Watch Pit Pony

When Willie gets an opportunity of a lifetime to leave behind his life as a pit boy and attend photography school in Boston, he has to make a decision between following his dreams or his father's footsteps.

Ned and Nellie unexpectedly receive a bundle of joy at their house. Unfortunately, the baby's arrival leads to a confrontation between the couple as they argue about the wisdom of a possible adoption.

Although the modern equipment is supposed to ease the workload in the mine, problems with the machines create new headaches for the miners. When Rufus and Scotty can't handle their coal cutter, they recruit Spider to help.

When a wild stallion steals the pit ponies from the mine, Jack Doyle wants to kill the creature and have done with it. Hoping to save the stallion's life, Willie and Charley try to tame the beast.

Theresa Cameron, a gorgeous and talented musician, shows up in Glace Bay right before the annual Fiddler's Fall. But her assumption that she'll be playing at the event could lead to its cancellation.

Glace Bay's new advances in technology result in more mechanization at the mine. Consequently, a large number of miners lose their jobs, and many are embittered.

When Stringy Borso gets a chance to leave Glace Bay to join a baseball camp, Nellie decides her choir will give its first public performance to send him off in style. Unfortunately, Angus discovers he has stage fright.

Completely indoctrinated from Aunt Rose's etiquette lessons, Sarah returns from Halifax acting pretentious. Maggie can't stand her sister's fancy new behavior, and a rift develops between the two.

Ned feels the weight of his new responsibilities in his new position as the mine's overman. During some dangerous work involving the use of explosives, a "tricked charge" triggers a collapse.

Love is in the air -- or is it? -- as Willie and Maggie conspire to ignite a romance between Charley McGinnis and Anne Harper, the schoolteacher. Their plan revolves around the upcoming school fundraiser.

The Ponies are about to play for the championship, but the game might have to be forfeited. Ned and Dr. Tony Moressa get into a heated confrontation, and in the aftermath, the Ponies disband.

The workers' fight to get adequate medical treatment proves a mixed blessing as the arrival of company doctor Tony Moressa also results in some disadvantages for the cash-strapped workers. Tony's exorbitant bills are more than the miners can afford.

After a fire breaks out, Ned accidentally stumbles upon the secret location that Spider Davis calls home. Ned is surprised to find that Spider has been living for some time in an abandoned boat.

Willie has trouble reconciling his all-too-adult responsibilities with being a kid. Charley takes Willie out fishing to help take his mind off things, including the disappointment that the Ponies are playing a big game without him.

Mine owner Wendell Crowe, tired of Willie's combative attitude toward management, makes plans to teach him a lesson and keep him under control -- starting by separating the boy from his beloved horse, Sable.

Willie conducts a dangerous safety investigation in which he has to determine whether one of the seams in the mine contains methane. During the safety check, an explosion causes the roof to collapse and Willie is blamed for the damage.

Two Sides of the CoinThe National Coal Company's new doctor arrives in Glace Bay to treat the bedridden Nellie's advanced case of consumption. In a surprising twist of fate, the new physician turns out to be Tony Moressa, Nellie's ex-boyfriend.

Power PlaysWillie's first act as the inaugural president of the Junior Mine Workers' Association is to ask Mr. Crowe to send for a doctor trained in treating consumption. Meanwhile, Nellie tries to make Rose and Sarah leave as her health deteriorates.

Our Sons and DaughtersTemporarily taking over Stringy's job as a pit pony driver, Willie tries to get the other workers to organize a walkout to protest Mr. Frawley's management practices. In the meantime, a worried Rose and Sarah tend to Nellie.

Nellie is an invalid now, confined to bed after being diagnosed with consumption. Mrs. MacTavish contacts Nellie's relatives to apprise them of the situation as her condition worsens. Meanwhile, Willie braves the mines to help Ned.

Hope blooms when Nellie thinks she might be pregnant, and Willie and Maggie take over her teaching duties. Helen Borso, however, believes Nellie's condition might be something else entirely. Elsewhere, Stringy is injured during a cave-in.

Charley has visions of the ghost of a friend who perished in a tragic accident more than 30 years ago. Meanwhile, Jack Doyle's insensitive management style breeds resentment among the pit workers.

