#DickTracy #dril

Researching mines in northern Spain I came across this curious object. It's a canary cage designed to keep the canary alive in the event of a gas leak. If a miner saw the canary laying at the bottom of the cage it was time to abandon everything and leave the mine, but not without first closing the latched glass door and opening the valve of the oxygen bottle to save the bird. A miner would do that on their way out and take the bird with them. It's a signifier of the miner's legendary sense of solidarity, no lives lost to the mine on a miners watch. A solidarity that was also crucial in the fight for workers rights, creating safer and more humane working conditions, achievements of unionization and solidarity that some of us still enjoy today.