Women in the Hanna Coal Mine
Page by Bob Leathers
1940's: A few women worked in the Union Pacific Coal Company's No. 2 Mine at Hanna during World War II due to labor shortages. The women were allowed to work in the tipple picking slate but were not allowed underground.
1973: Women nationally started working in underground coal mines.
1970's: Barb Boam from Hanna was the first documented woman in the Hanna Basin to work in an underground coal mine. She worked in Hanna for The Energy Development Company. Other women pictured below followed her underground at Energy. Her work was documented by George Lindblade, a photographer for the Iowa Public Service Company, the owner of Energy.
1970's: Barb Boam from Hanna was the first documented woman in the Hanna Basin to work in an underground coal mine. She worked in Hanna for The Energy Development Company. Other women pictured below followed her underground at Energy. Her work was documented by George Lindblade, a photographer for the Iowa Public Service Company, the owner of Energy.
The Coal Mines Act 1842
In 1841, 2,350 women were employed in United Kingdom (England, Wales and Scotland) coal mines – in a variety of roles. Although women are often thought to have only worked at the surface of mines, women did in fact often hold roles that required them to work underground, before this became illegal in 1842. In 1842, the Coal Mines Act banned females of any age from working underground and required boys who worked underground, to be no younger than ten years old. This law was in response to an inquiry, which was ordered by Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria ordered the inquiry after an accident at the Huskar Colliery in Barnsley, in 1838. After violent thunderstorms, a stream overflowed into the mines ventilation system and caused the death of 26 children – some as young as 8 years old.
Lord Ashley headed the inquiry in 1840 and revealed that girls and women that worked in mines with boys and men, wore trousers and worked bare-breasted. This shook the prudish Victorian society and resulted in women being banned from working underground, not because of safety but because ‘it made girls unsuitable for marriage and unfit to be mothers.
Women were not allowed to work underground in mines in the United States until the Employment Act of 1989 replaced sections of the Coal Mines Act 1842 and the Mines and the Quarries Act of 1954 (which also prohibited this type of work for women). 150 years after their ban, women were once again allowed to work underground. (mrs.co,.uk)
More at: The Energy Development Company
Barb Boam is thought to be the first woman to work inside an underground coal mine in Hanna. (George Lindblade Collection)
Barb Boam and another unknown worker loading supports for the underground mine. (George Lindblade Collection)
Barb Boam on the left standing and Tom Olivas driver of the mining machine. (George Lindblade Collection)
Women Underground Miners - Mary Eckenrod on the left and Unknown Women on the right (George Lindblade Collection)
Unknown Woman Underground Miner (George Lindblade Collection)
Unknown Woman Underground Miner (George Lindblade Collection)
18. Joy coal loading machine (George Lindblade Collection)
A CM12 Joy Continuous Miner. (George Lindblade Collection)
JEEP TRANSPORT IN AND OUT OF THE MINE. (GEORGE LINDBLADE COLLECTION)
Women Working in the Coal Mines of America | Our Life
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