Essay about Technology and Society

In 1907, two miles south of Centralia, Illinois was the Centralia Mine No. 5. The Mine was there to provide coal during World War II. This particular mine employed 250 men and produced 2,000 tons of coal each day. During the next several years there were several complaints made regarding the safety of the mine. On March 25, 1947, the mine exploded, killing 111 miners. (Stillman, 2010)

Although company towns were most closely associated with the coal mining industry it should be noted that they existed in a number of other industries. For example, Homestead, Pennsylvania was a company town situated next to the Homestead Steel Mill. Similarly, Pullman, Illinois was a company town for workers employed at the factory that produced Pullman railroad cars. Because of large and persistent labor struggles associated with the coal industry the focus of interest, both historical and scholarly, has been on coal company

To begin with, large corporations own a lot of the coalfields in Appalachia and majority of these corporations are predominately-based outside of the regions that they mine in and so a lot of the money that they make does not stay in the state or the communities in which the main production takes place. In West Virginia where most of coal production takes place, there is no economic diversification and the only thing that is left is employment in the mining factories, which is becoming less and less. This has caused a lot of people to migrate from the region to other places in search of jobs and a livelihood. Large corporations started gaining interested in the region very early before the locals

“The coal industry has helped fuel this nation for 150 years, and coal can be used to heat our homes, power our economy, and protect our nation for at least another 150 years if we continue to use it.”- Tim Murphy. Coal has an interesting history in West Virginia, which has contributed significantly to the improvement and livelihood of West Virginians since its first discovery, which is now Boone County in 1742 by Peter Salley, more than a century before West Virginia, became a state. The coal industry has played a major role in the state’s economic, political and community history. The industry has also been a center of debate and the impact of unfounded criticism, giving rise to battles in the arenas of labor, environment and safety.

In the book, “The face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century”, (2005), discusses different elements towards the economic crisis of the capital and labor, local businesses, redevelopment of agencies, and state and federal governments. Dublin and Licht pounder upon the remarkable range of sources including oral histories, documentary photographs, records of coal companies, and community newspapers. The authors observe the effect of the economic decline across a wide region but mainly focuses on a small group of mining communities in specific regions. Also, the authors place the anthracite region within a broader framework,

Nowadays, coal is still one of the greatest used energy to generate power in so many countries. Using coal in electricity generation is 93% in South African, 87% in Poland, 79% in China, 78% in Australia, 45% in USA, 41% in Germany, 58% in Israel etc. (Coal & Electricity) From the data above, even the developed countries use coal to generate power as the main source. In many developed countries, energy generation is still based on coal as a long-term source. In recent years, although there is an increasing number of equipment using gas and wind to generate the power, it is still lower than the proportion of coal-fired power generation. The reason why most countries choose coal as a main source to generate electricity, is that there are many advantages in using coal to generate electricity. First of all, coal is the

The Blast in Centralia No.5: A Mine Disaster No One Stopped by John Bartlow Martin is a thorough, and at times, exhaustive, journalistic investigation into Illinois state administrative-mechanisms, state administrators, the gubernatorial administration, the Coal Mines Administration (CMA), and Federal/state politicians surrounding the events leading up to the deadly central Illinois coal mining disaster – two years after the end of the Second World War. Martin leaves no administrative-process rock unturned. His methodical and detailed analysis gives the reader a sense of connection, understanding, and sympathy for the coal miners that are vital for Martin’s message to be grasped.

The Philadelphia Smelter was a million dollar investment built in 1881 on the shores of the Big Wood River. During the Silver Boom of the 1880s, the Philadelphia Smelter processed the majority of the ore mined in Central Idaho, and was the Valley’s largest employer. Yet its reign lasted only a decade, and its rise and fall mark the boom and bust of the Wood River Mining Era

The Pennsylvania economy has been dominated by coal and steel in the past with more recent growth in services making up for the reductions in manufacturing (City Data 2010).

Western Virginia and the Appalachian Plateau have an abundance of coal in their land. Mostly it is from million year old decomposed plant materials that have created 76 distance coal beds; about half of these are currently being commercially mined. Two fifths of the coal produced in VA is exported out of state. The remaining coal is used to produce energy in local coal burning power plants. Locally sourced coal makes up a little bit over 37% percent of all of Virginia’s power (Sites, 2014).

Before 1890 in West Virginia, you would not be able to see any signs of coal mining. However, after 1890 coal mining surged due to new legislative representatives favoring the use of land in an industrial sense. Coal mining was now dominating the southern region of West Virginia. In the beginning, coal mining did not seem to have many effects on the people or land; but, eventually people became very aware of the negative consequences that came from coal mining. People are now aware that coal mining in West Virginia was almost entirely detrimental to the environment as well as the community.

The history of company towns in the coal industry is not a good one. Mine owners and managers showed little sympathy for the coal miners and being the company owned the town, the miner’s wages all went back into the company.

After many coal mines were abandoned they were left unstable. Then after the mines were forgotten about, houses and towns were built above or near the abandoned underground mines. The mines would collapse causing damage to the above ground urbanization. Also coal is the biggest air polluter in the U.S. and causes much harm to the

I strongly believe that people should be educated about the December, 1907 3,000 coal mining deaths. In 2001 there were 42 coal mining deaths. All these deaths meant wives loosing husbands and sons. These deaths cause the lost of the bread winners in many house-holds; which, would later add to poverty and single parents.

Coal, a mineral I have discussed previously, is necessary to our everyday lives. Coal is an incredible source of energy; it heats our houses and buildings, and also fuels stoves. You may often wonder where this extremely useful mineral comes from. Coal does not just appear; it needs to be mined through a process which results in our being able to utilize it. Coal mining is fairly inexpensive, is carried out on a large scale and can be mined in either underground or surface mines.