Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-11-17
THE MIXERS TROUBLES.
An Old Coal Digger Talks to a
Reporter.
How Mining Was Carried on Years
AgO---The Causes Of the Present
misunderstanding.

A hEGISTER reporter spproacneu u "eh
,nown coal miner, who is nov well up in
'ssrs, Yesterday, and asked to be enlight-
ned concerning the present difficulty be-
ween the coal operators and the miners.
1T would take a book TO hold what /
Know of this trouSls and the causes which
ed up 10 il" said the knight Of the pick.
I expect l can tell You better about it by
going back few years. AT least that
will enable you 10 understand things bet
Ter. Years ego, when there was no chutes,
screens, scales mule power nor iron
tracks-when powder was scarce, hard to
get and cost heap of money-muscle was
cheaper. Diggers, or miners, as We now
call them, then used picks, good steel
wedges, crow bar and lots of elbow
greess. There was no talk of crushed coal
then such "a you hear nov. Instead OF
hauling coal out for them with mules as is
done now, they put the harness on them
selves and hauled it out. II The miner was
digging run of The mine coal his bearing.
in slack had to De thrown back in the room
and
WAS HIS OWN,
to sell or give away as he choose. He was
allowed space on the platform if he wanted
to put it out If This employer wanted it he
could get il BY paying for it, the digger, OF
course, loading and hauling it out for
which he was paid. The coal thus made
and hauled OFT was cleaned ON
the platform By the purchasers of it, who
used the rake. II, however, The miner was
paid for clean coal. it was his duty 10 own
the rake and clean the coaizin The bank
before loading it. These were The phases
Of coal mining in those primitive days:
How long SINCE all this was chsDged3
"Well, | think somewhere 10 the ffties,
but many of the mines continued it later on
account of the expense ofPuttiDg III chutes
and screens.
"Abo1t what prices were paid for mining
in those dsysY
From seventy i've cents y Que dollar
and quarter per hundred bushels was
the ruling rates.
You speak Of q change.
"Ies the chutes snd screeus Esre invent.
ed to do the work of the rake, and BY them
the coal was
DIVIDED IyTU TWO GRADES
clean coal snd slack, ss it was at first
called Later second screen was put in
below the first to divide the slack again
into nut coal, aud slack or dust. This
last grade was considered worthless and
was thrown away for macy years at crest
expense to The operator he having TO keep
q man snd Team to do the
work, as it had 10 be hauled 10
some Dumping ground at a distance.
About this time powder began to loom up
ss factor in loosepiug coal for the
miner. Il took the place Of muscular
power, the wedges and the crowbsr, the
miner having no longer any interest in the
quality, as it was measure only that he
wanted. 1t vas to be dumped into the
chutes to 90 over the screen, and he cared
little whether it went over or through 1t
was measure be got his pay for, ana that
before il reached tie chptea and screens.
The more that went through the better, as
it would take more cars to be dug or shot
out 10 give The quantity required. He aid
not even go out with it 10 sec what be.
came Of i; be cid0t have to, don't you
see. Thus matters stood, we heIs in Wheel.
ing drifting along jast little behind, but
up in the wake Of the larger
fields OF operations in the coal industries,
until the year 1868, when
a RADICAL cHAEsE
wss brought about by The city authorizes
passing an ordinance compelling all coal
sold in this city to be weighed and sold at
80 pounds to the bushel, prior to which
coal was sold as we'll as dug by measure
The introduction of this weighing system
the operator 10 stand for the
shortages of the miners. IF they sent out
oaly II, Is or IS bushels OF coal for TWEEN
ty fTe it had to be made good with other
coal before weighmssters certificate
could be got to cell it, for it could not be
sold without such certificate. Here there
vas new source Ct trouble, which Pitts
burg and all other points where coal MIN.
ing and selling was carried on extensively,
met at once BY having their coal mined BY
weight 1t has prevailed ever since NOT
only at Pittsburg, but has spread sill
over the country until now at every
oWp, city sGd balmet where coal
8 miced and use1, it ia mining by weight
Wheeling and Wheeling operators we're the
Ast 70 asa for the scales
When did they begin2'
None Of them longer than one yssr
IgO; some Ct them only few weeks ago
That brings US TO the present strike.
"You think it "ss q dire necessity that
lrova the operators to it,
u DO most undoubtedly. So long as
hey we're able to bold the market against
outside or foreign coal the coal operators
,ore
THE ILLS OF THE sCHUTEs And SCREENS
themselves rather than ask the miners to
hare with them. The lion ives bearded il |
is own house Mouudsville, Short Creek |
TellsbuTg, the miners on the Wheeling
& Baltimore railroad all come
talking in to divide the trade with them
md ell because they could sfford to, be-
ause Of the advantages the scales gave
hem over US; there was bat one remedy,
nd that wss the scales. We have asked
,r and got the scales and intend to use
hem, notwithstanding this strike against
lem. If miners at the above named
lsces, as we'll as everywhere else, can
ork by them, we ask ours 10 do likewise
'e will pay as much ss is paid anywhere
se for the work; in fact, are Offering Q
tile mote than any OF the places named"
What do you expect to accomplish, If
IN succeedH'
"All we ask is that our coal may be
lined as it is on the Monopgahela river
"a nAlonAi