I’ll Just Attach This Flame To My Canvas Hat – Evolution of Mining Hard Hats

By Suzanne Norquist

Imagine working in an underground mine day after day with only a canvas cap to protect your head. The purpose of the cap was to carry a light, not to save your noggin.

On a recent visit to the San Juan County Historical Society Mining Heritage Center, I noticed a display of miner’s caps.

First in line was a felt hat, like those worn at home. A candle could be attached to provide light. When the miner reached his destination, he would stick the candle holder into a crack in the rocks or into a piece of wood.

I can’t even imagine wearing an open flame attached to a cloth (or even leather) hat. A later invention was the teapot lamp. The pot contained fuel, and a wick came through the spout. Those look positively frightening.

Many mines were very wet, with water dripping from the sides and ceiling. In those environments, a worker could treat a canvas cap with a black water repellant compound. Still no protection from the occasional falling rock.

In fact, from 1850 until around 1915, miner’s headgear consisted of cloth or canvas hats with leather brims and lamp brackets.

Why didn’t underground miners think to protect their heads with some kind of helmet? After all, soldiers' helmets have existed for centuries. Look at the knights in their armor . . . or the Roman centurions.

The bulky, uncomfortable helmets designed to protect against swords and arrows never made their way into industrial use. In fact, with the invention of rifles, they fell out of favor in militaries as well. What good were they if they couldn’t stop a bullet?

In World War I, infantry soldiers started wearing protective helmets again. The Brodie helmet could stop flying shrapnel and debris, if not a bullet.

In 1919, the Brodie helmet inspired the Bullard mining supply company to create the Hard Boiled hat out of steamed canvas, glue, a leather brim, and black paint. The name comes from the steaming process. These hats were introduced in mines and navy shipyards.

Around this same time, carbide lamps were invented, eliminating the need for an open flame light source. You can see it in the picture above.

Aluminum became a standard for hard hats around 1938, and fiberglass came into use in the 1940s.

In modern times, hard hats come in a variety of colors, whose meanings are site-specific. When my husband started his mining career in an underground coal mine, he was a “green hat,” meaning he was the new guy.

It’s hard to imagine that up until a century ago, a miner wore a canvas cap with an open flame attached to it. But I suppose kids who didn’t grow up in the 1970s can’t imagine riding bicycles without helmets either.

***

Suzanne Norquist is the author of two novellas, “A Song for Rose” in A Bouquet of Brides Collection and “Mending Sarah’s Heart” in the Thimbles and Threads Collection. Everything fascinates her. She has worked as a chemist, professor, financial analyst, and even earned a doctorate in economics. Research feeds her curiosity, and she shares the adventure with her readers. She lives in New Mexico with her mining engineer husband and has two grown children. When not writing, she explores the mountains, hikes, and attends kickboxing class.

She authors a blog entitled, Ponderings of a BBQ Ph.D.

“Mending Sarah’s Heart” in the Thimbles and Threads Collection

Four historical romances celebrating the arts of sewing and quilting.

Mending Sarah’s Heart by Suzanne Norquist

Rockledge, Colorado, 1884

Sarah seeks a quiet life as a seamstress. She doesn’t need anyone, especially her dead husband’s partner. If only the Emporium of Fashion would stop stealing her customers and the local hoodlums would leave her sons alone. When she rejects her husband’s share of the mine, his partner Jack seeks to serve her through other means. But will his efforts only push her further away?

For a Free Preview, click here: http://a.co/1ZtSRkK

Cowboy Girls & Their Hats

Cowboy Girls in back row
with Will Rogers

Ever heard of cowboy girls before? The first half of the 20th Century, they didn’t call themselves cowgirls. They insisted on the term cowboy girl. You can usually spot the era of a cowboy girl by the hat she wore. 

Cowboy girls participated in the famous Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show. In 1906 women’s hats were wide brimmed, just like the fancy ones from Paris. Split skirts were acceptable in the show and gals who had the nerve to wear pants were considered real daredevils. 

Cowboy girl hats got even bigger in the 1920s. By then they were active in

rodeos. Not just racing around barrels, but riding bucking stock as well. Fake cowboy girl models wore costumes. The pose, the bare forearms, the make-up, and especially the huge, floppy hats gave them away. Just like today, you could go into a photography studio and dress up in an old-time looking photo. Gals that never got bucked off in their lives could, for a few moments, pretend to be cowboy girls, like the gal in the poem below.

