West Virginia’s main industry, coal, went through a major economic downturn that began in the 1920s, before the nation's Great Depression. Many coal companies shut down, jobs were lost, and mining towns became quiet. During the 1930s, new laws helped workers join unions, and many miners got their jobs back with better pay. But higher wages eventually led to more machines being used instead of workers in the mines, which would become a long-term trend.