Coal – The Suffering of Past Generations QOC
https://freevoice.io/coal-the-suffering-of-past-generations/
Yours truly has firsthand experience with the suffering of coal mines. My great grandfather died in the mines. His body was deposited on the family's front porch before dawn the next day.
The immigrants of the early 20th century were lured from their homelands to slave in the mines. Italy, Poland, Ireland, Czechoslovakia, and Lithuania, all had immigrants slaving in these pits of hell. The owners used their profits to build Newport mansions.
My parents knew of the company stores and breaker boys. I was surrounded by abandoned breakers growing up. I was warned by my parents to stay away from the culm banks as they could just swallow you up like quicksand.
The Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum is an arboretum of 13 hectares (32 acres), located at 101 Ferry Road, Bristol, Rhode Island, midway between Newport and Providence, Rhode Island, on Bristol Harbor with views over Narragansett Bay. It includes a mansion, with a 4 hectares (9.9 acres) lawn and over 300 species of woody plants in its arboretum and gardens, including both native and exotic species.
The Mansion and its grounds were established in the 1890s by Augustus and Bessie Van Wickle as their summer retreat. Augustus Van Wickle was from Hazleton, Pennsylvania, with a fortune in the coal-mining business and a donor of the Van Wickle Gates at Brown University.
You, me, Matt, and others have so much in common. My grandfather worked in the mine in Carbondale Pennsylvania, only about an hour away from where you grew up. Came there from Poland in the early 1900's to mine coal. Newport, I never really ever thought about those that profited from all this. Thank you for all that you do.
ReplyDeleteI remember touring Blithewold with my parents and hearing the history of how their money was made in the Pennsylvania coal mines. My parents and I just looked at each other. The pain and suffering of those that slaved in those mines was unreal. One of my neighbors when I was young just sat on his porch all day coughing and coughing having worked in the mines. I believe these immigrants including my ancestors were deceptively lured to leave their families and land to come here as a slave. It continues today. Even the concept of leaving your family and home to go to University is a novel concept over my lifetime. The enemy must divide us, separate us, and isolate us from our land and our traditions. Thanks for your kind comment. Nice to connect with a kindred spirit. Best regards, db.
DeleteI wonder if they were mining the left over resources from the old world buildings buried underground. Regardless, We had the same concept in my town but with agriculture, corn etc.. Whisky made many fortunes too. All within the same timeframe middle late 1800's. Somehow there were a group of people that knew how to take advantage of a large labor force.
ReplyDeleteVery much agree. There are definitely different types of entities in this realm. Those that know and those that don't. Thank you for your comment, best, db
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