Miner Folklore And Superstitions ...And Pay Scales For Luke Fiddler Colliery 1877

Some Interesting Miner Folklore.
And Superstitions.


1. It was bad luck to enter a mine if you met a red headed woman on the way to work.

2. You never changed your job or moved your family on a Friday.

3. The howling of a dog meant the death in a family the next day.

4. Whenever a miner was killed in the mines, all the employees went home and did not return to work until after the funeral.

5. The crumbs left in a miners dinner pail were supposed to be gifted with supernatural powers.

6. Powder smoke was recognized as a cure fro whooping cough.

7. Pow wowers and Hex women were supposed to be gifted women.
A. If they blew their breath into the mouth of a child they could cure a sore throat.
B. The seventh child of the seventh son had the power to cure a fever.

8. Early miners celebrated the " Feast of Mary Goes Over The Mountain " and believed if it rained on that day it would rain for 40 days.

9. June 25 was " Mid Summer Day " and bonfires were built on hillsides and young girls would see the vision of their future husbands in the dancing flames.

10 White rats in the mine had talents unknown they got into the feed of the mules and stayed under ground their whole lives. They stole and thrived on the food from the miners.

11. The mine rat knew of impending danger, when they ran for safety so did the miners. If a man had six senses then the mine rat had seven or eight. Every time they ran there was either a fall of coal or a gas explosion.

12. They say a miner killed underground, his ghost will return to finish the job.

13. When an Irish miner died professional criers were hired to wail and howl at the miners wake. There was a saying " That to hear the Irish cry is to never forget it."

14. It was also bad luck for a woman to enter the mine, because certain women could put a curse on the mine.

15. Miners believed that mules could see ghosts and spirits, that the miners couldn't see.







Below is the pay scales for the Luke Fiddler Colliery. Included are the occupations/ the number employed/ and the pay scale.

The Luke Fiddler Colliery
Near Shamokin, Pa.
August, 1877
Payroll

OUTSIDE

1. Outside Boss 1 $ 66.64 per month.
2. Clerk 1 48.00 per month.
3. Civil Engineer 1 30.00 per month.
4. Stable Boss 1 40.00 per month.
5. Stable Helper 1 28.00 per month.
6. Watchman 1 1.08 per day rate.
1.50 per day rate.

7. Teamster 1 1.00 per day rate.
8. Blacksmith 3 1.83 per day rate.
1.58 per day rate.
9. Blacksmith Helper. 1.13 per day rate.

10. Chief Carpenter 1 30.00 per 1/2 month.
11. Carpenter Repair 2 1.46 per day rate.
1.37 per day rate.

12. Engineer 1 1.58 per day rate.

13. Fireman 2 1.25 per day rate.
1.08 per day rate.
14. Laborer 7 .83 per day rate.
1.00 per day rate.
1.17 per day rate.

15. Car Loader 1.17 per day rate.

16. Dirt Bank 9 1.04 per day rate.
.67 per day rate.
.91 per day rate.
.79 per day rate.

17. Rock Bank 2 .83 per day rate.

18. Tipman 2 1.17 per day rate.
1.00 per day rate.

19. Rollerman 5 1.04 per day rate.
.97 per day rate.
.67 per day rate.

20. Chute Boss 1 1.58 per day rate.

21. Slate Pickers 68 .42 per day rate.
.50 Per day rate.
.65 per day rate.

Luke Fidler Colliery
August 1877

During the month of August most of the pickers only worked a total of 8 days.

