| Between 1895 and 1925, coal mining was a major industry in southern and west-central Iowa. In 1895, 342 coal mines were operating in the state with a total of 6,863 miners. While the number of mines remained fairly constant over the next thirty years, the number of miners almost doubled. The industry reached its peak in 1917 when wartime demands provided Iowa's coal miners with full employment. By 1925, Iowa's coal mines total 354 with 11,241 miners employed.;Coal mining contained many drawbacks. It was a dirty, dangerous occupation with most miners working in cramped, poorly ventilated areas. Moreover, many miners found it difficult to secure full-time work because the industry as a whole was over-developed. The result was that coal miners frequently worked only three or four days each week. In Iowa, most operators sold their coal locally for heating; therefore, sales plummeted during warm weather. This practice required the men to look for temporary work and frequently resulted in summer employment in eastern industrial states.;Because most coal mines were located away from incorporated communities, many miners discovered that they and their families must reside in coal camps. Life in a Iowa coal camp imposed considerable hardships including poor housing, inferior and limited education, absence of social activities, and lack of religious facilities. Within the camps, women played significant social and economic roles. Most women took in boarders. Frequently women sold garden produce and dairy products. Census data and interviews with Italian-American women show that in some homes, women earned only slightly less through boarding fees than their husbands earned in the mines.;Even with numerous drawbacks, however, coal mining provided social and economic opportunities for a wide variety of people. Experienced miners from England, Wales, and Scotland found wages higher here than in their native lands. Italians quickly discovered that coal mining provided an immediate point of entry into American economic life. Most Italians coming to Iowa had little money or education. The coal mines provided an opportunity for immediate employment and an opportunity to live among fellow Italians.;From its inception the Iowa coal industry attracted many foreign-born people. Before 1900, English, Welsh, Scots and Swedes dominated the industry. After 1900, southern and eastern Europeans became more visible, particularly Italians. Other nationalities present in the Iowa coal fields were German, Irish, French, Austrian, Belgian, Hungarian, Danish, and Russian. Black miners also worked in the Iowa industry. In 1881, Iowa operators brought in blacks as strikebreakers, a practice they continued for thirty years. Gradually operators hired blacks as regular miners.;Iowa coal miners proved strong supporters of the United Mine Workers. Iowa miners organized District 13 in 1891. Iowa mining families lived healthier, happier, and more financially secure lives because of the accomplishments of District 13 officials. Union officials first concerned themselves with higher wages and shorter hours. By 1905, district leaders had turned their attention to social and economic issues that lay outside the miners' scope of work. Eventually miners' families acquired death benefits, hospitalization insurance, better housing, and improved schools because of efforts by District 13 officials.;The presence of the coal industry in Iowa strongly affected the state's economic and social history. Many foreign-born people settled in Iowa because of industrial opportunity provided by coal mining. Their presence contributed to the state's ethnic pluralism. The coal industry accounted for Iowa's second major industry, ranking only beneath agriculture. Because miners moving to Iowa brought along their zeal for trade unions, the United Mine Workers flourished in Iowa. The miners' union stands as the largest trade union in Iowa's history. |
