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Bootleg coal mine accident, Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, PA, 1936.
flipFlip to Steel mill worker fighting to cross a picket line outside the Cambria Steel Mill, Johnstown, Pa. June 14, 1937.
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Policeman and miners stand at the entrance of a mine.

Credit: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives

The rugged ridges and valleys of the Pennsylvania anthracite region provided great cover for bootleg miners to dig the thousands of small clandestine mines that kept food on their tables. Bootleg mining, however, was extremely dangerous work, with accidents and mine collapses common.

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