December 1910. "Shorpy Higginbotham, a 'greaser' on the tipple at Bessie Mine, of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. in Alabama. Said he was 14 years old, but it is doubtful. Carries two heavy pails of grease, and is often in danger of being run over by the coal cars." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.
Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boys, Woodward Coal Mines." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company
1917. "Mrs. Van H. Manning. U.S. Bureau of Mines. Mine rescue methods. There were 750,000 men employed in coal mining in 1915, and of this number 2,264 were killed -- 190 less than in 1914 and 521 less than in 1913. 'This is the most gratifying report the Bureau of Mines has been able to make since it was established,' says Van H. Manning, director of the bureau. 'It indicates very forcibly to me that "safety first" has come to stay in the coal-mining industry.' " Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.
"Safety sign in coal mine" circa 1915.
Drivers and Mules in a coal mine where much of the mining and carrying is done by machinery. Open flame on oil headlamps. Gary, West Virginia. September 1908.