Clyne, Rick J.
Description
This study takes a fresh look into the lives of families living in the coal camps of southern Colorado between 1890 and the Great Depression. Historia
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n Rick J. Clyne examines the experiences of the men, women, and children who lived and worked in these isolated, company-dominated towns. With the dangerous nature of mining coal a daily reality, the fear of death and injury was pervasive—not only for the miners venturing into the earth day after day, but for their dependents as well.
Clyne reveals that a strong sense of community and tolerance existed in the camps, into which families journeyed from such far-flung locales as eastern and southern Europe to carve out a living. The shared immigrant experience—and the shared risks of mining—more often than not strengthened the bonds between both miners and families.
Coal People contains historic images of coal-town life culled from the collections of the Colorado Historical Society, as well as the author's own photographs of how several of these camps appear today.
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