Illustrated and Designed by Lisa Greenleaf
ABOUT THIS AWARD WINNING BOOK
Colorado Coal Field
This is what life was like in a coal mining town in the early 1900s: children as young as eight years of age worked 12-hour days, six days a week. Men died in preventable accidents. If the work did not have to do with the actual harvesting of coal, the men were not paid. The pay they did receive was a type of fake money called scrip. It could only be used in stores owned by the coal company. Families were forced to live in shacks provided by the company. Many workers were immigrants, willing to take any job in order to make a living in their adopted country.
When coal miners decided they wanted a fair and safe working environment, mine owners refused. The only thing that might create a change was a fight. The fight went beyond arguments and skirmishes.
The fight became war.
