Western Federation of Miners

“ Hodges, the General Secretary of the Miners’ Federation, in one of his numerous speeches in favour of the nationalisation of the mines, declaring that what they demanded was “a new status for the worker as a controller of his industry. Miners were not anarchists, although they had the power to be. ”

“ Towards the end of 1896 it was decided to join the Miners' Federation. The information was sent to Mr Ashton, the secretary of the Federation, and the application was accepted. Then arose the question as to the meaning of Object 5:
"To seek and obtain an eight hours' day from bank to bank in all mines for all persons working underground." ”

“ A formal alliance had been made between the Miners' Federation, the National Union of Railwaymen, and the Transport Workers' Federation commonly referred to as the Triple Alliance when everything was suddenly changed by the breaking out of the Great War. The 1500 colliery companies and individual colliery owners, most of whom are united in the Mining Association of Great Britain, as well as in district associations, have, throughout, steadfastly refused to meet the Miners' Federation for the negotiation of any national agreement, or the concession of national advances ”

“ By the custom which has obtained among miners in the Pacific States and Territories, where mining for the precious metals is had on the public lands of the United States, the first appropriator of mines, whether in placers, veins, or lodes, or of waters in the streams on such lands for mining purposes, is held to have a better right than others to work the mines or use the waters. ”

“ THE mining industry is assuming such remarkable proportions - in Western Australia that the administration of the Mining Department becomes more and more difficult. A few years ago, although minerals were known to exist, their production was so limited that they had very little influence over the colony's prosperity. But a wonderful change has taken place. To-day we have substantially the eyes of the world attracted as by a magnet to the mineral fields of the colony. Mines exist over immense areas, and nearly every day their number is being added to. ”

“ This note may be added, that at the commencement of the Association it was embracive of all sections of labour in and about the mines. Before we had been long in existence there was a desire for the formation of separate organisations, as it was felt that there were certain peculiarities connected with the other occupations which the miners could not technically deal with. The first to leave were the enginemen, then followed the mechanics, and then the cokemen at the end of 1874. ”

“ Having to deal with mining matters he has made himself thoroughly acquainted with the technicalities of the mine, and is most desirous for the success of the business which is placed in his hands. No member of the Durham Miners' Association has more regard to its welfare and prosperity than has the miners' solicitor and advocate. ”

“ It is the policy of the country to encourage the development of its mineral resources. The act of July 26, 1866, declared that all mineral deposits on lands belonging to the United States were free and open to exploration, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase by citizens of the United States and those who had declared their intention to become such, subject to regulations prescribed by law, and to the rules and customs of miners in their several mining districts, so far as the same were applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States. ”

“ The return horse is a result of the necessities of mountain sections, especially the needs of miners. Most Western mining-towns are located upon a flat or in a gulch. The mines are rarely near the town, but are on the mountain-slopes above it. Out of town go a dozen roads or trails that extend to the mines, from one to five miles away, and 116 much higher than the town. A miner does not mind walking down to the town, but he wants to ride back; or the prospector comes in and wants to take back a few supplies. The miner hires a return horse, rides it to the mine, and then turns the horse loose. ”

“ The isolation and transitory character of the mining towns made the miners almost completely dependent upon the owners of the mines not only for homes but also for tools and powder; all their mining, as well as their household, supplies. To this day in the non-union fields of West Virginia the operators finance and control, not only the stores, but the schools, the hospitals, the doctors, the churches, and the police. ”

“ Apart from State acquisition of the minerals, about which there can surely be no question, these suggestions merely develop tendencies and organisations already existing within the industry. They involve no leap in the dark, such as has been attributed by some to nationalisation of the whole industry, and they provide for great flexibility and experimentation. The fact that the official spokesmen of neither miners nor colliery-owners may like them need not deter us. ”

“ Although the occupation of smelting the copper above ground is, as may well be imagined, unhealthy enough, the labour of getting it from the mine (by blasting the subterranean rock in the first place, and then hewing and breaking the ore out of the fragments) , seems to be attended with no bad effect on the constitution. The miners are a fine-looking race of men—strong and well-proportioned. ”

“ Railways were opened to Southern Cross and to Mullewa; the area of the goldfields was greatly extended, and was reckoned to be 224,900 square miles; machinery was erected on numerous mines; seventy mining companies were registered in Western Australia, and not less than 100 with a minimal capital of £8,415,000 in London, to work local mines; and the mining industry became so important that it was found necessary to separate its administration from the Lands Office, and to establish a separate department with a separate staff. ”

“ His proposal was met by fierce opposition in all the mining districts, both exporting and non-exporting, but in none more than in Durham. Employer and employed united in opposing it. To such an extent was this joint action carried that the pits were all laid idle for the purpose of affording the workmen an opportunity to hold mass meetings. In a circular issued on April 22nd the Executive Committee informed the lodges that they intended to hold seven simultaneous meetings, and to join the Northumberland miners on the Town Moor, Newcastle. In the circular they said:
The occasion is important. ”

“ In the Reading mines, the proportion of coal mined per miner fell one-eighth. It is part of a bad system of over-manned mines under which miners try to distribute work. Output was reduced and wages increased. The result was that the miners were without the responsible control of a big union, and the railroad managers and operators irritated by small strikes and ready for a fight. ”

