Coal Towns, from The Mine Wars

Season 28 Episode 2

The realities of company-built towns for West Virginia miners.

West Virginia coal operators built small, company-owned towns for their miners to live in. The coal towns were almost always unincorporated; there were no elected officials, no independent police forces. Owners hired private detective agencies to watch over their workforce. Company towns were also untethered from the free market competition owners usually championed.

AIR DATE 1/26/16

Race and the West Virginia Mine Wars

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Coal Towns, from The Mine Wars

The Mine Wars, Chapter 1

About Mine Wars: American Experience

The story of small people going up against very big forces for a better nation. In the first two decades of the 20th century, coal miners and coal companies in West Virginia clashed in a series of brutal conflicts over labor conditions and unionization.

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