Hillbilly Highways - Have you worked in the coal fields or related industries?

[Bigwolf]

I was thinking about the Hillbilly Highway ride and begean to wonder just how many here have worked in the mines or in industries that provided services for the mines.  Let's hear about it if you did.

Back in the 60s and 70s I worked in machine shops building and repairing machinery for the mines.  I machined parts for new roof drills, rock dusters, water sprayers, conveyor systems and electrical systems.  Sometimes I went in the mines to repair a machine.  A lot of those mines have to dissassemble a mining machine to get it in the mine or to take it out.  I had built a portable boring machine that I could take inside the mine and rebore a bearing surface that had been completely destroyed.  That saved the mines a lot of time and money since they did not have to take the machine all appart and ship it to our shop.

The only mine that made me truely nervous was the one several miles underground in a 36 inch coal seam and the roof was continually falling just a few yards away from my work area.  They hauled me in and out of there on a 3 wheeled cart flat on my back on the bed of that cart (bed about 4 inches above the floor) with the toes of my boots not all that far from the roof.  I got a real good look at that roof and each time in or out I could see parts of that roof that were in fact no longer roof.......... course I had to turn my head to the side to see that.  My last day there, on the way out, I told the miner with me that If I never got back in that mine it would be way to soon to suit me.  I am glad to have had that experience though.  And the miners were glad they did not have to try to physically drag that machine out of the mine (several miles to the surface) and tear it completely down just so they could send the main frame to our shop to have the main crawler track bearing bore redone.


Wolf

[Evil Twin Lisa]

Larry, my husband, has worked in and around the mines for almost 33 years now.  He was just 17, graduated from high school on Friday, went to work on Monday hauling coal from the mines to the dump to be put in train cars.  He now works what is called "outby mechanic", which means he goes underground whenever they need him, usually at least once a day.  He is a mechanic, electrician, welder, and whatever else needs to be done.  I have not seen anything the man cannot do, well, except plumbing, he can do it, just HATES it, lol.  Excellent carpenter too.  His father worked in the mines for almost 50 years. Most mines have progressed a lot from what I read in your post but there are still a few "doghole" mines around.  With all the new laws that are in effect, most of the smaller mines are out of business.   Our youngest son, Aaron, is a welder but he works in a factory. 

My brother-in-law, Curt, works for Joy Manufacturing, rebuilding mine machinery.  He started last Aug.

[GiG]

I've been in the mines, but never worked them. 
My grandfather, who died of black lung disease, worked in the coal mines starting about age 13, until he came to Detroit to build Cadillacs in the 40's I guess. He would never return to a mine under any circumstance, he hated everything about them and had nothing good to say about them...

That's what gets me about these tree hugger anti-nuclear people that run around screaming "DANGER- DANGER!". Nuclear power has never claimed a single life in this country, but counless lifes have been lost through mining.

[Evil Twin Lisa]

Mining is very dangerous, no doubt about it, but it is what pays our bills and keeps the lights on for a lot of people.   We have good insurance, 401k, paid vacation based on how long you have been working.

I do not know how many nuclear power plants there are in the USA, but there are a heck of a lot miners around this area. 

I have lived in the coal fields of Southwest Virginia all my life.  It is a beautiful place to live.  

[Dubsvalk]

It is a beautiful place to live!  I grew up in West Virginia and love it there.  Great roads, beautiful scenery and good people!
Dubs

[Bigwolf]

West Virginia is a beautiful place.  I would probably still be living there if I could have found/kept a decent paying job.  Taking a job inside the mines is not for me.  When I moved to Tennessee, I started at more than double the pay I was offered in WV and the WV job should have been a higher paying job.  Also worthy of note, the cost of living was rated the same in both Nashville, TN and Morgantown, WV where I was living.  WV has always lagged behind the nation for pay scale but never in resourcefulness and beauty.

[Davet261]

The New Straitsville Mining Company established the village as a coal-mining town to provide housing for the company's workers. The village grew quickly and by 1880 claimed more than 4000 residents. The “animated” village on a branch of the Hocking Valley Railroad became known as one of the origins of a national coal miners union.