“ As this was the first united meeting in a series which has been for the benefit of all concerned it will be interesting to place on record the letter from the employers inviting the representatives of the Miners' Association to meet them. Of course, the employers were made aware of the desire amongst the people for this and other reforms, and that knowledge induced them to arrange matters amicably if possible. Another thing was in favour of the workmen: not only was their Union gathering strength, but the state of trade was in their favour. ”

“ Scattered throughout the region are small mines, and also abandoned mines that were worked in the seventies, eighties, and nineties, when on nearly every lonely creek some miner patiently washed the gravelly sands for gold. Today most of the mining is in hardrock, although some small-scale placer operations are being carried on. Cutting across US 395, State 22 continues northeast along the east bank of the Columbia, which here cuts a tortuous channel through granite and other hard rocks to Northport and the Canadian Line. ”

“ The lodes in the Cornish tin and copper mines are divided by shafts and galleries into rectangular compartments, called ‘pitches.’ These are open to the inspection of all the labouring miners in the county, and, by an admirable system, each ‘pitch’ is let by public competition, for two months, to two or four or more miners, who may work it as they choose. These men agree to break the ores, wheel them, raise them to the surface, and bring them (if desired) into a fit condition for the market. ”

“ It may be said, however, that the mines were chiefly held by small local companies working on very limited capital, with the inevitable consequence that when trouble of this kind was met with there were no funds available for the prospecting and deadwork necessary to relocate the broken ore-shoots, and little effort was made in this direction. Apart from that, the conduct of mining operations was usually in the hands of men who, while good practical miners, had no special training in geological observation, and were thus ill equipped for the carrying-out of the search to advantage. ”

“ Mining Interests.—The mining interests of the Western States should be the most urgent in the demand for care and protection of the forests under Government direction. Upon the abundance or scarcity of timber will depend the development of many mining enterprises, and through them the advance or retardation of the growth of the State in which they are situated. That scarcity of timber will limit mining is without question, unless the mines are sufficiently rich to pay the added cost that transportation from a distant source of supply will entail. ”

“ When men are hurt in the mines the companies always render them assistance and they are also assisted, if long disabled, by their comrades. There are three Miners’ Unions, one at Virginia City, one at Gold Hill, and the third at Silver City, the object of which is the protection of the interest of the working miner and the keeping up of wages to the standard of four 440dollars per day—eight hours. ”

“ They would arrive with a full supply of provisions, utensils, &c., but being disappointed, there would be no alternative but to sell out, as their provisions could not be drawn up the mountain. To-day a man arrives who has prospected throughout the southern mines without success, and fallen in with a report that has brought him to this point. Miners who are successful say nothing about it, but those who are not, are generally fond of making an impression. ”

“ Otherwise they can be employed only as wagoners drawing the ore to Tarascon.
The earliest mention of these mines is in a charter of the Count of Foix in 1293. For centuries the counts found the utmost difficulty in levying a toll on the iron carried out of the valley; the miners exercised their ingenuity in evading it, and overriding all the restrictions hampering their industry. Unhappily, for many hundred years the mining was not carried on by companies, but by individuals who grubbed where they would and carried on the works in the most wasteful manner. Now the veins of ore are giving out ”

“ In a short time the mining population at that point amounted to something like two hundred, of whom one hundred and fifty were well armed, fearless and experienced men. The presence of such a party was far from pleasing to Mangas Colorado and his band, as they claimed exclusive proprietorship to that whole region, which was their main fastness. They also regarded the miners as the legitimate successors of the Boundary Commission, with whom they had. ”

“ As their open trenches and pits could be worked only in the summers, and by methods that made their operations much slower than those of modern miners, no great advance of their work was possible during the working time of each season; and yet remains of their mining works have been discovered wherever mines have been opened in our day; and, as previously stated, they are known to exist in heavy forests, where the modern mining works have not yet been established. ”

“ There were some of the lodges who refused to carry out the eleven hours' arrangement, and with a view to induce them to do so the following circular was issued:—
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE DURHAM MINERS' ASSOCIATION
Fellow-workmen,—In the inauguration of any new system, difficulties always occur; whether these difficulties are easily overcome, or otherwise, will much depend on the manner and extent to which men, or classes, are affected thereby. As a matter of consequence, we have found these difficulties amongst ourselves in putting into operation the new "Mines Regulation Bill." ”

“ In the mines especially, where the amount of their daily work, and the loads they are capable of sustaining, have excited the astonishment of every one who has paid the slightest attention to the subject. The stoutest of the Cornish miners who accompanied Captain Head in his visit to the mine of San Pedro Nolasco, was scarcely able to walk with a load of ore which one of the natives had with apparent ease brought out of the mine upon his shoulders, whilst two others of the party who attempted to lift it were altogether unable to do so, and exclaimed that it would break their backs. ”

“ A few years ago the number of tin mines worked in Cornwall amounted to 139, and to 26 in Devonshire; and about 20,000 persons were employed in them.
Although the wages of the miners are much inferior to those of the pitmen in the northern coal-fields, yet they have advantages over their brethren, being exempted from many of the evils to which the northern miners are subjected. They have no fear of the fatal fire-damp or sudden explosions. Intellectually they are also superior, as they are mostly engaged in work requiring the exercise of mind. ”

“ Farther east, in the vicinity of the Cliff and Central Mines, they are also abundant; and it would seem, from the circumstance of their being invariably found in the pits, that the law among the ancient miners was similar to the one adopted by the adventurers in California a few years since, who established their claims by leaving their tools upon the land or in the pits where they were digging for gold. ”