On Aug. 22, 1883, the final tracks of the Northern Pacific Railway were laid when a Chinese crew from the West met an Eastern crew of mostly Irish and Slavic workers near Independence Creek, Montana.
Once the most thriving coal district in the U.S., Scott’s Run fell on hard times in the 1920s. Residents who were not allowed to move to the nearby New Deal community of Arthurdale banded together, forming workers alliances and cooperatives to survive. (1937) | Photo by Lewis Hine