Customer Reviews

A Mile Deep and Black as Pitch: An Oral History of the Franklin and Sterling Hill Mines

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever lived in Franklin or the surrounding vicinity, especially those who lived there in the early 1900s through 1960s and was a part of that history. A very excellent source about the zinc company, its workers and the the habitat surrounding. Brought back wonderful memories of the people (teachers, doctors, retailers, etc) that I lived with everyday. My father worked for the zinc company over 40 years both in the mines and as a painter. Those certainly were "the days".

I had an ancestor who I think worked in this mine. reading the book has helped me understand how the mine worked, but more importantly, how the men lived who worked there. It is easy to understand and the book flows so it is not a labor to read it. I still don't know if I will find my g-g grandfather Patrick Condon here or not, but with the help of this book, I just might.

I highly recommend it.

I don't about it being a "Mile Deep", but it sure was "Black As Pitch" if you turned off your miner's light. One of the things that made this book so meaningful to me was the fact that I worked in the North Ore Body of the Sterling Hill Mine. This direct, personal connection made the book all the more interesting - and helped it earn its fifith star. I recognized several names and faces - and words I have not heard in thirty years, like, stope. That aside, I found that the material was well organized and that the company town was much more beneficial to the workers than that of the corporate town.

As the 1st cousin once removed of one of the contributors to this book, reading this was extra meaningful to myself. My great-grandfather was one of the miners this book talks about, and to be able to read about how the miners lived their every day lives in this time was truly fascinating. I recommend this book to anyone with Franklin, NJ roots, you will definetly enjoy it, and perhaps will learn a thing or two about your own family.

Carrie Papa's father, Paul Moore, was a deep shaft miner in the Franklin Mine in northern New Jersey. This is an area well known to geologists, mining historians, and mineral experts for the quality, diversity, and complexity of zinc ores and associated mineral wealth. A Mile Deep And Black As Pitch: An Oral History Of The Franklin And Sterling Hill Mines is a unique regional history drawing upon the memories and experiences of thirty-four mine workers, their families, and others whose lives were intertwined the New Jersey mining industry in general, and the New Jersey Zinc Company in particular between the years of 1897 and 1986. A superbly presented and original work of seminal history, A Mile Deep And Black As Pitch is especially recommended to the attention of students as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in American's mining industry and the contributions deep shaft ore mining has made to the development and expansion of the American nation.