In the deep slope mines which were so common throughout Nova Scotia the journey to the coal face was a routine part of the worker's day. Here we see a shift of miners assembled on the "man" or "riding rake" for the two to three-mile (three to five-kilometre) journey underground. In some mines the trip could take as long as half an hour, with many stops to let the men off at the various levels. One of the early union demands was that travelling time in the mine be credited as a part of the normal working day. This was important for datal employees who were paid by the hour. Contract men the miners who cut and loaded the coal were paid according to how much coal was loaded in a given time and they were normally free to leave the mine upon completion of their work. There was constant conflict between miners and mine operators over the freedom of the individual miner and the terms of work; the miners, of course, constantly attempted to expand the freedom, especially the right to put down their tools when they felt that they had worked enough for one day. This photograph shows men at the Joggins Colliery and appeared in The Canadian Mining Journal for 1909.
