"Industrializing the Rockies is the first book-length study of the emergence of coalfield labor relations and a general overview of the role of coal mining in the American West. Wolff examines the coal companies and the owners' initial motivations for investment and how these motivations changed over time. He documents the move from speculation to stability in the commodities market, and how this was reflected in the development of companies and company towns."

"Industrializing the Rockies also examines the workers and their workplaces: how the miners and laborers struggled to maintain mining as a craft and how the workforce changed, ethnically and racially, eventually leading to the emergence of a strong national union. Wolff shines light on the business of coal mining detailing the market and economic forces that influences companies and deeply affected the lives of the workers."--Jacket.