In the early 1900s, young boys, forced by poverty and circumstance, risked their lives each day in mines across the United States, many of them working thousands of feet beneath the surface. Coal mining was closely linked to the Industrial Revolution - which continued into the early 20th century in America - as it was the energy generated from coal that powered the steam engines of the era.
As mining developed, it became an industry based less on manual pick-and-shovel labor, instead relying more on machinery - like the coal-cutting machines invented in the 1880s. Yet, while such inventions reduced the number of workers needed in the pits, for the men - and boys - left toiling underground, many hardships and dangers remained.
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