
The Mining Men
The Coal Workers of Cumberland
The development of the coal industry on Vancouver Island attracted people from all over the globe. Immigrants built their homes around the areas where work was available, forging their own communities, and creating a multicultural workforce. However, where there was inclusion, there was also alienation and persecution.

Who you were and where you came from had a significant impact upon your experience in the Cumberland mines.
White miners had the best opportunities and ability to climb the workforce ladder.

Beginning at first as a young lad working above ground at one of the picking tables, boys were a vital part of the workforce. Boys would often leave school as soon as possible to accompany their fathers to the mines to work and contribute to the family's income. They were a crucial part of the workforce. They were also cheap labour.
Labourers provided the ‘muscle’ in creating the mine's foundations. They dug tunnels, set timbers, and helped to lay tramway tracks both below and above the pit.
Hewers, known in Cumberland as ‘Contract Miners’, were digging up the coal itself and were at the top of the pit hierarchy. It would take years of experience to become a hewer but the pay, freedom, and status was worth it. Hewers were paid by weight of coal produced, would have the freedom to hire helpers under them, and to choose how many hours a day to work.
Young men underground were initially employed as trappers: assigned to open and shut the doors that kept the ventilation in the mine operating. As they moved up the ranks, they became helpers, who would assist the hewers by carrying buckets of coal amongst other tasks and mule drivers.

Cumberland miner, Daniel Morgan started his career as a labourer and became a mining engineer. After years of experience, he could gain industry-recognized qualifications and attain positions of seniority in the workforce.

During the time of colonial settlement and rampant industrial development on the Island, mining companies treated non-Europeans with a disposable attitude.
The Kwakiutl at Suquash, near Tsaxis (Fort Rupert) and the Snuneymuxw in Nanaimo mined the coal themselves and traded with the early Europeans settlers. They later negotiated the Europeans' direct access to it with treaties. But soon, the colony stopped making treaties and ignored the ones in place. Industrial companies took hold of the remaining coal seams on unceded territories.
Asian workers were segregated socially, economically and politically. They were not allowed to live in company housing, and they were paid a fraction of their white counterparts’ wage. Even during the ‘Boom Years’ of the coal industry in Cumberland, the Chinese and Japanese miners' pay didn’t improve.
The opportunities to progress through the workforce ranks were non-existent, they were not allowed to become contractors and were assigned unskilled and undesirable positions as labourers, helpers and mule drivers.


Chinese workers had a reputation for being the best mule drivers in the Cumberland mines. Prior to mechanisation, mules were introduced underground for haulage. They pulled heavy coal cars and performed jobs that would have taken dozens of labourers to perform.

Firebosses held a position of authority, they were responsible for all the safety checks before the men went underground. Checking that gas wasn't present at the working face was a top priority. At times canaries were brought underground to detect poisonous gases. Their rapid breathing meant that when exposed to dangerous gases, they would become agitated or sway in their cage, and—in particularly bad cases—die.
Miners knew conditions were unsafe when a canary showed these signs, and were signalled to stop work and evacuate the mine.

The hierarchical structure within the mining workforce had clear divisions. Considered the most valuable ‘employees’ in the workforce, in the event of a disaster, the mules were the first to be evacuated followed by the white miners, and finally the Asian workers.

Asian workers were often blamed for mining disasters and used as scapegoats in the press which ultimately led to aggressive and oppressive laws being added to the Coal Mines Regulation Act that prevented them from working underground. In Cumberland, the Canadian Collieries Co., paid the government fines and continued to employ Chinese miners underground.
Outside of the internal mine workings, additional barriers created greater inequalities and divisions among workers.
Although risking life and limb, Asian miners were excluded from the labour fight to provide better working conditions and the right to unionise. The use of Asian miners as strikebreakers strained social relationships with the white workforce and led to further racial slander in the years that followed.