Reel
Coal Mining on a Budget aka "Steal This Coal Mine"
Clip#:
Audio:
501171_1_1
Yes
Year Shot:
Video:
1930
B/W
Master 1782 - Tape 1
LS crude coal mine & wood scaffolding. TLS white men working sluice-like coal chutes outside mine. Nice rear view MS three white male coal miners crammed into small, homemade wood cart entering coal mine; MS shirtless muscular white man leaning from jalopy car & holding cable attached to descending mine cart (rear wheel is used as a crude winch); CU "winch." MS white man dumping barrel of raw coal down chute. TLS white men shoveling coal along chute & onto truck. MS two white boys shoveling coal (child labor). TLS white men shoveling coal onto payload of truck. MS two white men climbing out of cart. VO: "Today the business of stealing coal has become a community enterprise. 25,000 men organized in crews of 4-12, using crude but effective homemade machinery, bring the coal to the surface. Other workers, both young & old, prepare it for market for $2-3 less per ton than legally mined coal."