What kind of pay would Uncle Cyrus earn as a coal miner?
The
coalminers’ pay averaged $1.60 a day. The possible
working time in a year was around three hundred days because the mine closed
down in the winter. Coalminers
had to pay for their own tools and their own food. If an unmarried coalminer
ate his meals at the Blue Canyon Boarding House, most of his pay was spent on
his food and board. If a coalminer was married, he lived with his family in a
house. A married coalminer’s family was usually
large, and his pay was relatively small. Most of his pay
was spent on feeding his family.
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