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694 stories matching miner
- Roslyn Miners End a Three-Month Strike — and Return to the Pits at a 20 Percent Cut
After a bitter walkout against the Northern Pacific Coal Company, the miners of Roslyn vote almost unanimously to accept reduced wages and go back to work — a surrender that some say was hastened when a handful of Black miners from Franklin were brought in to take their places.
- Too Late to Surrender: Roslyn's Miners Are Locked Out and Blacklisted
After three months idle, the white miners agreed to the company's brutal 30-percent pay cut — only to learn the Northern Pacific Coal Company had already imported Black strikebreakers from the East and would rehire only the men it chose.
- The Rifle War: Knights of Labor vs. Mine Owners in Newcastle
A bitter feud between rival labor unions in King County erupts into armed conflict, with rifles smuggled from Seattle to support striking miners.
- The Miners at Cedar River Take a Stand
When management ignored their ultimatum to discharge Chinese laborers, the miners at the Cedar River coal mines walked off the job in a confrontation that tested the limits of labor power in 1885.
- Miners Urged to Revolt Against the Northern Pacific Land Grab
The Spokane Mining Review calls on miners across a million acres of mineral-bearing land to file protests before the railroad locks up the ground under them forever.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety
An 1894 coroner's jury in Franklin, Washington, heard how a small fire in the Oregon Improvement Company's coal mine became a wall of smoke — and why the men who could have escaped stayed to fight it.
- Roslyn Coal Strike: Company Threatens to Import Black Strikebreakers
As the 1894 coal strike drags on, Roslyn miners refuse a 20 percent pay cut. The company’s answer: import Black workers from Chicago to break the union, a move that would reshape the town.
- The Race War in Roslyn: How Seattle’s Coal Mines Became a Battleground for Labor and Lynching
As strikers hold the line, the company imports Black miners from Illinois to break them. The result is not just a labor dispute, but a violent racial confrontation that exposes the dark underbelly of Washington's industrial boom.
- The Sheriff Who Wouldn't Shield the Strikers: A Labor Standoff in Newcastle
When a coal mine strike erupted in Newcastle, King County, Sheriff Cochrane refused to protect workers willing to cross the picket line, sparking a public confrontation with the mine superintendent and accusations of union intimidation.
- The Coal Creek Massacre: A Coroner’s Inquest into the Battle Between Knights of Labor and Mine Owners
In January 1890, Seattle Sheriff Cochrane deployed militia to Newcastle to suppress a miners' strike. When a riot erupted at Coal Creek, one man was killed and ten arrested. The subsequent coroner's inquest revealed a chaotic scene where union men claimed self-defense against armed mine owners, while the sheriff dismissed the Knights of Labor as 'too excitable.'
- The Mine That Stood Still: How One Man’s Leave Sparked a Labor War in Newcastle
A dispute over a fired miner named Kenny Ramsay has shut down the Newcastle coal mines, pitting the Knights of Labor against the company and threatening to flood the pits if arbitration fails.
- A Trainload of Black Miners Arrives in Roslyn — to Find the Strike Already Broken
Two hundred seventy Black miners and their families came from the Midwest to replace striking Northern Pacific coal miners. By the time they arrived, the white miners had returned to work.
- The Ledger of Grief After Franklin
Roslyn miners pledged their September pay while Franklin’s relief committee set monthly sums for widows and orphans—and the veteran mine superintendent broke down.
- Twenty-Three Miners Died. An Old Miner Blamed the Air.
After an explosion at Blue Canyon in Whatcom County killed 23 men, a veteran miner wrote to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the mines were not properly ventilated—and that inspectors and bosses ignored miners who knew better.
- The Labor Volcano That Cooled: Seattle’s Coal Strike Ends in Days
A walkout by the Knights of Labor at Newcastle and other local mines appeared to be a major escalation, but operators quickly filled the spots with non-union labor, ending the dispute before it could spark a general strike.
- A Coal Company's Strikebreaker Gambit in Roslyn
A Northern Pacific manager admits the company is importing Black miners from the East to break the Roslyn coal strike—and hints the miners' refusal of a pay cut left him no choice.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- Thirty-Seven Dead at Franklin: Seattle Rallies for the Widows of a Mine Disaster
A day after an explosion killed thirty-seven coal miners in the Franklin pit, the Post-Intelligencer opens a relief fund for the widows and orphans left behind — pleading with readers that the miners' own generosity cannot stretch far enough.
- Roslyn’s Miners Stood Together—and the Company Looked to Strikebreakers
When 650 Northern Pacific Coal Company workers refused a contract cut in July 1894, the company prepared to bring in Black miners under guard. In Roslyn, a home guard was already drilling.
- The Kaiser’s Radical Solution for Mine Safety
A Tacoma newspaper looks to Germany to argue that recognizing labor unions makes mines safer and more efficient for everyone.
- A Labor Editor Called a Traitor for Backing the Wrong Candidate
The Miners' Magazine accused Everett's Labor Journal of betraying the working class by supporting Miles Poindexter. Editor E. P. Marsh answered with a defense of practical politics—and a few insults of his own.
- A Town Buries Its Miners
Funeral services for the Blue Canyon mine disaster dead fill Bay View cemetery as a coroner's jury begins asking whether enough air—and enough regulation—reached the men underground.
- The Newcastle Lockout: When Knights of Labor Shut Down the Mine
A bitter dispute over union recognition and foreman selection turned violent in Newcastle, Washington, as miners refused to work under non-union leadership and arrested rioters.
- The Tacoma Gold Rush That Was Salted With Quicksilver
A mining journal exposes how placer claims on Tacoma school land turned a public trust into a speculative jackpot—complete with imported gold, alleged bribery, and a land office that kept saying yes.
- The Gold Rush to Ruby Creek
A local merchant receives a singular order for gold scales from miners in the North Cascades, signaling a major mineral boom on the Upper Skagit.
Also about this, in other words
- Miners Organize Amidst Industry Turmoil
As labor strikes ripple through coal operations in Pennsylvania, miners at the Northern Pacific Coal Company in Roslyn formally organize under the United Mine Workers of America.
- The Miner’s Dignity: When Newcastle Stood Against the Clock
A tense standoff at the Newcastle coal mines reveals the human cost of industrial efficiency and a worker's refusal to be 'watched like a slave.'
- Roslyn Coal Miners Vow to Fight a 20 Percent Wage Cut
A mass meeting near Roslyn finds miners from Wilkeson, Franklin, and the Eureka and Navy camps ready to organize under the United Mine Workers — and unwilling to swallow a pay cut without a fight.
- The Newcastle Mine Riot
A bitter dispute over a 'breast' of coal at the Newcastle mines escalated into a violent confrontation between the Miners’ Union and the Knights of Labor, leaving one man dead and many injured.
- The Black Diamond Strike: When a Single Wage Dispute Paralyzed 350 Miners
A local labor assembly ordered a halt to production at the Black Diamond coal mine after a miner was paid as a laborer despite working underground. Company agents claim ignorance of the cause, but the men stand firm.
- The Bitter Coal Mine Split at Newcastle
Striking miners clash over wage negotiations and internal divisions, leaving the community at a standstill.
- Miners Plunge 70 Feet in Mine Shaft Accident
A broken signal wire leads to a terrifying fall for two miners working at the Oakdale coal mine near Franklin.
- The Tragedy of Mine No. 4
A longtime coal miner is crushed by a sudden roof collapse in Newcastle, leaving behind a family and a history of loss.