Multi-tasking cowboy girls during WWII or right after, would wear the hat, ride the saddle, and carry a babe in their arms. In some parts of the West, this phenomenon continued into the early 1950s. She and little Buster rode down to meet the mailman to see if hubby sent her a letter from Europe or the Pacific or even Korea.

By the late 1940s and early 1950s, cowboy girl hats were changing and by 1960 small hats worked well on barrel racers. Today cowboy girls wear the same hat as the cowboys. If she is a professional barrel racer like the legendary Charmayne James, she’ll wear a black, beaver-felt, Resistol hat. My husband

Barrel Racer Charmayne James
with her horse, Scamper

Stephen and I watched Charmayne win several national championships and have an autographed photo of her on the bunkhouse wall. 



The Cowboy Girl
Stephen Bly

She wants to be a cowboy girl,
and sit in the saddle tall
Wearin’ chaps and floppy wide-brimmed hat
when she gathers them cows in the fall.

She wants to perch by an open range fire
sippin’ coffee from a cup of tin
Swappin’ stories with the boys about the roundups they’ve seen
and all of the places where they’ve been.

She wants to bend over the coals ‘til the iron is red
and the burnt cowhide begins to smell
Settle them down on the bedground at night
and listen for the cookie’s bell.

Cowboy Girl Wanna-Be

She wants to stretch her blankets on level ground
right under the full moon’s stare
Then go someplace to find a hot shower
and slowly wash her hair.

She wants to settle down between clean white sheets
and maybe get a teddy bear hug
And dream of ridin’ the range far and wide
in a land without snake or bug.

Oh, she wants to be a cowboy girl
with a whoop and a ty-yii-yea!
But she’s hopin’ that her mascara don’t run
and she ain’t havin’ a bad hair day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Janet Chester Bly

Janet Chester Bly has authored 32 nonfiction and fiction books, 20 she co-authored with Christy Award winning western author Stephen Bly. Stuart Brannon's Final Shot, Stephen’s last novel, was completed by Janet and their three sons--Russell, Michael, and Aaron--and was a Selah Award Finalist. Janet resides at 4200 ft. elev. on the Idaho Nez Perce Indian Reservation. 
Website: www.BlyBooks.com  
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“For me, history is not the story of grand ideas, or broad sweeps describing movements, events or social progress. History is the story of individual people. Not all are famous, but all do help define who we are today, and why we think and act the way we do.”

-- Stephen Bly

"The Boss of the Plains" - The Stetson

The Boss of the Plains

by Pam Hillman

I’ve always heard that the first thing a cowboy puts on when he rolls out of his blankets is his hat, followed immediately by his boots. After reading about the care John B. Stetson took to create a hat that demanded that kind of respect, I now believe it.

Stetson learned the hat trade from his father. In a time when being a hatter wasn’t considered a respectable trade, Stetson took his trade seriously. He wanted to make a durable, high quality hat best suited for the rugged west, the  cowboy, and the plainsmen who flooded west in the 1800s.

In 1865, Stetson headed west, and in a small rented facility, with his tools and barely enough money to purchase the fur he needed, he made his first hat that would eventually become known as the famous “Boss of the Plains”. The Boss became synonymous with hard-working, rough-housing, loyal cow punchers the world over, but especially in the American West.

At first glance, the “Boss of the Plains” doesn't look like what we think of as the traditional cowboy hat. But that was the beauty of the design. Men could shape it however they wanted to. Picture a cowboy grabbing that hat over and over with three fingers. Eventually, the crown and the brim would crease in exactly the way the cowboy wanted it to.

The high crown provided insulation and a bit of air-space for ventilation for the top of the head. The wide brim offered protection from the harsh sun, rain, wind. But probably the most innovative part of the Boss was that it was made from the underbelly of 42 beaver pelts and was extremely durable, lightweight, and waterproof.