Coal-works, stores, shops, dwellings, and churches grew up as if by magic. Miners, mechanics, general laborers and businessmen gathered from nearly all quarters of the globe. The population of the place increased wonderfully, and in a short time it appeared to be almost a city. It contained a bank post office, railroad station, telegraph offices, furnace, and stores, shops, etc., corresponding with the population and business of the place. It also claimed a large union schoolhouse of eight rooms, four churches and a number of costly private residences.

Coal Township abounded in iron ore as well as coal. There was a good market for the ore at Bessie Furnace, situated in the suburbs of New Straitsville.

Opportunity and prosperity were short lived, however. The coal mining activity stopped in 1884. A labor dispute at the mine ended with a group of miners at the Middle Kittanning Coal Seam sent a burning coal car into the mine, igniting the coal. Reportedly, the coal seam was fourteen feet across and extended an undetermined distance into the Earth, and it took several days for the fire to be discovered. The New Straitsville mine closed, and the fire burns to this day.

A massive effort by the Federal government to extinguish the fire in the 1930s proved futile. An estimated 200 square miles of underground mineral deposits have been destroyed. In 2003, 119 years after the fire began, smoke began to emerge from the soil of the Wayne National Forest. The mine, known as “Devil’s Oven,” has been described as a “long simmering legacy of the state’s industrial past, an environmental nightmare that won’t go away.”

In addition, abandoned coalmines in the area have created sinkholes. Feeder streams to both the Sunday and the Monday Creek often change course and run into these holes where they pick up minerals from the abandoned mine shafts and carry them to larger streams, which run into the Hocking River. The Ohio State EPA estimates about 1,200 miles of streams are now contaminated by mine runoff.

New Straitsville also is known historically for its moonshine, being considered the Moonshine Capital of the World during Prohibition. Its population of enterprising ex-coalminers concealed dozens of illegal moonshine stills in the area's hollows and abandoned mineshafts, selling it to a nation desperate for a stiff drink. Today, New Straitsville's bootlegging tradition is honored with an annual Memorial Day weekend Moonshine Festival.

Economic decline, community decay, environmental degradation and population loss during the decades since 1920 has resulted in the region becoming one of the most economic and educationally disadvantaged regions of the state.

I lived in New Straitsville for 45 years of my life.  My father owned a coal mine so I grew up around and in one.  These mines were not all that big, most averaging a mile or so long.  We did it the old fashoned way, with horse drawn minecars, dynamite, picks and shovels.  The things I remember being the hardest was roof bolting and timbering.  The mine was sealed off and the opening covered over back in the mid 70's after it became unsafe for mining,   I had a great upbringing there in that town.

[Jess Tolbirt]

listen to the song 16 tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford and listen to the words.
Bevs dad worked in the mines in W.V. and died there...black lung....

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I work for the largest power provider of electricity in the nation keeping the lights on to 9 million customers in 7 states.We burn some coal  

 

[Bigwolf]

A couple of my uncles had small coal mines dug "the old fashoned way", only they used ponys because horses were too tall.

Most of WV's coal is soft (bituminous) and has a high sulfer content.  The EPA makes it hard for power companies to burn much of that.  A lot of it is shipped overseas these days because other countries don't care as much about polution as we seem to.   

[DirtyDan]

point of face nuclear power has claimed lives in this country

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SL-1

sl-1 killed three people

for some background

i was a union pipefitter for 20 years, coal fired powerhouses paid my bills

as a pipefitter i do NOT support nuclear power, while it would be good for my trade { those places are FILLED with pipe } WHEN they fail it can take 100s or 1000s of years to clean it up.

thats WHEN! they fail not IF.

 a burst dam or a pile of sludge is nothing compared to radiation

so hats of to any blue collar guys out there

but NO nukes.......... only for weapons

my 2 cents

dan

[Ghost Rider 2]

  Never been in a mine, but I worked for a truck repair shop in Kentucky.  Have came out from under a truck so black and dirty that you could only see my eyes.  Have replaced many  hydrolic lines on dump trailers and clutches on Mack trucks.  I came home from work one night.  Walked in door pealed  my clothes off to head to shower.  I was just as dirty as my clothes.  the grease, oil, and coal had soaked all way threw everything I had on. I decided right then there had to be another way to make a living.

