The arrival of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Westmoreland County during the mid-19th century resulted in the rapid development of the coal mining industry here. Coal was converted into gas for the gasworks at Philadelphia and other eastern cities. To meet that demand, gas coal mines were developed in the area known as the Irwin Gas Coal Basin. The basin included North Huntingdon, Penn and Sewickley townships, parts of Salem, South Huntingdon and Hempfield townships, as well as Irwin, Murrysville, Export and Delmont.
This part of the Pittsburgh seam wasn't as well suited for making coke as was the Connellsville coal field, but it was ideal for producing gas. The Irwin Gas Coal Basin coal also differs from the other Westmoreland County coal basins (Greensburg, Latrobe and Ligonier) in terms of thickness, quality and physical attributes.
Two of the largest coal companies in the Irwin basin were Westmoreland Coal, established in 1854, and Penn Gas Coal, formed in 1861. These two companies grew rapidly, acquiring independent mines and opening new ones throughout the area.
Small towns, known as "coal patches," were established to house the large number of immigrants who arrived here from Europe with hopes of finding a better way of life. Because transportation was very limited, it was necessary to house workers close to the mines. A shortage of houses prompted the coal companies to construct their own.
Miners paid rent to the company for their housing and purchased all their food and mining equipment at the nearby company store; it was generally the only store in town. Since the immigrants arrived with little money and they could obtain credit at the company store against future pay, they quickly became indebted to their employers. As a result of these tactics, the coal companies were able to maintain a certain amount of control over the miners.
Coal mining was a tough way to make a living; miners worked long hours for low wages. The work was dirty and dangerous; hundreds of miners died or were seriously injured in mine accidents. If you quit working in the mines, you could no longer live in a company house. If a miner was killed in an accident, his family was forced to move.
The miner's desire for improved working conditions and higher wages was in direct conflict with stockholders' demands for higher profits. This often resulted in long, bitter and costly strikes with numerous attempts to organize the workers.
The "Golden Era of King Coal" occurred in Pennsylvania between 1880 and 1920 with a profound impact on the region's economy. Pennsylvania produced more bituminous coal throughout this period than any other state.
The United Mine Workers of America was formed in 1890. In neighboring Allegheny County, labor leaders had been bargaining collectively with the coal operators since 1898. However, prior to 1910, Westmoreland County miners weren't unionized and wages weren't standardized in the Irwin Gas Coal Basin.
Unrest had been building among the Irwin basin miners for some time. Union organizers campaigned for an eight-hour day and a wage scale comparable to wages paid in the Pittsburgh coal district.
The lack of a standard wagon size prevented miners from comparing tonnage rates they received with rates paid at other mines. The miners believed they weren't being credited fairly for the amount of coal they produced.
Miners in the Irwin basin also complained that they received little or no pay for "slack" (very fine) coal. Another complaint was that they weren't fairly compensated for what they considered "dead work." In order to extract the coal, they also had to lay track, do their own timbering, pump out water, and remove slate and clay. The miners demanded that they be paid according to the Pittsburgh scale, which provided an established "dead work" rate for each contract period.
Westmoreland Coal Co. was strongly opposed to unions. This policy led to firings and occasional violence during the early 1900s. By far, the most severe local labor stoppage occurred in March 1910 when the UMWA attempted to organize the workers in the Irwin Gas Coal Basin mines; there were more than 15,000 striking miners in the basin.
Along with the Penn Gas Coal Co. and the Keystone Coal & Coke Co., Westmoreland Coal strongly resisted this unionization effort. Coal company leases stated that "tenants must vacate within 10 days of the time they quit work, are discharged or evicted." When workers struck, the coal companies fired them and exercised their right to remove them and their families from their company houses.
With the union's financial support, 25 tent communities were established by striking miners and their families. The largest was at Export with more than 100 temporary huts and tents erected on a hillside near Export Coal Co.'s Star Park, overlooking the Westmoreland Coal Co. dam. Other camps were located at Irwin, Westmoreland City, Blackburn (now Lowber), Herminie, Adamsburg, Penn Station, Rillton, Wendel and Yukon.
The coal companies used the Coal and Iron Police to protect their property and the strikebreakers who were hired to keep the mines operating. This "police force" was commissioned by the state and paid by the coal operators. Striking miners called the Coal and Iron Police "yellow dogs" and referred to the strikebreakers as "scabs." Deputy sheriffs were appointed and state police were also used in an effort to maintain order.
The Penn Gas Coal Co. constructed about 30 two-story, wood-frame houses on Adams Hill near their Penn Gas No. 2 Mine at Hahntown to house European replacement workers. The company recruited them with the promise of a job and housing for their families, and it paid for their passage to America. Hahntown residents subsequently referred to Adams Hill as "Scab Hill" in reference to the replacement workers who lived there.
In Export, Westmoreland Coal Co. built barracks behind St. Mary's Church for the protection of strikebreakers. The original first aid building, located to the right of the church, served as temporary police headquarters and as a small store for the imported workers since it was too dangerous for the new arrivals to purchase items from other Export stores.
On June 2, 1910, the Edna No. 1 miners held a UMWA rally at Adamsburg in support of the strike. Miners from the Madison, Herminie, Rillton, Blackburn (now Lowber) and Westmoreland City (Biddle) mines carried signs with slogans like "United we stand, divided we fall," and "We will dig the coal if we get the price." The Adamsburg and Edna Band performed at the meeting.
Similar rallies, parades and demonstrations were held throughout the area.
In the midst of the bitter strike, the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Co. opened its four "Delmont Mines" along the Turtle Creek Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad west of Delmont in Franklin Township (now Murrysville). The company, strongly opposed to the workers' attempts to organize with the UMWA, was able to operate a total of 19 days in 1910. Using a work force of 98 men and boys, it only produced 6,400 tons of coal that year.
The winter of 1910-11 was especially cold; hundreds of miners and their families were still living in tents or crude shanties under harsh conditions. Many people, including children, died of starvation or exposure to the elements. Meanwhile, the miners vowed to hold out another year, if necessary.
The strike was more like a war than a labor dispute; it resulted in the tragic deaths of an untold number of miners, strikebreakers, police and coal company officials; scores of others were injured. In addition to the loss of lives, it was quite costly to both sides. The union contributed $25,000 to the strikers for the purchase of tents and construction of shanties, and more than $1 million for relief funds.
The coal companies spent at least $500,000 for police protection, suffered a vast amount of property damage and experienced reduced production levels at all their mines. In 1909, the 24 Irwin Gas Coal Basin mines had produced almost 8 million tons of coal, but in 1910 the basin yielded less than 4.5 million tons, nearly a 45 percent reduction. Both sides suffered as a result of the miners' lost wages and the coal operators' diminished revenues.
After 16 months, on July 1, 1911, the UMW International Executive Board finally called for an end to the strike. The work stoppage ended in defeat for the union; some workers returned to the mines, while others were "blacklisted" by the coal companies and were forced to seek employment elsewhere.
At the time, this 1910-11 conflict was described as "the most stubborn strike in the history of American labor." The UMWA continued its efforts to organize the Westmoreland County miners, and the coal companies were determined to remain non-union. Although it lost the battle, the UMWA eventually won the war, successfully representing Irwin Gas Coal Basin miners and evolving into the largest, most powerful labor union in the country.
