The pits at Coalgate

Oklahoma · USA · Mine

The town filled with men from across Europe who came to dig coal. When the workings gave way they became strip pits, and some of them have never been.

Coalgate, Oklahoma was a boom town at the turn of the century, and the people who filled it came from Italy, Poland, Wales, Mexico and half of Europe to work underground.

When the mines gave out, what was left were strip pits. Some of them are so deep that nobody has established the bottom.

A claim circulates that the pits were used by criminal organisations from the east coast to dispose of people. Nothing supports it and it should not be repeated as fact, though it attaches itself to deep water everywhere in America.

What is documented is worse in its ordinary way. Oklahoma coal mining in that era killed men constantly, in explosions, roof falls and gas, and the immigrant labour that did the digging was cheap and easily replaced.

The pits are private land, unfenced in places, and extremely dangerous.

FAQ

Hvor ligger The pits at Coalgate?

The pits at Coalgate ligger i Oklahoma, USA.