Many families in central and eastern Pennsylvania are descendants of European immigrants whose family roots are tied to the coal mining industry.

When coal was king during the 1800s, English, Welsh, Irish and German immigrants formed the bulk of the workforce. They were followed by Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Italian, Russian and Lithuanian immigrants.After finding employment in the anthracite fields, mining families influenced the ethnic character of towns throughout Luzerne and Schuylkill counties.The railroads that developed around the coal trade led to a golden age of economic growth in towns such as Lehighton and Mauch Chunk.While growing up, the massive coal breakers around Luzerne County provided the last vestiges of the hard knocks lifestyle of my immigrant ancestors.Recent news of the dismantling of the St. Nicholas Breaker in Mahanoy City brought mixed emotions.While King Coal was responsible for growing our local towns, the strong backs of men and boys carried much of the load.Mining deaths were common, and seemed to touch every immigrant family.Having lost an uncle to a mine electrocution, my family was more the norm than the exception when it came to funerals due to mining accidents.Some of the most haunting photographs of this era are found in the faces of the breaker boys who sat over a conveyor, sifting through the raw coal to separate sharp pieces of slate and other impurities.Once one load was picked through, another was dumped and processed by the boys.This went on all day for the boys in the breakers, some as young as 8 and 9 years old.Their most important job skill requirement was staying alert.The coal and rocks were sharp and easily sliced through fingers, often leading to infection.The conveyor belts carrying the coal were also a hazard, and losing focus could easily mean the loss of an arm or leg, and in a worst-case scenario, death.Having to constantly breathe in the thick clouds of black dust damaged the lungs, thus robbing many a young miner of his adult years.Like the massive structures that dominated the landscape of my youth, the St. Nicholas Breaker, once the largest coal breaker in the world, was one of the last great visual reminders of this harsh bygone era when coal drove America's industrial might.We're only about a century removed from the time when the coal breaker stood as the giant beehive at the center of our region's economic ascent.For us today, however, the idea of children working hazardous 12-hour shifts for about 60-70 cents a day seems like something out of the dark ages which, because of the all the black dust and grime clouding the atmosphere and destroying lungs, it literally was.By JIM ZBICKtneditor@tnonline.com