And to all those miners who lost their lives just trying to feed their families that died so tragically of Black Lung, rest in peace as you should be proud of being a loving person.
I am retired and have emphysema now and I have the best medical care. These poor miners were as bad as I am, much younger, and had to go back into the mines to feed their children and try to keep their wife happy. Death by a thousand cuts.
Today if they had the correct breathing aperatis they still be alive or living out there older years it sad it truly is that many died got stuck in them mines never to get out
sigh....I once lived just west of Asheville, North Carolina. no coal, but mountain people. I recently asked a man who lived near here, and I asked him, "all of those empty houses in the hollows, did they all go to Detroit after the war to work in auto factories?". no...he says, the out-migration begun at ww II where the mountain Celtic Scotch-Irish, natural warriors, enlisted in the army. they saw the outside world for the first time, then they never went back! coal, as the comments say, below, many mines just played out, ran out of coal. the China-thing was merely a death blow. but this video does not show the healthy areas and even the healthy areas within the very same towns as in the video. there are still many good people there. I grew up in Interlaken, new York. on the top of the Northern area of the Allegany Plateau. very rich farmland. my hometown of maybe 1200 on a good day, why a farmer could make a good living on 50 acres, in the 1950s. alas, over the years , one now needs 2000 acres to make a living. thus many farmers moved to the big cities. look at "sleepy" Nashville! now three hour traffic jams and 30 construction cranes seen at once downtown, and 1.4 million people. 100+ moving in every single day. where do they come from? why...from these dying towns, all over the south! we are losing our small towns and farm life. everyone moves to the city. what will be the Traditions that we honor, 40 years from now? maybe clubbing and transgen! but in my Interlaken, there is still life. at least three or four small factories and then the Finger lakes tourism. but for many of these towns, the Dreamers have left: only the dysfunctional, the elderly, the non-dreamers, tend to remain.----as if each of us is destined to commute 10 to 20 miles each way per day in that rush hour and then work in a windowless office and eat only fast food and die young of a stress disease!!
My wife worked in Asheville, Duke Power. I would drive there every weekend and got to know the place really well. I grew up in a coal town with company houses and old tipples like in the video. I wish they subscribed where the places were. It seemed like every place was familiar. I'm almost certain I recognized some of these locations.
@@vivekguna2608 i lived in Asheville 48 yrs and had to get out cause so many moving in and everything just got so high i had to move, Asheville has changed so much and i am not sure its for the best.
You can visit a genuine coal mining "Patch Town" that still has a few people living there but it is now an open air "living history" museum in Eckley, Pennsylvania (near Hazleton) in the northeastern part of the state. Many of the small towns are literally dying with empty store fronts and no jobs for the younger people, but a few have re-invented themselves hand have become charming weekend destinations with great restaurants, cafes, shops, and lively main streets: Jim Thorpe, PA and Pittston, PA are two examples.
I recognize a few of these places in McDowell County, WV. In the 80's, the mines started shutting down, so my family left for VA. My family still lives there, and I taught in War, WV for several years. It's so sad to see the efforts of such hard-working and proud people become so dilapidated and neglected, like ghost towns. That's my heritage, and it's very depressing to see it fading away, as if it never existed...
That's where I was in McDowell County It was by the name number six or seven and the name of Filbert or Elbert I forgot I was in grade school at that time We moved to Chicago when I was in the sixth grade Some of our relatives moved to Chicago and worked for Motorola in the factory some went to Detroit and worked on the assembly line for General Motors and some went to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania work in the steel mills
I grew up in Tazewell county on the Virginia side, and I thought a place or two looked like McDowell county. I thought one place was Hartwell, or Cainbreak. Another Aminnata, half of it is in Tazewell county VA, and half of it in McDowell county WV, and a couple more looked like Whitewood and Jewel Valley. Not really sure though.
Big Creek High School 1969 here, I recognized many McDowell County memories in your video. Thank you for capturing the faded remains of what I remember as vibrant communities and mine structures. Our town of English was a great place to grow up in the 1950’s and 1960’s! May God bless you and yours.🇺🇸👍🤠🙏✝️
The dilapidated building you called a mill was actually the Bad Order Car shop where light repairs were done. Heavy repairs were done down in the Terra Alta yard across from the station. The platforms that you were looking at were the LCL (Less than Car Load) platforms. The B&O RR specialized in this form of freight because there were numerous businesses in Preston County WV in need of such transport.
