Back in 1870, coal miners in Pennsylvania were working hard 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, just to make ends meet. They earned about $1.87 a day, which added up to only $583 a year. That might sound like a decent chunk for the time, but it didn’t go far. Room and board alone cost $4.75 a week, boots ran $4.40 a pair, and coal oil (which lit their homes) was $0.29 a gallon. Many miners were stuck in company housing and paid with scrip, basically monopoly money only usable at the company store. It kept them in a constant cycle of debt.
The job wasn’t just exhausting, it was dangerous. Miners dealt with cave-ins, gas explosions, flooding, and deadly coal dust that led to black lung disease. Safety rules? Nonexistent. If you got hurt or killed, your family was often left with nothing. In just one year 1870, over 300 miners died in Pennsylvania alone. They used hand tools, black powder, and raw muscle to dig coal that fueled America’s factories and railroads.
Gold was priced at $20.67 an ounce back then, but most miners never saw a gold coin. Income taxes didn’t really affect them, but local fees and union dues still took a bite. Adjusted for inflation, their yearly income would be about $13,000 today, not nearly enough to live on. Today’s coal miners earn around $25 to $35 an hour, with more protections and benefits (though way fewer jobs). It’s a night-and-day difference, but the guys in 1870 laid the groundwork literally for America’s industrial boom.