In the early 20th century, many young children worked in dangerous conditions in coal mines in the United States. Boys as young as 8 worked long hours sorting coal and using wooden blocks to brake coal cars. These jobs exposed them to coal dust and the risk of injuries. Child labor laws were eventually passed in the 1910s and 1920s to reduce child labor and protect their health and safety.

2.  In the early years of the 20th
century, children as young as eight years old
worked in the coal mines. The work was hard and the "little boys" grew
old and stooped before their time.
 An 1885 law required boys to be at least twelve to work in the coal
breakers and at least fourteen to work inside the mines. A 1902 law raised
the age to fourteen to work in the breakers. Although child labor laws did
not allow children under fourteen to work in the mines, some states did
not have compulsory registration of birth. Boys were passed off as "small
for their age".
 The Children's Bureau was created within the Department of Commerce
and Labor on April 9, 1912. It was transferred to the newly created
Department of Labor on March 4, 1913. The first Federal Child Labor Law
was signed by President Woodrow Wilson on September 1, 1916.
 The following is a series of pictures and stories about children who
worked long hours in this country's coal mines and the most common
jobs they performed before child labor laws were passed.

4.  The coal was crushed, washed, and sorted
according to size at the breaker. The coal tumbled
down a chute and moved along a moving belt.
 Boys, some as young as eight, worked in the
picking room. They worked hunched over 10 to 11
hours a day, six days a week, sorting rock, slate
and other refuse from the coal with their bare
hands. If the boy did not pay attention, he might
lose fingers in the machinery.

5. View of the Ewen Breaker of the
Pennsylvania Coal Company, January 10, 1911
The dust was so dense at times that the view was obscured. This dust
penetrated the utmost recesses of the boys lungs. A kind of slave driver
sometimes stood over the boys, prodding or kicking them into obedience.

6. Hughestown Borough Coal Co., Pittston, PA, January 16, 1911.

7. Boys worked underground as nippers and spraggers. The boys holding the pieces
of wood were spraggers. Only the fastest boys could be spraggers because they
controlled the speed of the mine cars as they rolled down the slope. They worked
in pairs. Each boy had about twenty or thirty sprags.
As the mine cars rolled downhill the spraggers ran alongside the cars and jabbed
the sprags into the wheels. The sprags worked as brakes, slowing the cars down.
The job was very dangerous. The car could fly out of control and jump the track
and crash into the mine wall if the wheels were not spragged properly.

8. The nipper was the door keeper. He was the youngest of the boys working
underground, usually eleven to thirteen years old. His job was to open the heavy
door when he heard a coal car approaching, then quickly close the door after the
load passed through.
The nipper sat long hours by himself in the dark with only his carbide cap lamp
for light. He was often bored and sometimes whittled long pieces of wood into
sprags or trapped the rats to pass the time.

9. When the nipper heard an approaching car, he opened the door to let the mule
and the driver pass through with their load of coal.
It was very important that the nipper did not fall asleep and allow the coal car to
crash through the door. The door was vital to the mine's ventilation system.

10. The most exciting job for the boys was mule driver. The job was usually held by an
older boy in his early teens. The mule driver traveled all through the mine coupling
full cars together and leaving an empty car behind in the work chamber. The boy
started out with one mule and then worked up to a six-mule team. When he was
able to drive a six-mule team, he was given a man's wages.
The mule driver sat on the front bumper of the coal car and used his voice to direct
the mules. If the mule was stubborn, he used a black snake whip. A good mule
driver was respected by both the miners and bosses. He had no problem obtaining
a job as a miner when he was older.

11. Boy running "trip rope" at a tipple. The tripper is a device that discharges material
from a belt conveyor. It has a double pulley that turns a short section of a conveyor
belt upside down in order to dump its load into a side chute.
The boy looked to be about 13 years old. He worked 10 hours a day at a Welch, WV,
coal mine.

12. He never got used to the noise, the dust, or the threat of danger. He was proud
to earn money to help his family. That was the life of a miner's son. Fathers and
sons knew no other work.