So sad to see these places wherein worked hard and mothers bore and raised families. The empty churches where people worship and were married. Towns where people were born, raised and died. All these people now scattered to the wind, leaving empty dead towns. Very sad.
Welcome to the hidden costs paid by the workers to support the corporate elite. It is called "conservatism". Our entire nation is now owned by the corporations with "United We Stand". Thank you very much "good, moral, conservatives"
@Johnny Draco What are you talking about??? I was born in West Virginia in a coal mining town there's hardly any people living there From a relative We move to Chicago during the late 50s Anyway I don't understand your comment can you explain THAT
@Johnny Draco I was in grade school at that time when residing in West Virginia but I did know the coal company owned all those homes that we were in And in our small town we only had one big store that was known as The Company Store they also owned the coal mining company
@@GrumblingGrognard I'm not really understanding you do you mean companies as AT&T used to be they're the only company but now we have choices they were the I forgot the word I want to say .a Monopoly But we have large corporations and we do have the smaller businesses how are people supposed to earn a living I don't get your point You know Sears and Roebuck they never finish High School and they had a large Corporation so is that wrong? I forgot which one because I read a lot and I can't remember everything but one of them started as a Salesman And they I happen to meet each other and that's how they got together was Sears and Roebuck Later on I can't remember all that information then it was just Sears I read that years ago So are you also referring to big name tech companies The way I think about it they started a business And of course they're hoping to make it a success and I'm sure they're surprised that they are that Corporate business now that they made it big... So we all have chances I used to think of a business to start a lot of people don't want to have that they don't want a business rather work for someone My daughter is in IT AND SO IS HER BOYFRIEND THEY WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL TOGETHER She good programming I think it's coding and they and then they put her as the lead and project manager I think that was after that I'm not sure you probably know better than me then assistant manager manager director I think I miss some position in between and she's now a senior director she works 24/7 they call her anytime even when she's home after work they call her before she leaves for work they call her anytime and I assume you probably know all that that's what they're doing tand my girlfriend's daughters the same and she's a director that travels to China and Arizona Anyway she got laid off couple weeks ago was there for years worked your ass off for the company just something else even when she took me out for breakfast they called her and just I think it was really overboard the way they're doing things now You'll probably laugh But years ago in the late fifties I was a data entry operator in the accounting department downtown Chicago for the pure oil company and at that time they also had pure oil gas stations and the building is still there the Pure Oil building. On Wacker Dr the side street is Wabash and the other side is State Street And I could program our machine I was a verifier and then I work for the government verify military payroll instructed new employees and all that and then when I got married I thought I would have a data entry machine in my house as some women did in my area They called me when they needed help when they had too much work And my goal was to work on the computers in the computer room and I did eventually promoted in the computer room. Tape library accounting Department Anyway my point is I asked my daughter have you thought about you and your boyfriend ton get together they know the business and she says do you realize how hard that would be And she has enormous amount of experience and some years ago when she was looking for a job she was interviewed by five different people in a company I guess they didn't believe about her experience I'm assuming they're trying to catch her in a lie she said she has never been through that kind of extensive interview as that it was as 5 hours It was 4 or 5 people... I forgot So I'm not sure if I'm understanding you you think it's wrong with all the big Corporations
@poewhite I know about the Communists that they are extreme That you included the globalist word I thought globalist is to be good to trade with other countries and to get to know For everyone to get to know each other better And in this way not all that much conflict and there was a quote I should have wrote it down it's better to do all this trading instead of with their military killing conflict
Years ago I was driving through the coal producing area of Pennsylvania and stopped for gas at a small coal mining town. It was an odd looking place in some ways. None of the buildings in the entire town looked as if they were ever painted. Just dark unpainted weathered wood siding. The whole town was that way, even a small gas station where I filled up. People at a small store told me some stories of the town being an old company town and a bit of history I wish I could remember where it was
I have driven through many old and abandoned coal town and my wife's grandparents live in one it is sad and kind of creepy to see so many abandoned buildings
Thank you for producing the history of my people. I was born in Welch, McDowell County, the heart of WVs Southern coalfields. In my lifetime I have seen it go from boom to bust. The miners are now left in poverty while the robber coal barons live hundreds of miles away in the lap of luxury, wanting for nothing. Daniel Coleman Raised in Pageton, WV.
