The Expansion of the American Coal Industry in the Latter Nineteenth Century

            The coal industry, embattled as it is in the twenty-first century, was a vital part of American industrialization and expansion in the century after the Civil War. Prior to the war, coal was essentially a cottage industry run by small, independent operators in support of the emerging railroad companies and only beginning to supplant timber as heating and industrial fuel.

            The war itself created a huge demand for coal as the iron and steel industries ramped up in response to the needs of the war industries, especially in the North. Coal not only fired weapons production, but also railroads, whose construction and use exploded in the war years. With the expansion of railroads came the ability to transport coal in large amounts, not only to the factories, but to the urban centers themselves, allowing for cheaper, more efficient fuel for everyone.

            The latter half of the nineteenth century witnessed the great western expansion, made possible by the railroads, again fueled by coal. Industrialization took firm root in the cities of the east and Midwest, with its engines of production driven by coal. Beginning in the late 1830s, coal production doubled every ten years until 1900. The Appalachian region has produced the vast majority of American coal since the industry’s inception, with three states, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky accounting for more than fifty percent of that total. Pennsylvania alone produced almost a quarter of that coal.

            Production figures from the Historical Statistics of the United States show that the number of coal-producing establishments increased from 64 in 1860 to 2,314 in 1870. By 1902 that number had exploded to 31,736. Pennsylvania’s coal production peaked in 1917 and American production as a whole peaked in 1946, just after the end of World War II. In 1860, the net value of all coal shipments totaled 20 million dollars. By 1870, that number jumped to 74 million dollars. The net value of coal shipments in 1902 was 367 million dollars, a 1,735 percent increase in only forty-two years. Between 1860 and 1870 the number of people employed in the coal industry increased from approximately 36,500 to about 94,800. By 1902 there were approximately 350,800 people working in coal production and development with another 17,500 people working in other areas of the industry.

            Despite the exponential growth of coal between 1840 and 1900, the industry itself developed along different lines than others like, say, steel. Most industries evolved in and around urban areas, where transportation hubs and large populations allowed for rapid growth. Coal production, however, remained a decentralized affair due to the nature of the product itself. Coal mines were in rural areas and thousands of workers were brought in to provide a work force. Even with this vast influx of labor, most people lived in small coal towns clustered around the mines. The coal companies not only provided the work, but they also created whole local economies to support, and exploit, the workers themselves.

            These economies were highly localized, with the mines paying in scrip that was only good at stores operated by the companies, which often kept the miners and their families in perpetual debt, thus guaranteeing a steady work force. Many, if not most, mining families also kept garden plots and raised livestock to supplement their income and food supplies. Crops and livestock were regularly used as barter for other goods, a practice that persisted into the latter half of the twentieth century in some places.

            The rules of labor also developed differently from other industries. When coal was still a cottage industry run by small operators, the miners were paid by the volume of their output as opposed to being paid by the hour or day. This system continued through the first half of the twentieth century, not because of the companies, but due to the preferences of the miners themselves. Being paid by the ton, they required little supervision and often took as many breaks as they wanted and worked the hours that suited their needs. Being dependent on the company economy ensured that the work would get done. Other industries were often warned not to hire a former miner because being closely supervised and being held to a strict quota over a set period of time was alien and even offensive to those used to the mines. I believe this is where part of the Appalachian reputation for stubborn independence comes from.

            The rural nature of the industry and the late entry of labor regulations and unionization led to the belief that the later developments of industrialization passed coal by. It seems that, in reality, the coal industry was unique in many ways and merely developed differently due to those unique qualities. Unionization and better labor conditions would come to coal, but not until after the First World War and several rounds of violence between the miners and the executives who ran the mining companies.