22. Mason Repair 1 $2.00 per day rate.

23. Hauling Timber 2 4.00 per day rate.

INSIDE


24. Inside Boss 1 80.00 per month.

25. Repairman 6 1.50 per day rate.
1.33 per day rate.
1.20 per day rate.

26. Bottom Slope 2 1.04 per day rate.

27. Runner 2 1.04 per day rate.

28. Plane Man 2 1.33 per day rate.

29. Driver Boss 1 1.50 per day rate.

30. Drivers 18 1.04 per day rate.
.84 per day rate.
.92 per day rate.

31. Oiler 1 .94 per day rate.

32. Door Boy 2 .67 per day rate
.62 per day rate.

33. Switch Boy 2 .62 per day rate.

34. Shaft Engineer 1 1.58 per day rate.

35. Pumpman 1 1.57 per day rate.

36. Top of Shaft 3 1.12 per day rate.

37. Bottom of Shaft 1 1.12 per day rate.

38. Miners in Gangway 4 1.25 per day rate.
1.04 per day rate.

39. Miners in Airways 2 1.21 per day rate.

40. Coal Car Pushers 17 .58 per day rate.



Gangways

41. East No. 9 Vein 3
Miner 2.50 per yard.
Miner Slate 2.00 per yard
Miner 33 cars @ .50 /car
Laborers 4 1.17 per day rate.

42. Short Plane 1
Miner 2.00 per yard. 22 cars @ .45 /car.

43. West No. 8 Vein
Miners 2 2.00 per yard.
31 cars @ .41 /car.
Laborers 2 1.08 per day rate.

44. Long Plane East No.9
Miners 2 1.75 per yard
29 cars @ .45 /car.

45. Breasts Chutes and Headings.
103 Miners.

.50 per car load.
.45 per car load.

Heading 1.50 per yard.
Chute 1.00 per yard
Platform .75 per yard.

Laborers 1.17 per day rate.

Breast 14 Chute 2.00 per yard.

46. Swamp Counter
Miners 3 .45 per car load.
Laborers 2 1.04 per day.

47. Car Agent 1 40.00 per 1/2 month.

CALL ME KATE....Meeting the Molly Maguires

A Great New Historical Novel About Coal Region History



Call Me Kate:
Meeting the Molly Maguires by Molly Roe is a young adult novel published by Tribute Books in November 2008.

The plot, set in Pennsylvania's hard coal region, interweaves events of the early Molly Maguire era with the coming of age of a young Irish-American girl.Molly was born in Philadelphia but was raised in Schuylkill County. She is a 1972 graduate of Marian High School in Tamaqua, a 1976 graduate of Penn State University, and she later attained her Ph.D. in education from Temple University. About her motivation for writing, Molly says, "After years of genealogy research, I decided to put my thoughts into writing for future generations. The family stories I heard while growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania amazed me; the stoicism of the people was astounding. I found many of my "ordinary" relatives mentioned in the historical records and Molly Maguire trial transcripts and wondered how they survived the extraordinary events of the time. The "what ifs" led to Call Me Kate, my first novel."

Call Me Kate is available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com in hardcover, paperback, or as a Kindle download.

Thanks again!

HOW SCHUYLKILL COUNTY ANTHRACITE MINERS FELT ABOUT THE CHILD LABOR LAW

Photos of Me and My Grandson Nathaniel Breaking the Labor Law of 1918..Actaully a Living history program at Pioneer Tunnel.

HOW SCHUYLKILL COUNTY ANTHRACITE MINERS FELT ABOUT THE CHILD LABOR LAW

On May 3. 1918 the Child Labor Bill passed. Gov. Brambaugh won his fight on the Cox Child Labor Bill.
The bill as it stood on the 28th provides that no minor between 14 and 16 years shall be permitted to work more than 51 hours a week or more than nine hours a day. Such children shall also be compelled to go to a vocational school at least eight hours each week, the time they spend in such school to be counted in the 51 hours.
Here in the coal region the bill was not liked.

On April 25th , 1918 the Pottsville Republican ran an article entitiled:
MINERS OPPOSE THE CHILD LABOR MEASURE.



It has been erroneously spread through the state that the miners of the anthracite region are favorable to the new child labor law which has been introduced at the behest of Governour Brumbaugh, and that they are using their influence to have it enacted. The truth of the matter is the miners are bitterly opposed to the law because it will have the effect of robbing their children of all forms of employment until they reach the age of 16 years. They will not be permitted to have their boys do any work of any kind around the mine or breaker until they have reached the age of 16. Many of them are satisfied for their own individual preferences to have this condition exist but they recognize that it is going to work a fearful hardship on the widows and families of their comrades who have been killed in the mines and who have left a family to support itself in the best way it can find. They know by contact and actual experience with their neighbors in these mining towns that the new law will have the effect of breaking up the family of almost every mineworker who was killed in the mines or who has passed away from other causes.