At :14, that is Jacob's Creek, Pa. And that's the old C+O main that runs from Chicago to Washington, DC with many miles alongside the Youghiogheny River. It's been the CSX main for several years now. I live 8 miles upstream, next to the stream called Jacob's Creek that eventually flows through the mining town that was named after it. I've driven along that railway & river many times over the years & passed through many old mining towns along the way. Some are ghost towns today & some still flourishing. There's so much railroad & mining history along that railway. The Allegheny Passage, part of the beautiful 335 mile "rails to trails" path from Pittsburgh, Pa to Washington, DC is on opposite side of Youghiogheny River. Many miles of that trail was formally Western Maryland RR, B&O RR and other RR's dating back from the 1880's. Some beautiful mountain territory & surprisingly no more than 2.5% grade. Very easily peddled or hiked. Google it. So much to see & learn. The Darr Mine explosion happened in 1907 just a few miles upriver from Jacob's Creek. Over 239 miners bodies were recovered. Many burned beyond identifying & all buried in one mass grave here in town. It was brutally difficult work. Many immigrants, new to the USA, were sent to this part of the country to work mining coal. And many of them never got to enjoy the "American dream". Sometimes history is not pretty. I've often said a prayer for people I never knew.
@@LS-ug1im Interesting. Not sure what university your referring to, but I grew up 3.5 miles from Pitt @Gbg. I moved away in 1979. Now I'm back after retiring & I'm living 15 miles away from where I grew up. It's amazing how some of us return home after retirement having spent our careers in other parts of America. Yes, the scenery has changed . My old dirt bike trails are housing communities. Where I used to bag a deer every year now has new $500K home construction. Lots has changed but a lot has stayed the same.
the large stone building at 1:39 is the company store for the coal camp of Itmann one of the largest hand cut stone structures in the region an it still stands today
My dad, Wiley V. (Boots) Moses worked at Itmann #3 for 37 years. I was at this building when I was a young child and remember it well. I have been by this beautiful building several times lately and have recent pictures of it too.
For some reason these places fascinate me and seem to have some kind of magnetism despite the hard times. I'm glad most of the railroad tracks seem to still be in use. Nice photo essay. It would be wonderful to see good times come again to these places. I admire those who still live there and somehow seem to hang on.
Your right there is a "magnetism" to these places. I live close enough to these places to drive through them ever so often. Because somehow, I am drawn to them in hopes they would be returned to their glory days.
I understand perfectly. There's some sort of bitter sweet atmosphere to them that draws you in. You remember the better days and hope for a better future.
@@zebquakenbush3547 I don't think it was really Glory Days They worked in those coal mines with accidents Our friend in town just up the street from us in his early twenties was in one of those accidents where one of the coal mines section caved in and fell on him lost his two legs And the coal mining company made him and his family a indoor bathroom he was single living with his family And bought the family A Car A lot of people didn't have cars as they do now None of the houses have garages We didn't have indoor bathrooms We had just cold running water in our kitchen sink I remember my Grandmother and Mom had to heat water on the stove coal stove Had to get up early they would use chopped wood from the yard that they chopped and put into the stove with newspaper and Coal The coal was in the back of the house by the back alley And we had a coal stove in the living room for heat And one big bedroom upstairs and there was no heat up there Took a hot water bottle to bed to put down by your feet Open the kitchen door so that the heat.can go upstairs And in the living room up by the ceiling cut a square hole in the wall so the heat from the living room could go upstairs Had no car and had to walk a distance to wait on the bus and if you miss the bus well you had to wait a long time And if somebody drove by that knew you they would take you to the next town In our town we only had one big store and it was owned by the coal mines co. it was by the name of the company store That just reminded me of many years ago remember that song The Company Store? and he was a famous singer I can't think of his name at this time Maybe you can Google the song The Company Store That's what I remember when I was there during grade school we moved to Chicago when I was in the sixth grade That was as a different world for a while till I get used to the city and we were in a third-floor . One bedroom apartment I just looked it up it was 16 tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford and then I also saw where it was sung by Johnny Cash
I am from SW Pa, and it is my homeland no matter where I happen to be living. (Ca; ugh) thank you for the nice comments. I get so tired of the negative ones. :)
My Grandfather was an underground coal miner in Boone County, West Virginia. My Dad told me when he would come home, all you could see was the whites of his eyes. He died from the black lung
My grandfather was a coal miner in Harlan Country during the time there were on strike to become a union. Talk about a tough man. When I saw Boone county , I thought coal mines? in Boone County? because he moved there, but in the north in Kentucky. :) I think those Appalachia areas are beautiful, full of very hard working people past , present and future. COAL MINERS MATTER
So sad to see these towns, that at one time were so vital to the progression of this country, and now so forgotten and neglected. I wonder what they looked like in their hey day when hard working, honest, good people walked the streets and sat on the porches visiting neighbors. Homes housing families living a hard life, while husbands and fathers worked themselves to death in the coal mines, but did what they had to do without complaint. These people were the strength of this country along with the farmers. Without them, what are we becoming?
