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40 Coal
around 650,000 workers in the coal industry, compared to some 90,000 in the early
21st century. (For a comparison, that is about the same as the number in the wind
power industry, while the solar energy industry employs over 140,000 workers.)
Mining, transporting, and burning coal were tough, dirty jobs. Accidents in deep
mines were all too common, and many lost their lives, while others developed lung,
skin, and other diseases from exposure to coal dust and similar substances.
The coal industry was one of the first where workers grouped together to form
labor unions, so that they could campaign for better pay and working conditions.
The remains of the strikers’ camp in Ludlow, Colorado, after it was burned down by
National Guardsmen in 1914.