coal mines
"Work in the coal breakers is exceedingly hard and dangerous. Crouched over the chutes, the boys sit hour after hour, picking out the pieces of slate and other refuse from the coal as it rushes past to the washers. From the cramped position they have to assume, most of them become more or less deformed and bent-backed like old men.
"The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cut, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys. Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered and dead. Clouds of dust fill the breakers and are inhaled by the boys, laying the foundations for asthma and miners' consumption."
(History Matters)
Almost any way you look at working in the mines, it's terrible. Boys couldn't the mines without some terrible accident occurring. Boys got terrible life-long sicknesses or were not so lucky to even get out of the mines. They had to stay all day in the mines, where there was little to no light, and work, hunched over. In 1885, law required children to be at least 12 to work in the breakers, and 14 to work inside the mines. In 1902, the government changed the law to only age 14 and older could work in the breakers, but not all children had registration of birth. "Boys were passed off as 'small for their age'".
(United States Department of Labor)
"The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cut, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys. Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered and dead. Clouds of dust fill the breakers and are inhaled by the boys, laying the foundations for asthma and miners' consumption."
(History Matters)
Almost any way you look at working in the mines, it's terrible. Boys couldn't the mines without some terrible accident occurring. Boys got terrible life-long sicknesses or were not so lucky to even get out of the mines. They had to stay all day in the mines, where there was little to no light, and work, hunched over. In 1885, law required children to be at least 12 to work in the breakers, and 14 to work inside the mines. In 1902, the government changed the law to only age 14 and older could work in the breakers, but not all children had registration of birth. "Boys were passed off as 'small for their age'".
(United States Department of Labor)