler, Winpenny, and Stradling and Thorsheim papers on e-reserve.
[MOVIE CLIP FROM THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES]
Anthracite and bituminous coal
Pennsylvania the nation's fourth largest coal producer.
Number of mining fatalities 1870-1995 = 51,483 deaths—31,113 deaths in anthracite mines and 20,370 deaths in bituminous mines
Anthracite production in Pennsylvania peaks in 1917 with more than 100 million tons of coal mined
Anthracite industry employment peaks in 1914 at 181,000 miners.
Knox Mine flood of 1959
Modest increases in anthracite production in the 1990s, including the mining of culm banks
The environmental legacy includes acid mine drainage
III. Who were the Mollie Maguires?
Irish fraternal organization that flourished in the anthracite coal fields