[Charlie McCready]

I worked in a machine shop in the 70s that made hubs and wheels for mining machinery. We had a lot of used parts returned to the shop for repairs that had been damaged. What I saw gave me a good idea of what mining was like. I have never been in a mine but have a lot of respect for the miners that do it every day.  Evil Twin Lisa, I made hubs and wheels for Joy where Curt works.  After that I worked in a plant that made aluminum "pop tops" for beer cans !!!!  Did that for 30 years. Enjoying retirement now.

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

My youngest brother still works for the mines in TN and I've been down in them with him but never worked them myself. Don't know that I could I don't care what they pay. 

[Spirited-6]

My hats OFF to any and all that worked in the coal Ind. I have seen first hand what the mines can do to / for a family. I ran a Ford Dealership in Floyd Co. Ky. in the late 80`s and knew a lot of local`s in the time. Great and hard working folks that would give you thier last piece of food. I had one that said he would take out, kill, anyone I wanted.  The scary part is he would. I had a fellow come one night at closing with a brown sack full of money to buy two Bronco`s. He bought them and I slept on a bag full of Dollars that night.  Gotta love the hard working people. 

[charligirl]

My husband, Big Hoss, is from Logan, WV.  We were just talking about him working in the coal mines last night. I'm writing a paper for a class I am taking so you guys just helped me with my research

[Highbinder]

Here is the link to the Pocahontas Exhibition Mine that we will be touring on the "Return to Hillbilly Hwys Ride", we will also be having lunch there in town, a buffet, that will be served by the local food bank assoc. at the school...if you'd like to learn more about this area, just click on the link....

                                        http://pocahontasva.org/museum.html

[Skinhead]

When I got out of the Army in '77 I applied to the miners union in south western Pennsylvania, things were starting to go bad then and I never got a call.  So I started waterblasting (Gig knows what I'm talkin' about) worked in just about every powerplant, chemical plant, and steel mill in the PA, OH, and WV area.  Damn near every one of those places uses a bunch of coal.  Never been in the mines.  I grew up in Bethel Park, PA, which is just outside of the 'burgh.  Bethel Park grew out of two company owned towns Mulnar (mine 3) and Coverdale.  My BIL Hozz grew up in Mine 3 and I lived in Coverdale briefly will going to college.  That area has a rich history, I'd like to move back there.

[gabby]

     I did not work in the mines in Ky. and W.Va. but my company hauled for over 150 years the black rich coal from all around the states. N&W, now known as Norfolk Southern, is the primary coal transporter of all the coal that we will see on the Hillbilly Ride. I worked in the towns of Williamson, Bluefield, Iaeger, Berwind, Richlands, Cedar Bluff,Matoka, Welch, Gary, Roderfield, all these along U.S. 52 and towns along Rt. 16 until I retired in 2008. I was primarily responsible for coal car repairs and rolling stock that moved freight from the west coast to the east coast and all points in the U.S. and Canada. I changed over to the locomotive repair and maintainence along the busiest tracks from Portsmouth, Oh. to Roanoke, Va.
     Due to me being in direct contact with the business people in the coal industry at the mines, I got to interrelate with a large group of hard working men and women throughout the entire area. SOOOOO many stories------SOOOOOOO many tales-----SOOOO many murders and mayhem...Just another quiet weekday in the hills of Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia---just waiting for the weekend and ????????
whatever happens.
     Want to hear some stories about the area?  Wait til the ride...

Gabby

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

     I did not work in the mines in Ky. and W.Va. but my company hauled for over 150 years the black rich coal from all around the states. N&W, now known as Norfolk Southern, is the primary coal transporter of all the coal that we will see on the Hillbilly Ride. I worked in the towns of Williamson, Bluefield, Iaeger, Berwind, Richlands, Cedar Bluff,Matoka, Welch, Gary, Roderfield, all these along U.S. 52 and towns along Rt. 16 until I retired in 2008. I was primarily responsible for coal car repairs and rolling stock that moved freight from the west coast to the east coast and all points in the U.S. and Canada. I changed over to the locomotive repair and maintainence along the busiest tracks from Portsmouth, Oh. to Roanoke, Va.
     Due to me being in direct contact with the business people in the coal industry at the mines, I got to interrelate with a large group of hard working men and women throughout the entire area. SOOOOO many stories------SOOOOOOO many tales-----SOOOO many murders and mayhem...Just another quiet weekday in the hills of Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia---just waiting for the weekend and ????????
whatever happens.
     Want to hear some stories about the area?  Wait til the ride...

