Anthracite Coal Mining
There had been some settlement of the Nanticoke area along the Susquehanna River before anthracite coal was mined, but it was the discovery of how to use anthracite coal to heat that prompted the subsequent establishment of mines in the town. (There were also several slopes, which could be entered without an elevator.) The mines were owned by large railroad companies that used the coal to fire their engines. There would eventually be 4 coal breakers in Nanticoke: Loomis, Bliss, Auchincloss and Truesdale, the largest in the world. Eventually the mine would draw immigrants from Eastern Europe and the city's population would peak at # in 192#. For some background on the anthracite industry in the region, see http://explorepahistory.com.
Miners were forced to work long hours and were frequently taken advantage of by employers who tried to pay them as little as possible. Miners attempted to fight these conditions by forming unions, launching many strikes over the later 19th and early 20th century. See more on the unions page.
Auchincloss
Loomis
Bliss
Truesdale
The industry was dangerous, with numerous disasters ocurring: fires, floods, mine cave-ins and explosions. Mining accidents, fatal and non-fatal, were frequent and numerous. In 1885 alone, 89 men were killed in the 42 collieries of the 3rd district (which included Nanticoke) and 178 were seriously injured. The deaths left 46 widows and 145 orphans. The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration kept detailed descriptions of every injury. In time, it would be discovered that breathing in the coal dust caused a condition in miners known as "black lung."
Resources for futher study:
Aurand, Harold W. Coalcracker Culture: Work and Values in Pennsylvania Anthracite, 1835-1935. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 2003.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Growing Up in Coal Country. Paw Prints, 2008.
Glahn, Bryan. Mining Disasters of the Wyoming Valley. Arcadia Publishing, 2016.
Keil, Thomas J, and Jacqueline M. Keil. Anthracite's Demise and the Post-Coal Economy of Northeastern Pennsylvania. , 2015.
Matkosky, Greg, Thomas M. Currá, and Jason Miller. Stories from the Mines. Scranton, Pa: University of Scranton Press, 2006.
Salay, David L. Hard coal, hard times: ethnicity and labor in the anthracite region. Scranton: Anthracite Museum Press, 1984.
Spear, Sheldon. "Wyoming Valley Children in the Age of Anthracite" in Chapters in Northeastern Pennsylvania History: Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties. Shavertown, Pa: Jemags & Co, 1999.
Richards, J S. Death in the Mines: Disasters and Rescues in the Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2007.
Roberts, Ellis W. The Breaker Whistle Blows: Mining Disasters and Labor Leaders in the Anthracite Region. Scranton, Pa: Anthracite Press, 1984..