Young Coal Miner (Alec Gannon) - Period 5. Industrial Revolution

Young Coal Miner (Alec Gannon)


It's dark. It's difficult to breathe. And we are injury prone. It's would say that this is all worth the change.  I want to do what a normal 12 year old boy would do, but I cant. That's not the reality of this situation. The reality of being a coal miner is that I am only 12 and I am already guessing how long I will live as a result of the coal dust destroying my lungs.The idea of mining is fairly new, not because I am only 12 years of age, but because of this Industrial Revolution. I have been told that miners will be revolutionary in innovating society and means of travel, and I have come to believe this as well. To say that my occupation, along with the entire Industrial Revolution, will positively impact many citizens is true, but to say it will positively impact coal miners is in no way true. The pay is not worth the working conditions that us miners must overcome. Abraham Darby decided to use coal rather than iron to smelt iron, and use this better-quality iron for parts of steam engines and bridges. Darby says that this new method of using coal with change the world, although I'm still not sure if that is worth seeing people die everyday while working. As Darby's ideas and the production of coal became more successful, more miners were hired. I usually work with the women, carting heavy carts of coal, or climbing ladders with baskets of coal. I yearn for the day that I can work with the men; I should be yearning for the day I can leave. I recently witness an explosion in which 11 people died, one of them being only 7 years old. Are these innocent children not too young to being involved in such a dangerous job? There remain children less than 10 years old being exposed to these gruesome deaths, yet we all continue to work. This Industrial Revolution clearly does not positively affect all of the people, as miners are traumatized, injured, and sometimes killed; although, what us miners do will benefit most.