Mr. Frawley gives Spider a promotion, but it doesn't come with the pay hike he was expecting. Meanwhile, Maggie MacLean comes back to town and learns what's happened in Nellie, Willie and Ned's lives while she was gone.

After Nellie's laundry machine breaks down, she works briefly as Miss Harper's teaching assistant, only to learn that the school can't afford to pay her. Mrs. MacTavish holds an auction to raise the necessary funds.

Nellie gives Mollie a makeover to help her appear more feminine. Meanwhile, Spider conceals his gratitude to Willie from the other pit boys, afraid that showing his appreciation will destroy his tough reputation.

After Spider's pit pony, Zack, gets sick, Willie asks Helen Borso for a special medication to help treat the animal. When Doyle returns the horse to the pit before he's fully healed, Willie is forced to enter the mines to administer the medicine.

Ned faces off against Jack Doyle when they both run for president of the workers' union. In the run-up to the election, Doyle discovers a plan between Crowe and Frawley to replace some of the miners with machines.

After Nellie's laundry business takes off, Willie gets swamped with his responsibilities at school, his deliveries and helping Nellie. Meanwhile, Wendell Crowe ramps up the pressure on Miss Harper and threatens to revoke her teaching license.

Mine owner Wendell Crowe disapproves of Miss Harper's attempts to educate the pit boys and makes Mr. Frawley close down her school. Ned, however, persuades Miss Harper to stand up for herself and her students.

Aunt Rose offers to purchase a large farmhouse as a gift for Nellie and Ned. Unfortunately, Rose's generosity comes at a cost, since she insists on decorating the home to her own taste and accepts no one else's input.

Amid preparations for Willie's 13th birthday, Nellie feels for the first time how destitute they are in comparison to their relatives. Meanwhile, Ned struggles with being housebound after the mine fire.

When Ned loses his job temporarily, Nellie wants to find work to help supplement their income. But, with his pride wounded, Ned strenuously objects to the idea. Meanwhile, Miss Harper tries to raise the literacy level of the boys in the pit.

While experimenting with the new camera Alexander Graham Bell gave him, Willie snaps a few pictures of the Borso house, which is supposedly haunted. Intrigued by the house's mysterious past, Willie investigates and learns more about the Borso family.

Glace Bay enters a new age when a public telephone is installed in the train station. After Willie writes a letter to Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor invites Willie and his teacher, Anne Harper, to visit him and discuss new ideas.

Ben backs up Ned's claim that Sable belongs to Willie when the horse is found working as a pit pony. Meanwhile, Willie suspects a connection between some stolen explosives and the pirate treasure.

When his horse, Sable, disappears, Willie is convinced someone stole him. Disguising himself as a pit boy miner, Willie infiltrates the mine, and Ned helps him search for clues. Meanwhile, Ben Frawley tries to adapt to life in the pit.

When Willie spots what he believes to be a ghost pirate ship, he enlists Mollie and Angus to help him hunt for rumored buried treasure. However, Spider stumbles upon the cursed cache first. Elsewhere, Ned works with a greenhorn inside the pit.

Aunt Rose spurns the attentions of a suitor by the name of John Scottie MacNeil, who happens to be a famous traveling violinist. When the townspeople learn of the slight, the MacLean family gets the cold shoulder.

After tensions come to a head between Ned and Mr. Frawley, Ned is fired and Aunt Rose offers to take the children back to Halifax. However, Nellie and Willie steadfastly refuse to leave town, and Willie tries to get Ned rehired.

A funeral is held for Allen, who perished in a mining accident that nearly claimed Ned's life as well. Ned wants the mine shut down completely for repairs, but Mr. Crowe is only willing to close one small section.

Ned tries to rally the other workers in the mine to confront their bosses about the poor safety conditions. In the meantime, Spider dares Willie, Mollie and Angus to spend the night inside a haunted house.

When wealthy urbanite Aunt Rose visits the MacLean family to attend Nellie's wedding, she makes no secret about her distaste for miners and her low expectations for Nellie's future happiness. Meanwhile, Ned's work impinges on the wedding plans.

Nellie wrestles with a tough decision after Ned lands a position on the mine face with higher pay and heightened risk. Mrs. MacTavish tells Nellie a cautionary tale about Flora MacClure, a woman whose husband was killed in a mining accident.