Britannia Beach Mining Museum
You may be familiar with the song Sixteen Tons and wondered about the lyrics. While the line "I owe my soul to the company store" is a familiar refrain to those who have studied early Canadian and Newfoundland fisheries history, it was also common in the mining industry (wikipedia). While touring the Britannia Beach Mining Museum this summer, we learned the history the phrase "You move 16 tons, and what do you get?" refers to the the Mucker's job in a mine. After the drillers and blasters were done at the mining face, there was a slump of rubble created by the dynamiting. It was the Mucker's responsibility to shovel this broken rock into a mine car so it could be rolled along the railway, out of the mine to the crusher.
Working in pairs, in dusty conditions and with poor lighting - candles were still used through the 1800's, these men were expected to move some 32,000 pounds of rock into a mine car during their shift. The top of a mine car is about chest high - 3½ to 4 feet, and each shovelful had to be lifted over the top of the car. Shifts ran 10 - 12 hours, and a Mucker could expect to earn about $1.25 for the day's labour, usually paid in scrip, cashable at the company store. In the early 1900's, a new compressed air mucking car was developed with a bucket on the front to load the ore. I can imagine the relief of the Muckers, but of course, they were now expected to move far more than 16 tons.
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store