Evening star., 1935-04-07
BY HELEN ELIZABETH DAVIS.

TAKE the road any day from
Philadelphia to Reading and
Pottsville and you will meet a
L stream of trucks loaded with
coal. First at intervals Of sew
eral miles, then in steady succession,
one after another, on they roar
trucks of every size, make and color.
A few of them are new, most of them
are in good condition, some obviously
have been trundling the roads for
many years. A number have home
built bodies Of rough boards. What
ever its age or condition. each truck
carries its broom or shovel stuck up
right in the lead. This is bootleg coal
coming to market in PottStown, Nor
ristown, Philadelphia, Chester, Will
mington, Baltimore and way stations.
Presently you lose all interest in the
landscape and begin to count brooms
and shovels. Twenty-Five, so, rs, as
your engine devours the miles. BY
the time you reach Pottsville the count
may easily rise to $50 or 100, while on
your side of the road you have been
contending with returning empties in
equal number
Make inquiries in Pottsville about
this bootlegging Of coal; drive through
the hills and valleys surrounding the
town. You will discover a drama
which turns the story Of Ali Baba and
the Forty Thieves into a mere child's
tale.
Pottsville lies on the southernmost
edge of the lower anthracite coal field.
1t is city built upon coal. physically
and financially. In the valleys round
about the town rise up the dark masses
Of coal breakers and mine tipples-
but today the breakers are silent, the
tipples empty; their machinery is rust
ing away. The mines are shut down.
The collieries of this field began to
close in 1927. BY 1880 one coal COM
pany had shut down II of its 13 opera
tions, concentrating production at two
huge new breakers. And so it went
on. At some coal properties. strip
ping and open pit mining were SUBJ
stituted for underground mining In
the stripping method the earth or rock
which overlies the coal seams is first
loosened with explosives and then re-
moved with power shovel. Then the
coal Is looSened in similar manner
and loaded into trucks. A power
shovel with a crew of Is men can dig
and load 300 tons of coal a day. An
underground mine producing 300 tons
a day would employ 100 men.
Jobs Lost by Thousands.
Thus thousands of miners have been
thrown out of their jobs. The great
majority have been unable to find any
other kind of work. In a mining
region there is no other kind of work.
But the coal is still there in the
earth. Moreover, it is comparatively
easy to get out. 1t lies in veins which
dip under the valleys and outcrop in
the hillsides. Occasionally the Coal
actually comes to the surface. BY
digging down 20 to 40 feet it is pos
sible to strike coal almost anywhere
along the base of many hills.
And unemployed miners to the num-
ber of 10000 or $4,000, it is estimated,
are digging. Practically all the coal
land in the anthracite district belongs
theless on their own initiative, in
groups Of two to five or ten, these
miners who have been out of work for
five years or more are mining coal on
the property Of the coal companies and
selling it in most of the towns within
a radius of $50 miles.
The colliery beside the highway is
deserted, but follow any one of the
numerous dirt roads back into the
scrub wood and you will find the
hillside teeming with activity. At 25
or 80 openings dotting the slope
miners are hoisting coal, screening it,
shoveling it into trucks. Loaded
trucks rumble off; empty ones take
their places. A Ford coach loaded
to the roof with mining supplies drives
in and toots its horn. The miners
tramp down to buy shovels, picks,
pick handles, explosives and other
supplies. A coupe arrives, drives
slowly the length of the hillside,
turns and comes back The two
men inside look closely at all that
Is going on. They are coal company
police. Work at the openings con-
tinues uninterruptedly.
Amazing as this spectacle Is, a few
figures are still more astounding.
Accurate statistics of such sporadic
production are, of course, impossible.
But the Anthracite Tri-District News,