Progress and Improvements
Strengthened Laws and New Technologies
During the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century, hundreds of miners and other underground workers were victims of countless fatal accidents. In 1907, 362 miners were killed in one horrific coal mine explosion alone in West Virginia. More than 3,000 miners died that year, the largest total ever recorded in a single year. Annual mining fatality totals numbering in the thousands were not uncommon during the first decade of the twentieth century. Soon there were changes for the better. A combination of tougher mining laws and increased awareness of improved safety and health in mining among government, labor, and…
