An important part of the mining culture were the nicknames that miner’s referred to each other by.  These names were frequently colorful and offensive, often the coworkers never knew the miners real name.

Most nicknames origins can be attributed to the following

 

•  Physical attributes

• Current events

•  Mistakes made by the individual

• Personal habits , defects, histories

• Abilities at work

• Insults

 

The names can be a play on words, purposely mispronounced or slang in Spanish or English.

 The following list of nicknames is uncensored; it does contain names that are today considered and some of them were then vulgar, racist and definitely not politically correct. There are names on the list that were offensive to the men who received the name. These names are part of history and still need to be preserved for a realistic portrayal of miners Below are examples of how and why nicknames were given.

 

 

Two Hair
So skinny he did not weight more than two hairs. Tin Tin From Valentine.
The Hook               He had hooked nose. Rainbow
At the time Rainbow bread was being advertised	as a 8 hour loaf.

Producer Bill (Never did never will)

Told boss he wanted to break the record of least amount of cars pulled.

Piggy Bank

After he fell down inside a pocket, they said pulled change from the chute.

Mr Dithers

 He was named after the  boss in the cartoon Blondie.

Mina de Hule (Rubber Mine)

He told everyone he had once worked in a rubber mine and when they blast the boulders would bounce all around.

Dog Eye

He had greenish eyes like an Australian Shepard

Grasshopper

Got name  from jumping behind the timber when blowing out the drill holes with a rock drill.

(mud and rocks go every were when doing this)

Burley Jack

The name comes from  burley drill  which is a early type rock drill. Circa 1914 

Big Wheels

A name given to all  the upper level bosses.

30 minute Herb

Always said it could be done in 30 minutes.

Tumbleweed

Tumble weed because of afro hair style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Tobias (Yongo) Valdez

Al (High Rails) Hirales

Henry (Pelon) Hernandez

Blas (Sonny) Tovar

Bobby (Pete) Oller

Julian (Kelly) Castillo

Ernest (Neto) Chavez

Richard Graeme

Richard Graeme IV started original work

Julian (Cat)  Durazo

Joe Garcia

Anna Garcia