The advances of the Industrial Revolution were paid for with human suffering.
The people who suffered the most worked in factories and coal mines. Each day, they faced long hours, low wages, and crippling accidents.
Living conditions became worse as factories pumped soot into the air and waste into rivers. Cities throbbed with the constant pounding of machines and the glow of industrial furnaces. Pittsburgh was America’s ironmaking capital. One visitor said it was like “hell with the lid taken off.” It took decades for reforms to make the Industrial Revolution less harsh.
