Although this scene from around 11890 was at a breaker near Pottsville, it was typical of what the breaker boys had to put up with a the collieries.
The photo caption reads:
Until child labor laws were enacted, any coal region boy aged 8 to 14 who didn’t want to go to school usually wound up as a slate picker in a breaker. For most boys before the turn of the century, when working time was poor and wages even worse, taking a job in the breaker was a necessity to keep food on the table for a big family. It couldn’t have been pleasant for a youngster who had to spend 10 hours a day picking slate, slag, rock, wood and other debris from the endless flow of coal coming down the chute. The monotonous and back-aching work became just plain misery when the youngster’s fingertips became irritated (they called the condition “red-tops”) by the constant probing into the coal.
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From the Pottsville Republican and Herald, series on “Glimpses Into Yesteryear,” 1 November 1979, via Newspapers.com.
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