Around the small mining town there is absolutely no work to be found except in or around the breakers and mines. The occupations are usually not too laborious and are not harmful as is attested by the fact that many of the richest, brainiest and most able men of the coal region today are men who worked in the breakers and mines when they were boys under the age of that provided by the new child labor law.
It is true the miners do favor the eight hour day for the boy, but they also know that it is an economic impossibility to have the working day restricted for the boy at the colliery as long as the other employees are obliged to work more than eight hours. They favor an eight hour workday for everyone, but an eight hour day for boys while the collieries or mills work longer hours will simply have the effect of driving away employment from every boy under 16 years of age.
There is much resentment being expressed everywhere because of the undue influence of the governor being exerted to force this measure through against the best thoughts of the members of the legislature and the citizens of practical experience throughout the state. It is going to work a hardship everywhere, and it is felt that members of the legislature should be left to act according to the wishes of its constituents without having this executive influence held over their heads, which may rob them of all the prerogatives unless they act in accordance with the wishes of the governor.


While the child labor law was not amended at the committee hearing last week, it is probable that amendment will be made to it before it is reported out of the committee this week. It is probable that a vote on the measure

"HURRY BOYS GET ME OUT!"....The April 27, 1918 Accident At Sharp Mountain Colliery, Pottsville

Miners At Work

HURRY BOYS GET ME OUT

Working in the anthracite coal mines of eastern Pennsylvania has always been a dangerous and deadly job, and continues to be to this day. In 1918 the anthracite coal industry was working at or near its peak in coal production. Mines were working hard to supply coal for the military and its involvement in World War 1.
On April 27, 1918 David Daub and his butty Irvin Umbenhauer and fellow miners were working in the 36 foot heading of the 30 foot mammoth split vein in the Sharp Mountain Mine of the Sherman Coal Corporation, Pottsville. Daub and another miner were cutting upward on the 36 foot heading, when a rush of coal had enveloped him. Near by was the inside foreman Thomas Hawkin, who heard Daub shout out, “Hurry boys, and get me out.”
For three quarters of an hour, from 4:10 until five o’clock, Friday afternoon the miners were working grimily and silently. They could hear Daub repeat his cry for help over and over. Then after an hours time they heard him no more. It was after 7:00 o’clock a.m. Saturday morning when the lifeless body of Daub was uncovered. He was taken to the Pottsville Hospital where a doctor examined him and said that he had been dead for 12 hours or more.
Cuts and bruises covered the 55 year old Daubs body, and both his shoulder blades were broken. David Daub was your typical anthracite coal miner who braved death every day he went into the anthracite coal mines, earning a meager livelihood for his wife and six children, the oldest not yet 14 years, and the youngest only an infant, who waited his return in vain.
During the rescue attempt, hope was expressed to the wife and family until the last. Daubs body was taken in charge by Undertaker Shoener and was later removed to his home , at 731 E. Norwegian St. Pottsville.


Types of Mines

During the valiant effort to save Daub none of the miners worked with greater determination than that of Irvin Umbenhauer, a brother miner, who had been working with Daub. The manway was about three feet square, and was being driven up through the center of the pillar and the work had gone on to the point where the second set of timber was to have been put in. Daub was standing on the ladder built to carry the men forward and upward almost perpendicular or straight as the pitch runs from 70 to 80 degrees. Several small rushes of coal dust and broken coal dropped and were cleared away. Then when Umbenhauer was down on the heading, and Daub was was standing on the ladder rungs his feet about four feet from the heading which is a little tunnel between the breasts or mine chambers, a big rush of coal came down and jammed Daub in the narrow manway.
Umbenhauer immediately sent in an alarm for help and started to pull down the manway coal but fast as it was removed at the bottom more kept coming and filling up the space about the form of Daub, which seemed wedged to ladder, so that he could not be drawn down. With frenzied effort the men redoubled their endeavors under the direction of Foreman Hawkin, especially when the hear the pleading voice of Daub, urging them to hurry, words the men who heard him can still hear, and which makes them feel the cost of mining coal never can be measured in dollars and cents. The miners operated in relays.
Finally other miners set at work driving a counter manway or opening along the side the one in which Daub was pinned, and by a strenuous effort it was pushed to a point above the end of the other manway, and then a hole was cut above where the body of Daub was, and timber placed there blocked any further rush of coal. The debris was removed and the body extricated.
General Manager Paul Heinze and his son, worked hard to rescue the entombed miner, and when hope was gone helped to recover the body. Other miners engaged in the work were Fireboss, John Lishman, Outside Foreman John Schablein, Henry Umbenhauer, Joseph Womer, Andrew Mulson, Edward Montag and others.
David Daub came to Pottsville from Ashland some years ago, and looked upon as a careful and efficient, coal miner and a good husband and father. The coal is of a friable nature. This is the foirst fatal accident at this colliery, which is located near S. Second St, and the Cressona Hillside Road.

