Women in Early Alberta Mining Culture

Coal mining in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was an overwhelmingly male industry. Given that women were not part of the underground labour force, the image most often associated with women and coal mining is the anxious spouse, mother or daughter, waiting to hear the dreaded whistle that signaled an accident in the mines. Certainly this image reflects an important part of women’s experiences in Alberta’s coal industry. Interviews and memoirs offer clear and powerful evidence that such anxieties were felt on a daily basis, and also point to the ways in which women relied on each other for emotional support. Focusing exclusively on this dimension of women’s lives, however, overlooks the many important roles that women played in the growth and development of Alberta’s coal communities. Women were social reformers and political activists, and they made essential contributions to their

household economies and the cultural vibrancy of their towns.

Women were very active in charitable organizations and mutual aid societies throughout the province’s coal towns. Both Protestant and Catholic churches had auxiliaries that raised money for charitable causes and campaigned for social reform. Women also organized into mutual aid and service organizations that crossed the boundaries of religious difference. By 1917, for example, Coleman was home to branches of both the Daughters of Rebekah and the Pythian Sisters. These lodges were crucial spaces where women met, socialized, and hosted events that contributed to the social vibrancy of their communities. The Coleman Bulletin reported on December 20, 1918, that the town’s Pythian Sisters lodge had hosted a masquerade ball on a “brilliant moonlit evening” that “proved one of the social events of the season.”

More broadly, the lives and experiences of women in coal towns were very much shaped by the particular nature of the coal industry. The financial security of a working-class family, for example, was uncertain at best—accidents, illnesses, mine closures or labour disputes could disrupt the miners’ income, leaving the household short of money at any time. To provide extra resources for the household, working-class women often grew gardens, raised a few small farm animals, took in boarders, or worked odd jobs (teenaged or older daughters in the house would sometimes contribute by working as domestic servants for the town’s wealthier residents). Women also played an important role in the struggle for worker’s rights, particularly during the crisis years of the Great Depression. In the early 1930s, women organized auxiliaries to support the miners’ unions in Blairmore, Bellevue, Coalhurst, Canmore and other locations—in Blairmore, two Finnish women, Mary North and Anna Apponen, emerged as vocal labour activists and community leaders. When tension in the Crowsnest Pass boiled over into open conflict during

the bitter 1932 strike, women joined the front line demonstrations and protests.

On a darker note, the particular social environment of coal towns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries could leave women highly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Typical of other natural resource towns, the rough culture of coal communities was often marked by alcohol abuse and significant violence. Towns like Drumheller and Lethbridge were renowned for their red light districts with saloons and brothels. Some of these were run by women themselves; indeed, one of the most pervasive stereotypes

associated with brothels in this era is the flamboyant madam, at once a successful and intelligent businesswoman. Yet, while some women viewed sex trade work as an economic opportunity, compelling evidence from court and other records makes it clear that many others suffered abuse and violence. These problems were certainly not unique to coal communities, but they were heightened by the particular social and economic conditions of towns whose economies were based on natural resource extraction.