Gabby

Be sure to look me up I like a good story 

[Bigwolf]

I like good stories!  Sure hopin to be able to make that ride too.

[Highbinder]

I've lived in that area going on 7 yrs. and I enjoy hearing the stories about this part of the country and the heritage of the people who live here...so when you start telling the stories, I'll be right next to Joe...looking forward to this ride...

[R J]

My great grandfather and my grandfather both worked in a mine in Central Iowa.   It was a very small mine, but they both worked in it till they passed away from Black lung.     I went in the mine once with my grandfather, and he scared the bejesus out of me.     Never desired to go underground again.   I even hated to go in the mines my daughter found on our many motor rides around the country.

This old mine was located in a town called Fansler.  In the late 50's a tornado came through the area, I lost a brand new 58 Olds, tri-power, (J-2) hardtop in the mess.      My brother and I were coming back to the farm from the Drag-Strip when it hit.     I was watching the damn gravel road as it was rutted, and my brother hollered, tornado, stop, let's hit the ditch.   We did and it sounded like 8 or 9 freight trains going through, then it got real quiet.    We were in a ditch, each on the opposite, side of the road from the other.    He hollered ya OK, and we stood up to see we were missing a car.

I went back to California on the plane, wife and kids took a train.    4 weeks after the big blow, the sheriff called me and asked if I knew where my car was.   Told him I hadn't seen it since the Tornado went threw.   He said we found it in a creek bed hung up in some fence wire.      Asked how he knew it was mine, he said the only thing visible is the license plate,    He sent me a picture of it, I took it to the insurance company and 3 days later I had an almost exact duplicate of the car I lost.   It was 2 toned different from my original one.

That is still the closest I want to go underground again.   I get claustrophobic now in under ground places.    Sometimes even elevators get me that way.

[Hotrodwing]

 Here in northeast Pa we mined Hard coal. My 2 grandfathers worked the mines and so did my dad for a few years when he was young.  He always said he liked it.   I still burn buckwheat coal in my stoker and man you got to love the heat that thing puts out.  It's 36 outside and a nice 80 degrees inside.

[thumper]

Being from Pennsylvania I am very familiar with Centralia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

[Skinhead]

Being from Pennsylvania I am very familiar with Centralia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

Hey Thumper,

Ever since I heard about Centralia, I've wanted to ride up there, is it good riding country?

[YoungPUP]

Grandfather Retired from WABCO ( westinghouse air brake) Making mineing equipment. I have an old b&w pic somewhere that shows him at the controls of a machine that he had just finished.  Low and mean looking wedge front end, with two arms that pulled in towards a conveyor.  No idea what it is, but cool looking anyways.

[Bigwolf]

Low and mean looking wedge front end, with two arms that pulled in towards a conveyor.  No idea what it is, but cool looking anyways.

If that is all that was on the front, it was probably a loader.  If it had some big spiked wheels right above those arms, then it was a continuous miner, probably Lee Norse.

Wolf

[Sodge]

Dad and step dad both worked in the mines. Dad died (not coal related). Stepdad took me in a few
 times on the weekends when he would have to "fireboss". He worked there 30 plus years. Certainly
 wasn't something I wanted to do for a living but if it wasn't for mining the economy around here
 would really be in the crapper.
Most guys I know that work in the mines (ages early 20's to early 50's) earn between 80k and 125k a
 year. I'd say very few have more than a high school education. Where else could they make that
 kind of money?

[hillbilly]

I worked underground for 16 years. Worked for contractors for Island Creek Coal Company in Southern W.Va. Worked with some really great men over the years. The past 19 years I've been self employed as a residential contractor, building custom homes. Every thing I've  had in life is a direct or indirect result of mining. I love these old mountains, They shelter and protect us. I love to travel this beautiful country on two wheels, but West (by god) Virginia will always be home. And as many of you already know Home to some of the greatest  Motorcycle Roads in the country. Look forward to seeing every one at The Return to the Hillbilly Highway Ride. By the way There is still 8 rooms left!

[rainman]

well not ever been in a coal mine before can't wait to get there. I have been around alot strip pits and have witched them dig it out and after they are done diging and they fill up with water they do make for some fine fishen deep and clear water some of them as deep as 400 feet. ant ever caught anything that deep but have caught some big bulegill.