While I haven’t tested a Stetson myself, I’ve seen movies and read books that made me wonder how someone could continue to ride in the deluge of hours and hours of rain and not get soaked through. According to history, some Stetsons were so waterproof, they could be used as buckets, and at least one story tells of a cowboy whose canteen sprung a leak, and he used his Stetson to carry water across the desert. And while I’ve never seen someone offering water to another person out of a hat, I’ve seen it many times in movies. I might have scoffed at that before I discovered how watertight these hats were.

The Dodge City Peace Commission, some wearing The Boss

Not only could the Boss double as a bucket, the wide brim served as an umbrella against rain and shaded the eyes against the relentless sun. The brim could be tented to provide a drinking cup as needed, or pulled down and tied over the ears to protect against frost-bite.

It was the bellows that fanned many a campfire into existence and, in reverse, was also the bucket that carried the water to douse the fire when breaking camp. The hat was doffed at pretty ladies, and swatted against a pokey horse’s flank to escape a raiding war party.

Rolled up, it became a pillow at night, or the extra bit of padding to ease a sore shoulder or aching back. Waved over the head, it was easily spotted from long distances. In a shoot-out, it was hoisted on a stick to draw fire to scout out the location of the enemy. And it was removed and held over the heart when saying goodbye to another cowboy as the final prayer was said over his grave.

It’s no wonder that a cow puncher forked over as much as two to six months’ wages on his hat. And not surprising that he’d defend such a purchase with his life and his Colt 45!

Want more? Check out this cool video: The Making of a Stetson Hat

Pam Hillman was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn’t afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove the Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn’t mind raking. Raking hay doesn’t take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head.  

The Evergreen Bride (Barbour Publishing) 

Available October 20th as ebook only and in The White Christmas Brides Collection, exclusively at Walmart. Cover coming soon!

www.pamhillman.com

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Her Pretty Bonnet

Linore Rose Burkard

I love bonnets in historical fashion, don't you? That endlessly useful, attractive, transformative, amazing piece of costume for women! My fascination and appreciation for the bonnet has been longstanding--in fact, I have a free PDF on my website, "Hats, Caps, Bonnets, Bandeaux," which if you enjoy this article, you should download for further enjoyment. 

The single most familiar bonnet to people today is probably the poke; and I appreciate it because it illustrates perfectly one truth about bonnets: They were forever changing, morphing from utilitarian to extravagant, simple to exquisite.(If I had endless space, I would certainly touch upon 18th century French headdress which, with or without a bonnet, was at times extravagant to the point of absurdity.)

Using the poke, however, take a look at how it lent itself to being transformed for different social occasions, and could reveal much about the status and wealth of its wearer.

 Below, left: Simple Straw Poke. A utilitarian piece of simplicity one could grab whenever having to leave the house in a hurry.

Two more Regency manifestations of the basic Poke bonnet?
(On the right, it seems the poke is a joke. Women did not show even their ankles during the regency. A revealed ankle was considered risque.) 

Right: Embellished Regency Poke Bonnet. Perfect for "Walking Dress", in Regency lingo. Obviously a hat worn to be seen.

American Prairie or Pioneer Style Poke (Soft--no straw or other boning material)

A late or post-Regency Wide Poke (Not Victorian)
Ornamental and certainly worn to be noticed. 

 

Bonnets were not worn as part of evening or full dress, but one could still dress up or down by the judicious choice of headwear. During the regency, a lavish turban could make its way to a ball, as could feathered headdresses, embellished tiaras, combs and pins. The poke bonnet, however, no matter how fancy, was only fit for day dress.

Below:  A mourning poke. 

.
Since my post has to be short, we'll have to leave bonnets for now, but do you have a favorite style of hat? Or other type of headdress?  Tell us about it in the comments. And remember to get my free PDF, "Hats, Caps, Bonnets, Bandeaux" before you go!  


Linore Rose Burkard is best known for historical regency novels with Harvest House Publishers, including Before the Season Ends, the award-winning The House in Grosvenor Square, and, The Country House Courtship. As a writer noted for meticulous research as well as bringing people to life on the page, Linore’s books delight fans of historical romance with “Heyeresque” humor and Austen-like manners.  Linore teaches workshops for writers with Greater Harvest Workshops in Ohio, is a homeschooling mother of five, and is currently working on a YA novel. Keep up with Linore by subscribing to her free newsletter atLinore@LinoreBurkard.com