Thank you for the video. It brings back wonderful memories of my kin in Panther 🐆, West Virginia. Yes it is hard to see the change. Somehow these relics have a mysterious artistic appeal to me. 😎
...it's a damn shame...honest hard working men doing honest hard work used to be what this country was all about...where it goes from here...God only knows...almost makes me glad to be old...
being a slave to the company store is not “what this country was all about”, coal barons raped our mountains and then left with no consequence spending their money somewhere other than West Virginia
Oh I have A comment . I was laid off from the only job I have ever had that I actually enjoyed . The coal mines in southwest Virginia are the safest place in the world . It's A dangerous job do not get me wrong . I only worked for A few years underground but the time I was underground I always felt safe . The only reason that I felt safe was the people . The best people I have ever met in my life . Hardest working , most intelligent , down to earth people you would ever meet . The mines that have been shut down in this area have devastated the economy . They just shut down A whole hospital In Lee county . The effects are on our jobs . Now there are a few large mines still open for NOW . But all of that coal goes to China , to support the steel industry that left the rust belt behind . I worked my butt off to get the best job of my life and then politicians threw it away for Fracking . I mean come on have you even looked into what kind of chemicals they are pumping into our ground water . These people do not care . They make their millions , billions and move to another country leaving us with out any jobs . Were drinking hydrochloric acid ...THEY....... Then say " Well it's good for the environment " ......are you freaking kidding me . Please people reading this spend a few moments of your time and look into fracking They say coal is bad ........it's not the environment they care about it's their buddies bank accounts that change the policies in this country . Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely .....................GodSpeed ...................... ....................The Cracken ................................................................
The Clean Air Act took your jobs , pushed by the liberal Democrats that you just kept voting over and over for . You have no one to blame but yourselves . And by the way , fracking isn't a new thing , been going on for at least 100 years . Your boy Barrack made sure your jobs will never return . Good luck with that DA .
I. Love. Appalachian. Mountain. Coal. Minning. Towns. My. Only. Complaint. About. Them. Is. The. Lack. Of. Motorcycle. Races. In. Them. The. Only. I. Have. Ever. Lived. In. That. Had. A. Motorcycle. Race. Was. Lookout. Mountain. They. Had. A. Motorcycle. Race. In. Harlan. Kentucky. Back. In. Nineren. Seventy. Four. It. Was. A. Good. Race .
This is the most saddening and depressing video, accompanied by the most mournfully appropriate music which depicts the conditions in the area around McDowell County. The transition from a viable, thriving life into one of abject poverty is described vividly with not one word having to be uttered.
I was born in Richlands, VA in 1948. There were only three types of industry there in those days, the coal mines, the rail road, and a casket factory. When my grandfather retired from the Norfork and Western Railroad in 1954, we moved to Orlando, Florida. Orlando was a land of opportunity so here we stayed. Richlands , and that part of the world though, always feels like "home" to me. The hard working mountain people are the salt of the earth. It's sad to see that industry has left these little towns and that the "mom and pop" businesses are being replaced by the "big box" stores.
