For Labor Day, a postcard photograph of mine workers of the early 20th century.
The format of a postcard story is an insufficient platform to discuss the long and hard-worn struggle for regulatory oversight of workplace safety and environmental protection.
Suffice it to say, that many earlier postcard stories from places not readily associated with mining (Iowa, Kansas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky) contained references to tragic deaths of miners in collapsed tunnels or in underground explosions.
There are other references to the violent suppression of striking workers in many places.
We celebrate the continued strength of Labor and the cause of worker safety and prosperity on Labor Day.
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Miss Shaffer lived in Pillow, a borough in the northernmost point of Dauphin County in central Pennsylvania.
In 1910, the area boasted a cotton mill, brickworks, and other businesses.
Today, the population is the same as it was in 1910, although there is only one manufacturing business in the town.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillow,_Pennsylvania
(I cannot decipher the addressee’s first name – it does not appear to be “Twilla”, but a close variation of this name.)
In October of 1910, Miss Shaffer received a postcard from Elsie.
Elsie appears to be a relative; her message suggests that she shares a grandmother with Miss Shaffer.
Miss Shaffer may have been living at home; the postcard was sent “in care of Michael Shaffer”.
The postcard was mailed from Shamokin, a city in the Susquehanna River Valley of Northumberland County of central Pennsylvania
On the edge of the Anthracite Coal Region, Shamokin was founded in 1835 by coal speculators.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamokin,_Pennsylvania
The Reading Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad extended rail lines to the city, and Shamokin became a hub of industry and transportation.
Pillow is about 24 miles southwest of Shamokin.
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The face of the postcard is a photograph of “Mountain Slope, Shamokin, PA”.
Here, we see a wooden cart being hauled from the shaft of a mine.
The chain pulling the cart is shown, but the source of power is not clear.
In another postcard photographs, horses, mules or ponies are pulling the mine carts.
The miners are already standing in the cart – which would not have been possible in the low tunnels through which they descended to work sites.
Published by G. V. Millar & Co. of Scranton, the postcard was probably printed in the United States.
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On the reverse, Elsie begins her message without a greeting: “When are you coming up, Gramma (sic) wasn’t up for an awful long time.
The next (and last) line strikes a more jocular tone: “Come up and hear me talk Dutch”.
“Talking Dutch” meant conversing in the dialects of German that were widely-spoken in parts of Pennsylvania.
Miss Shaffer preserved in good condition the image of mine workers.
One hopes that Gramma and others made the visit to Shamokin, and the family members exchanged many more postcards.
