Bootleg Coal in the Great Depression

 
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Beeman
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Post by Beeman » Wed. Nov. 27, 2013 6:57 pm

Very interesting description of bootleg coal activities in PA coal country during the Great Depression. Worth reading.
http://newdeal.feri.org/nation/na3446.htm

Ever since anyone in the Pennsylvania anthracite field can remember, it has been customary for miners and their families to go with sacks or pails to the culm dumps surrounding their bleak towns and pick coal from among the rock and slate thrown out in the breaking and cleaning processes at the big collieries. The pickers usually were the poorer families. Most of the companies permitted this, and the "pickings," as a rule, were used for fuel in miners' homes. Occasionally some miner paid his church dues or a small grocery bill with a few bags of coal he had picked up on the dumps. No one ever sold it for cash.
Last edited by Richard S. on Fri. May. 05, 2017 4:53 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Moved to Anthracite Coal Region History


 
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Post by franco b » Wed. Nov. 27, 2013 8:33 pm

Good article and trying to come up with a solution, even today, is not easy.

 
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Post by Hambden Bob » Wed. Nov. 27, 2013 9:07 pm

Astounding ! Put to print in 1934,during the Great Depression,it shows just how great a bunch of asses we can be,regardless of Land Owner or Bootlegger. Interesting how Communism was brought up. You can see how its' seeds are sown. This was a Fantastic read-Thanx !

 
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Post by Anthracite Ed » Wed. Nov. 27, 2013 10:27 pm

Great link Beeman, Thanks
Brings back memories of my Grandparents living in Centralia Pa, My brothers and myself used to spend two weeks picking coal in the strip mine waste piles
in the summer so they had some coal to heat the house for the winter, And I am only 51 years old,
I feel so blessed to buy coal for only $170 per ton, Not having to pick it out of the waste piles
Happy Thanksgiving to all

 
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Post by anthony7812 » Thu. Nov. 28, 2013 7:06 am

Makes ya think for a minute about the price per ton you pay when lookin back in time. Its not all that bad.

 
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Post by ntp71 » Thu. Nov. 28, 2013 1:27 pm

Thanks for the Link...very interesting. You got me searching...so I found this.



Neal

 
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Post by samhill » Thu. Nov. 28, 2013 4:01 pm

Thank for the link Beeman, it's interesting to hear the opinions of others on this.


 
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Post by Beeman » Fri. Nov. 29, 2013 8:01 am

Neal,
Thanks for posting the link to the film on independent coal miners. I sat down and watched it completely even though it will make me late for work today. Sad film about strong people who provide the black diamonds to us all. I respect the miners!

 
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Post by ntp71 » Fri. Nov. 29, 2013 6:11 pm

Beeman wrote:Neal,
Thanks for posting the link to the film on independent coal miners. I sat down and watched it completely even though it will make me late for work today. Sad film about strong people who provide the black diamonds to us all. I respect the miners!
No Problemo BeeMan. Thank you for the article, and sorry I made you late for work. I am trying to find out if any of those small coal companies from the film sell to the public, or if they just sell their coal raw to someone else to process. I placed a call to RS&W but they were out of the office. I would like to buy from a smaller company if I could.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Nov. 29, 2013 7:12 pm

The latest issue of Bloomberg magazine has an article about bootleg mining going on currently in the Ukraine.

 
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Post by GoodProphets » Fri. Nov. 29, 2013 11:37 pm

The film was excellent...just watched it.

Thanks for the link Neal

Everyone that uses coal for heating should watch it.

Very brave men/woman, that live and die for coal.
It is in their blood. It is all they do. It is their life.

Very shameful at what our country can do to hard working Americans.
I guess we already know what happens when you take away the hard working labor force.

 
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Post by Ed.A » Sat. Nov. 30, 2013 6:01 pm

Very good film.

 
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Post by lewis » Fri. Dec. 06, 2013 9:58 pm

I thought it was nice this movie was posted online for viewing years back it could only be seen in theaters for events to limited audiences. I enjoyed watching it but glad I never traveled to see it or attempt to make a night of it. It appears to be a hobby for these tiny operations I have not been following the board for a few years but if I'm not wrong all of the deep mines are now closed ???

 
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Post by ntp71 » Sat. Dec. 07, 2013 5:55 pm

lewis wrote:I have not been following the board for a few years but if I'm not wrong all of the deep mines are now closed ???
Look at this thread

Underground Coal Mining in PA?

I have not personally visited these mines, however based on the active list it appears there still are. And according to PineGuy some of them are sending their coal to Mazaika Coal to be processed.

 
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Post by ACBurke » Mon. Jan. 13, 2014 5:38 pm

Lewis:

I'm not sure if you watched the whole documentary or not, but I saw a group of self-sufficient people who did this for generations to put food on the table.

"I thought it was nice this movie was posted online for viewing years back it could only be seen in theaters for events to limited audiences. I enjoyed watching it but glad I never traveled to see it or attempt to make a night of it. It appears to be a hobby for these tiny operations I have not been following the board for a few years but if I'm not wrong all of the deep mines are now closed ???" lewis

What really hit home was the way MSHA and the Federal Govt., in cooperation with UMW, since 2001 has tried repeatedly to shut down the independent miners, apparently with great success.


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