Detail View: Colorado Coal Project: Interview with Jack and Shine Miller (video part 2 of 3)

Colorado Coal Project

Interview with Jack and Shine Miller (video part 2 of 3)

Margolis, Eric, 1947-

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n00101170

McMahan, Ronald L.

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no94033808

Coal miners--Personal narratives

Labor disputes--Colorado

Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Colorado

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85128770

Coal mines and mining

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/865355

Coal mines and mining--Colorado

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh97002598

Columbine Mine (Weld County, Colo.)

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2005004870

Industrial Workers of the World

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/545991

Interviews

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1423832

The interview resumes on pg. 42 of pdf transcript; 10:00 -- Dangers of the mines, friends killed in mining accidents (pg. 47 of pdf transcript); 20:00 -- Early machines in mines, life in Erie and Lafayette, strikebreakers (pg. 53 of pdf transcript); 30:00 -- Ethnic groups in the mines, work as mine foreman, miners' pensions (pg. 58 of pdf transcript); 40:00 -- Exam to become fire boss, safety lamps (pg. 64 of pdf transcript); Transcript interrupted 50:00 -- Showing the interviewers around the mine; 60:00 -- Miners discuss machines used in the mines.

Segment Sequence

Interview of Jack and Shine Miller, two brothers who started mining in 1919 and 1924 in the Clayton mine in northern Colorado. They were "handloading coal" in the early 1920s and doing their own drilling, timbering, track laying, and shooting with black powder for 76 cents per ton. Expenses like the wash-house, blacksmith fees, and shooting supplies were deducted from their pay. Their pay was docked for rock found among the coal. Any training was informal, from older to newer miners. Mines were not yet unionized so bosses could give preference to certain miners. They unionized about 1932. Before the union, they often did un-paid, non-production work (such as retrieving rails after a cave-in). One brother (Jack) is now a mine boss, but abides strictly by the union contract. Shine was president of a union local in Erie, Colorado. In 1927, the Wobblies tried unsuccessfully to organize. During strike violence at the Columbine Mine, their friend Adam Bell was beaten; Jack was on the sidelines and witnessed the confrontation, and another brother was shot at. While they strongly favor the union, they admit that some union officials are overpaid and corrupt. They complain about the use of the Taft-Hartley Act. About 1938, handloading ended with the Shaker conveyor. Machine operators got $6.30 per day; the rest of the crew earned $5.75 per day. After about 5 years, that was replaced with the joy loader. They encountered "niggerheads" which according to author Elwood S. Moore in his book "Coal: Its Properties, Analysis, Classification, Geology, Extraction, Uses and Distribution" the term "niggerheads" was a locally applied term to a type of spherical, concretionary coal. Coal markets have changed: more people heat now with gas, and industrial users (such as Public Service) want fine coal. Coal mines often closed in the summertime. They tried hard rock mining during slack seasons. They also worked for the National Park Service, building trails in Rocky Mountain National Park, where they cut and peeled beetle-killed trees. They discuss the finer points of mule-driving and mice in the mines, as well as close calls and fatalities due to cave-ins. Coal towns like Erie and Lafayette, Colorado were an easy place to pick a fight and tough places to be a scab. Jack became a foreman and had to give up union membership. His work was steadier and less seasonal. He tried to volunteer for the Merchant Marine in WW II but was "frozen" in his mining job. They describe safety lamp operation and hand mining in the Morley mine because there was too much gas for machine operations. The interview concludes with a visit to an old mine site, where they explain using spragues to stop the wheels of coal cars. They review old mine signs and the names of former miners.

summary

University of Colorado Boulder Archives

Miller, Jack 1919-1989

Miller, Shine

1978-06-16

Moving image

video/mov

188-Miller.mov

https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/st3c4772g51p

English

Title: Interview with Jack and Shine Miller (transcript part 2 of 2)

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Erie (Boulder, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)

1919/1978

Colorado (United States, North America) (first order administrative divisions)