JOURNAL GIRL FLIES OVER SOUTHERN SCHUYLKILL 1919

Here is a bit of aviation history for the coal region.
In one of my previous posts on this blog I reported on the flight of an aircraft over Schuylkill Haven, the article from the Schuylkill Haven Call from October 31, 1919



AEROPLANE ATTRACTS MANY PERSONS

The aeroplane that visited our town Friday, Saturday and Sunday certainly proved a stellar attraction as thousands and thousands of children as well as adults were attracted to the landing field which was in the field near the brick plant. The owner of the machine was Audrey Stewart and the pilot was Lieutenant Bishop of the British aerial force. A number of local people enjoyed the sensation of flying over the town at one dollar per minute and all report enjoying the same very much. The biggest crowd of spectators was on hand Sunday. Not only did the Schuylkill haven people walk out to the fields but it is said there were several hundreds of automobiles and motorcycles coming from all sections that brought many more
hundreds of persons to the scene. Only a few flights were made on Sunday on account of the heavy atmosphere. Among those persons known to have taken flights were: Frank Deibert, Mrs. Reuben Hoffman, Jacob Rudy, Earl Stoyer, Charles Oberley, Joseph Mulholland, William Schuckers and Miss Clementine Tobin of Pottsville. It is understood the aeroplane will pay this section a return visit probably this Friday and Saturday, the machine having been taken to Allentown for several days
In the Pottsville Miners Journal I found a follow up on the aircrafts visit to the region.
The article in the October 25, 1919 Pottsville Miners Journal Read:




JOURNAL GIRL FLIES OVER SOUTHERN SCHUYLKILL
FIRST WOMAN HERE TO GO UP IN AEROPLANE AND SAYS IT’S GREAT!
IN AIR HALF AN HOUR.
By Clementine Tobin.
“Gee it was great”
With Lieutenant Bishop I this afternoon at about two O’clock flew over Schuylkill Haven and Orwigsburg and the southern end of Pottsville in a Curtis aero plane. I was up one thousand feet and we stayed in the air for half an hour.
I am the only girl who ever flown over Schuylkill County and I am some proud girl, believe me. I enjoyed every minute of the flight. Scared? Not a bit. The sensation upon rising is rather pleasant instead of being distressing and “scarry” as most people suppose. We went up gradually and after we had attained a height of 300 feet I looked down. There was Schuylkill Haven pike unwinding like a great white ribbon. All of a sudden a yellow streak flashed along it and I knew it was Couch’s automobile. I yelled “hello” Couchie, but of course he couldn’t hear me.
Then we went up and over Orwigsburg. I always did like that place but looking down from a height of 700 feet it looked like a little French village in miniature. It was beautiful. Then we went up some more and Lieut. Bishop, who is some aviator, said “take it from me “”were up a thousand feet now and I’m going to speed some” Then he let her out at the rate of 120 miles an hour. We’d have gone up higher but we had gotten into the clouds and I said I wanted to see something so the Lieutenant, always obliging, dropped down. That dropping business gets you a little but you get over it. Then we flew over the gap, Schuylkill Haven and the southern end of Pottsville.
You have no idea of the sensation, gliding along up there with the mist below you and the air rushing past you. I was sorry when my half hour was up.
When I landed I was snapped in my seat and then it was all over except the recollection which will be treasured by me for a long time to come.
Fly if you get a chance. Its great.
The Journal added another scoop to it already long list today when it sent Miss Clementine Tobin, a member of the United Press telegraph force on the first aero flight ever made in Schuylkill County by a girl.
Miss Tobin clambered aboard the big Curtiss plane in front of Lieut. Bishop, at the aviation field just across from the Half Way House between Schuylkill Haven and Orwigsburg shortly before two o’clock this afternoon and viewed the towns in the southern end of Schuylkill county from the clouds.
And the clouds they were. Lowering so that anything more than 1,000 feet, te peak of the flight, was impossible at that hour of the day, with senery visible below the plane.
The little aviatrix, clambered aboard the big plane like one to the manner born; and Ruth Law or no one else never did better on there madden trip. She was calm and collected throughout the experience and as soon as she again set foot on terra firma vowed that some day she will be a regular patron of the aero taxi. Or else become a driver.
Miss Tobins, story of the flight which appears herewith while very enthusiastic was no more so that the ground which watched her put that stunt over.
“Gee, but she has nerve” and kindred expressions were freely heard and they were warranted too: As Lieutenant Bishop at the completion of the 20 mile trip said he never had a passenger who gave him less concern than did this fair passenger from the Journal office.
GO TAKE A FLIGHT
The Curtiss plane is in charge of Sudrey Stewart. Flights for passengers are made very day. The plane is alongside the road opposite the Half Way House Hotel between Schuylkill Haven and Orwigsburg. Ten and fifteen dollars is the charge for a flight. Absolute safety is guaranteed and Lieut. Bishop is a careful and thorough driver.

