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European History: 1600s-1800s
 Coal Mining

Coal Mining
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.86

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    posed, mines, operate, shaft, society, social, heated, telltale, machinery, ordinary, entire, mining, newly, destination, jobs, despite
     content words:    Industrial Revolution

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Coal Mining
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1      Young coal miners, drivers, and mules; taken in 1908
 
2     They spent six days per week in dark, dangerous underground tunnels. When seen in the light of day, they looked pale and unhealthy. Many became crippled at an early age. Yet, without their labor, Europe during the Industrial Revolution would have been a different place. In fact, without the labor of these coal miners, the Industrial Revolution couldn't have happened at all.
 
3     The coal that these men dug out of the ground powered the machinery of the Industrial Revolution. It also heated their homes and the homes of other workers. Coal miners, despite their hard life and unimportant social standing, were indispensable members of society.
 
4     Underground coal miners began their day early with a quick trip to the bottom of the mine shaft. They would spend their entire day in the pit, not surfacing until sundown. The two main groups of workers in the pit were hewers and putters.
 
5     Hewers began their job at about age twenty, after working at other jobs in the mines for several years. They dug the coal loose from its underground seam using only a pick and their own strength. It was a back-breaking job.

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