Mine War Site - Peabody Mine No. 8

Former site of Peabody Mine No. 8 in Tovey, IL which was active from 1914 to 1954.

Mass picketing occurred here during the mine war. The state militia intervened on behalf of the coal company and the United Mine Workers to break the picket line.

The Way Life Was

Earl Hutchison was a small boy during the mine war. He and his family lived in Tovey and Virden Illinois during the conflict. In his 2006 book, Growing Up On The Illinois Prairie During The Great Depression And The Coal Mine Wars: A Portrayal Of The Way Life Was, Dr. Hutchison recounts his experiences as a young boy living under the cloud of economic calamity and a violent labor war.

In this excerpt, Hutchison attempts to understand why as a six-year-old, he shot out the windows of the local mine owner as well as the perpetual violence that gripped the region:

“Perhaps part of my actions here and elsewhere stem from what I call 'resident' or 'landed' memories. The essence of a man or a woman, I believe, stems not only from their heritage and their actions but from the land they live on. The milieu they live in. If the land or the milieu has a history of turbulence and violence, that influence may be paramount: The consciousness it exerts on those living on that land, an endosymbiosis, cannot be dismissed as inconsequential.”

While Hutchison’s tome is a valuable oral history of the times, the publisher Edwin Mellen Press specializes in academic research works which will prevent this book from being affordable for many. (It's priced at $109.95) However, Hutchison and the publisher are to be commended for preserving a history that is too often ignored. And while the book may be out of personal reach, the local public or university library may very well be able to acquire a copy.