Again on November 7th , 1919. Clementine Tobin made another flight on the Curtiss. This time over Pottsville.
JOURNAL GIRL MAKES FLIGHT OVER POTTSVILLE
TRUE TO HER PROMISE SHE GOES UP TO AN ALTITUDE OF 4,000 FEET;
DOWN IN A NOSE DIP.

True to her promise Clementine Tobin, the Journal girl who was the first girl to fly over Schuylkill County, this afternoon at about 1:00 o’clock went up with Lieut. Bishop and flew over Pottsville, attaing an altitude of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet. The plucky little aviatrix showed no fear at all, not even when the Lieutenant brought his machine down in a dip, just west of the Henry Clay monument.
The trip was started from the aviation field near the Half Way House, and at 12:50 the plane left the ground, after several other air passengers including Manager Hall of the Traction Company and Walter Farguhar also of the Journal staff had taken in the country from a reasonably high altitude.
Miss Tobin, made today’s trip, not as an experiment but because of her promise to take a high flight with Lieut. Bishop, her first trip ten days ago being made in inclement weather which was not conducive to high flying.
Her gallant pilot brought her west, over Schuylkill Haven and up over sharp mountain at an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet, a nose dip over the end of the mountain brining in the plane down to within the sight of the residents of streets on the high points of the city. They sailed north over the Steel Mill and made a turn which took them over Lawton’s Hill, and then south to the aviation field where a quick descent was made with a nose dip which would have scared a less nervy person nearly to death. After the trip Lieut. Bishop said he was very much impressed with the nerve of the darling little flyer. The trip lasted 35 minutes.
Bishop and Steward have been here for the entire week past battling with the weather, but conditions have been against flying. They will remain all day Saturday and Sunday at the aviation field and will take a number of flights. Many passengers have booked but those who desire to take a flight may arrange to do so. The weather is now ideal. The plane has been overhauled and the opportunity to view Pottsville from the heights is here for those who have the desire and the nerve to enjoy such a pleasant sensation.

MR. HALL’S FLIGHT
C.A. Hall, general manager of the Eastern Penna. Railways Co. is the first civilian to have circled over Pottsville in an aeroplane. He made the flight Friday at noon, starting from the Half Way House, with Lieutenant Bishop.
If you noticed a plane circling over Pottsville about 12:30 o’clock, it was the one in which Mr. Hall and Lieut. Bishop were seated.
While in the aeroplane, Mr. Hall dropped three souvenirs, over different parts of the city. The souvenirs were tie pins, in the form of a miniature electric globes, Mr. Hall’s card was enclosed together with a brand new Lincoln Penny, for ballast.
The plane soared over the city at an altitude of 2,000 feet.
The sensation, as described by Mr. Hall, was like driving in an automobile, on a bowling alley, at the rate of 60 miles per hour. Trees and houses looked like specks and the fields looked like squares on a checker board.
A flight of this kind causes no fear, once free of the ground; the smooth motion eliminates all sense of danger. Occasionally, a gentle rise of the plane, gives a sensation similar to yachting.
Lieutenant Bishop is an army aviator, with a wonderful service record. He downed two German planes, while in France and performed other meritorious service. His control of the aeroplane is wonderful so that no one need fear going up with him.

