W. Va. Code § 10-3A-1: Legislative findings, purposes, intent, and short title.

(a) The Legislature finds that child labor in hazardous industry was commonplace in West Virginia and the United States until state and federal laws prohibited such labor in the early 20th century. Throughout West Virginia, children worked in coal mines, factories, salt works, and other inherently dangerous places. Due to their diminutive size and because child workers could be paid less, many employers preferred to utilize children in formal employment and informal employment arrangements. Because many children were informally employed, the number of children who were permanently maimed or killed due to hazardous labor is unknown.

(b) In order to preserve the memory of children who worked in a hazardous industry, a monument in memory of all children shall be constructed. The monument will be constructed in Fairmont, West Virginia due to the scale of the mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia on December 6, 1907, and due to the unknown number of children who were killed in that disaster.

(c) This article may be cited as the “West Virginia Child Labor Memorial.”