“They’re going to bomb us!” (Mine Wars, Part 3)

The West Virginia Mine Wars were a series of armed conflicts between coal mine operators and employees in the Mountain State. The first episode was about the conditions in the West Virginia coal fields in the years leading up to the Mine Wars. The second episode discussed Paint Creek and Cabin Creek strikes that ended in 1913. For several months, the nation’s attention was focused on the war raging across the Atlantic. West Virginia was the second largest producer of the coal needed to fuel steel mills and Navy ships. The higher demand for coal, along with the labor shortage, lead to an increase in miners’ wages. But the increases were not permanent, and many of the issues that had sparked the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek strikes remained. And the violence returned. It culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest armed insurrection in United States since the Civil War.