Coal in Our Blood: 200 Years of Coal Mining in Nova Scotia's Pictou County

Description

146 pages
Contains Photos, Maps, Bibliography
$19.95
ISBN 0-88780-215-X
DDC 338.2'724'0971613

Year

1992

Contributor

Reviewed by Gerald J. Stortz

Gerald J. Stortz is an assistant professor of history at the University
of Waterloo.

Review

Judith Hoegg Ryan grew up in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, in a coal mining
family. Her father, a draegerman, was responsible for trying to rescue
his fellow workers when a mine caved in.

Most Canadians are somewhat familiar with mining disasters, such as
those in Springhill in 1958 or, more recently, the one at the Westray
Mine, which is detailed in the last chapter of this work. Ryan not only
chronicles the major mine disasters in the area; through anecdotal
biographies and historical accounts, she demonstrates that there is a
particular culture in the mining community. A good example is a
miner’s relationship with the much-loathed rat: “Rats were valuable
in the pit because they kept it clean by eating horse excrement, spilled
oats and scraps from lunch cans. Although some men never got to like
them, they all got used to living day by day with them. In fact one
examiner on night shift when the pit was not busy used to curl up and
sleep undisturbed by rats scampering over him.”

Readers should be forewarned that a book built on disaster after
disaster can be depressing. It is, however, very good social history.
The stark black-and-white illustrations seem to fit.

Citation

Ryan, Judith Hoegg., “Coal in Our Blood: 200 Years of Coal Mining in Nova Scotia's Pictou County,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed November 13, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/12661.