November 9th , 1919 the Pottsville Journal reported :

TWENTY TWO PEOPLE ENJOYED FLIGHTS OF AEROPLANE
Twenty-two Schuylkill Countians enjoyed flights in the big aeroplane from its base at the Half Way House at Schuylkill Haven, Sunday, and the number would have ben greater but for the drop in temperature late in the afternoon and an aversion to making trips at dusk. Many Pottsville people were among the number and others arrainged to go to the field to day and enjoy their first experience soaring.

THE “IMPS” OF THE BREAKER..A STORY OF TWO BREAKER BOYS

THE “IMPS” OF THE BREAKER




Remarkable Descent of one of them into the Chute
and his recovery from a pressure of
six tons of coal after quarter of an hour burial.
1876

That the boys “down in the coal mines underneath the ground”, have the same hold on life as a cat, was instanced yesterday in a remarkable accident which befell two of the “impls” in the Plank Ridge Colliery. As it resulted without doing any special damage to either, excepting to give them a first class scare, the relation of it cannot but fall to raise a laugh. The breaker being stopped these two youngsters, each about the size of Tom Thumb, indulged in a favorite pastime among them when the “boss” is not around of sliding down the “Telegraph” upon which the coal runs from the screen to the bins below and thence the cars. But yesterday the speed made was so great that they did not stop until they got down into the chute and just at that moment when a car was being loaded of coal. The suction caused by the coal falling into the care drew the boys down and they were huddled into the coal as if they were pieces of “black diamonds” themselves. The alarm was immediately given by their companions to the front of the breaker and soon one of the boys was rescued unhurt from his dangerous position. But fifteen or twenty minutes elapsed before the other could be discovered. He was as much lost to the world as Dr. Livingstone was in the heart of Africa before Stanley, of the New York herald, discovered him. The loads of six cars were as rapidly as possible drawn out of the chute upon the track, but was not until nearly thirty tons had been that the little drawn legs of the youngster were discovered coming out of the chute. Everyone thought they were surely pulling out a corpse when they seized his feet and handed him out. But as it turned out he was mighty live one. After Captain Hoskins had stood over him on his feet, shaken him well and got the coal dust out of his mouth, ears and eyes, the young imp set up a hearty laugh. “How did you get in there, “demanded the superintendent when he saw the youngster sound in life and limb. The “original sin” could not help sticking out even at this moment of a rescue from death. “A boy pushed me in.” replied he, to whom lying was as natural as eating. He may live to be a member of the legislature or congress yet or at least a delegate to a county convention.

Panthers Pottsville Midget Football Team 1961

TAG PHOTO TO ENLARGE

While going through some of my photo's I came across this great old team photo of the Panthers Midget football Team from Pottsville. The teams in the league were the Panthers, Falcons, Tornadoes, Rockets and Bulldozers, I am trying to remember the names of the guys, if anyone knows the names of the players I missed or got wrong let me know.


Front Row L-R Harry Haughney, unknown, unknown Les Paine, Bill Baldwin (Judge Baldwin), Jack Dolbin, (NFL Denver Broncos, Dr, Chiropatric) unknown, Lynn unknown

Second row, Andy Basaniski, Joe Hopkins, unknown, George Cicero, Ronnie Rose, Ed Ginther, unknown.

Third Row, Bruce Brown, Joe Unknown, Frank Mills, Brud Dolbin, Jim Wallaeur, Joe Purcell,

Forth Row, (Me, Stu Richards) Hummel, Charlie Hopkins, unknown, unknown Rick Daldeo,

Coach Wally Mills, Coach Shuster, Coach Fred Lewis,