Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster

5. The Mining Companies: The Early Years

5 THE MINING COMPANIES: THE EARLY YEARS Although not entirely completed, both the mining plant and the Monongahela Railroad from Fairmont began operation in the early months of 1890. In February, a contract agreement had been entered into with the Ohio Coal Exchange Company of Chicago and its subsidiary, Consolidation Coal & Mining Company, granting them the exclusive right to sell Monongah ’s coal west of the Ohio River for $.80 per ton. In March, the Monongah Coal & Coke Company began shipping coal. In the early years, the Monongah mines faced problems common to startup mining companies, wages principal among them. Camden had set the wage rate at $.17 per ton, counter to the prevailing rate of $.32 for cutting and blowing down and $.35 for breaking up and loading coal at Montana. The miners demanded $.25 of Camden, who claimed that the presence of the electric cutting machine had changed the nature of the work, making it less difficult and thus lowering the pay, neglecting to recognize that most of the work still had to be done by hand in the commonly practiced method. This wage dispute led to a strike within days of opening. The strike cost between $4,000 and $5,000, according to B. D. Spilman, general manager the mining companies 37 of the Monongah Coal & Coke Company, who described the progress for the six months from November 1, 1890, to May 1, 1891, in his May 20 report to President Camden. He considered the strike a net gain for the company as it had lowered the cost of mining $.05 per ton by reducing the miners’ wages. In addition, the contract with the Ohio Coal Exchange Company for 100,000 tons of coal allowed the company to mine and ship some 1,500 tons per day per mine, or 3,000 tons per day. Thirty percent, about one-third of the production, was going to the Monongah coke ovens before shipment. Although the company started the period with a $13,728.25 loss and had suffered a slow business period as well as a three-week strike, things were looking up.1 The general manager’s main concern was the shortage of houses to rent to miners. The company had only 119 houses while the company employed more than 500 men. Spilman recommended that at least 50 additional houses be built and that they be built much cheaper. Spilman suggested that “[a] house costing $325.00 will answer all requirements and bring $4.00 per month rent.” Basically, he was suggesting that in six years and nine months, the houses would pay for themselves.2 Finally, Spilman discussed the need for a bridge across the Monongahela River at Monongah. The river could not be forded for much of the year, and the ferry was too slow and tedious, which meant that the miners objected to living on the far side. A bridge would cost $15,000, and if the county would pay $10,000, it could be operated for free. If not, a toll bridge could be built and operated by the company.3 But almost immediately a railroad car shortage occurred, making efficient transportation of the mined coal difficult. The shortage was to be the single largest stumbling block to the company’s development and a reflection of a longstanding disdain by the B&O for the coal shipping market, despite the B&O’s executives’ financial interest in the Monongah venture. 38 chapter five By the early 1890s Monongah Coal & Coke Company became profitable, and the Ohio Coal Exchange contract was extended. A new contract was signed with the Lehigh Coal & Iron Company, which also operated in the Great Lakes.4 Camden continued to receive financial support from Standard Oil during his campaign for the United States Senate in 1881, and while serving as U. S. Senator continued to work on Standard Oil’s behalf. Henry Morrison Flagler, one of the original partners with Rockefeller in Standard Oil, was told by Camden in 1881, “Politics is dearer than it used to be—and my understood connection with the Standard Oil Co. don’t tend to cheapen it—as we are all supposed to have bushels.” That statement was followed by a request for “$10,000 in some turn-stocks or oil—Please keep an eye out and let me know.” When Camden next wrote to advise Flagler of his election to the United States Senate, he said, “I also appreciate sincerely the...