This is really sad. First the buildings are left to rot, then the towns are trashed, and finally, the actual people are disposed of too. These are all the things that point to a dying country.
very hard workers ppl spilled sweat and blood for there families the kids of today dont appretiate hard work they want everything handed to them they dont realize our ansesters spilled there blood for there families and future generations
Sad to see my whole comes from the coal mines in Phelps Kentucky, hope that one day the coal industry will come back around and be a good as it once was
I'm from Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, home of Yeungling Beer. We had nothing but coal mines all over that county and beyond. My family, all worked in the mines and with coal. I was barely 17 when I left and I have only been back once, in 1986 for about 7 weeks after leaving Dallas, Texas with my now late Husband and daughter. The S&L's went bust, construction about shut down and we were all leaving it seemed like. Then went to Florida. I've been all around the South and the mining areas, it's sad to see them all dead. They took the clothing manufacturing with them too. There's not much in the old Coal Mining areas anymore. I could never go back.
Wow, what a flood of memories. All my wife's uncles were coal miners and they all died with black lung. My wife's grand mother was a cook on a tug boat on the Kanawha river. We ate ramps every spring and hunted deer and Turkeys. We caught small mouth bass on the New River and on down to the Kanawha. We moved away some years ago. I really miss it. What a great video for me.
Joker that's like saying we should still fly planes that look just like the first planes made by the Wright Brothers. It's still an aeroplane but it's much better and safer than it used to be. same goes for energy. Unfortunately coal is finite and the dirtiest source of energy we've ever used. the companies that make windmills should actually be going into these small coal towns and employing the same workers to build windmills. then they would have a new industry that provides the same thing......energy for the American people.
Jayme Theis. While I agree that some of the best ways to revitalize eastern KY and WV would be to use some of the reclaimed land from abandoned strip mining operations for solar and windmill farms you have one age old problem in central Appalachia, corrupt politicians here refusing to allow any “outsiders” in here. Some of them even have the attitude, “My PawPaw was a coal miner. My Great PawPaw was a coal miner. We ain’t lettin’ nothin’ else in here! IT’S COAL OR NOTHIN!” Meanwhile people are leaving here by the droves to look for work! We lost a battery factory that was to employ over 1000 people in Pikeville, KY with middle class jobs but some stuck up politician here got his feathers ruffled and sat on his hands until their applications for the permits to operate expired and the company ended up setting up in Lexington instead! This has been this area’s “thorn in the side” for decades. They all run for office on the same tired old promise, “VOTE FOR ME AND I’LL BRING THE COAL MINES BACK!” What’s worse the people here are stupid enough to believe it! This place is home to me and thank God I have a decent job here in the medical field but the politicians and the uneducated are the epitome of insanity! They keep saying and doing the same things over and over and expect a different result!
Many years ago I used to read about the hollows of the Appalachians. Some of my favorite stories were of Rip Van Winkle, and the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Just out of curiosity I wanted to know what the places of Appalachia were like in these days. There was always something charming about those areas where the people were tough and hardworking. When I clicked on this CZcams channel I was shocked. I expected to see vibrant little towns full of life, and busy people filled with activity. Instead of a vibrant town I saw lonely streets, buildings and homes with darken empty windows. I wondered where did all the people go. Why did they abandon their beautiful places. Why would one trade the serenity of country living for the congestion and crimes of big city life.
I just left West Virginia in 2013, but I lived in a town full of bad people so, I had to leave. I spent my teenage years there and part of my young adult life there. I was always judged for being an "outsider". So, WV is not a place I really want to go back to now after everyone who wronged me there.
Fabled Glory one day you might go back and visit. I had a similar experience in a small town in western Canada. A few years later I went back to visit, people were actually happy to see me, I was very surprised!! Those same people that were mean and nasty years before had never left that town. I had left and carried on a happy successful life. It made me feel sad in a strange way. Leaving was a good thing, returning healed me.
What a treat to see Millie Thompson Stallard in the film of Upper Pond Creek.....she and her husband (Darwin) were my parents best friends in the 20's and 30's...they spent many week-ends camping out on the banks of the Levisa River and near Gilbert, WV fishing and swimming. It would have been nice if Millie could have related some of her adventures on the video....she lived to be in her 100's.......Peggy Rengers King
What a great video! Thanks for sharing all these photos. You put in a lot of work and travel to get these from all over the mountains. At the opening, I thought maybe it was Copeland, but obviously it was a different sound. Well selected. Who's the composer?
I didn't grow up around coal mining,i grew up around farming..the town I grew up in called latah,is now nothing more than a ghost town.the thing is it's not the only one like that. there was so much history in that eastern Washington area that is all gone.the people who live there now I don't know.i can name a dozen towns in the area that don't have a store,a gas station,a bank,a restaurant.nothing.you have to drive forty to fifty miles to have any kind of shopping.so I know its hard. seeing the place my dad and my friends dad all in decay.but friends,that's life. I don't know how we can change it.. time moves on,with or without us.i long for the good old days when there was a community .everyone knew each other and you didn't have to worry about being robbed or beat up.... so it's not just your area,its the whole country that has changed.. good luck to you all...an old guy that remembers a different time,a good time.
Did anyone else think of Tennessee Ernie Ford? It took me forever to find out what he meant about the 'company store'. It's something none of us should ever forget along with Mother Mary Harris.
Should have given the names. I stomped around a lot of old mine camps back in the 70's that have been all reclaimed and nothing is left to even tell they had been there now.
The very first picture is of Cunard, in Fayette County! Walked down that road many times, delivering news papers, long ago. Doesn't seem to have changed much. Nope, I'm wrong. Hard to tell after all these years.
I’m from Fleming Neon Ky and live in Pikeville Ky now. I actually recognize some of these places. One was definitely Stone, Ky near Belfry. Also saw Jenkins, Mcroberts. Maybe Van Lear Ky as well.
+Robin Roland I really liked the music! Looks like I'm alone in that : ) It does seem oddly upbeat in contrast to the lonesome photography, but to me it was a nice contrast. Like a David Lynch movie - just ... odd and off-putting in a mysterious sort of way.
Au contraire: this music seems to be almost ideally suited for the subject. It is sufficiently melancholy to accent the sadness of a bygone way of life, but at the same time it contains a bit of wonder to underscore the natural beauty and rich history of the region.
I also live in Kentucky. my grandfather was a coal miner. He died of black lung and other issues. Hard working people that's for sure. Coal mining still exists though, its not like its all stopped.
I grew up in Frostburg, Allegany County. Maryland - head of the George's Creek Valley. My ancestors came there in the 1800s from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to work in the coal mines. Most historians are unaware of the quality of the soft ( bituminous ) coal that was taken from this area for over a century. Many of the photos in this video could have been taken there.
@@josephelliott9271 My paternal grandfather's mother was named Lily Green, and was from Lonaconing, MD - about 8 miles south of Frostburg. You and I are probably related!
@@josephelliott9271 Hey Joe, the only Green that I know I am related to from Lonaconing would have been my great grandmother Lily Green. She had my grandfather John D. Crowe out of wedlock by John Francis Crowe. My grandfather died in 1935 ( never knew him ), and according to records in the Allegany Court House in Cumberland his mother Lily died in 1927 in Cumberland. This wasn't discovered until recent years, but we do know that John D. was raised by William Crowe of Frostburg and were told that William was his brother. However, it was revealed later in research that William was actually his uncle - a brother to his father John F. These things were always kept very hush hush years ago in families. My grandfather also had one sister named Mable by Lily and John F. I did not know a William Green, who would have been your uncle, but I'm almost certain that since Green is such a prevalent name in Lonaconing Lily fits into your mother's family tree somewhere. Do you happen to know if any Greens from up there have done an extensive family/ancestral search going way back? Do you happen to know what nationality these Greens were? Perhaps your mother mentioned that. There are many people of Scottish ancestry in Coney - thought maybe the Greens traced their roots to Scotland.
LOVE THEASE OLD MTNS,,SOMETIMES WISH I COULD GO THERE AND RESTART THE TOWNS,BUILD FACTORIES AND MAKE JOBS AND PRODUCTS FLOW AGAIN.BUT IM OLD AND RETIRED NOW...
How sad that once bustling towns and cities now are abandoned and so many jobs once available no longer exist. I know mining was very bad for your health but it was a job that needed to be done and paid well enough for these men to support their families. With technology imploding at super sonic speed, so many other jobs have been lost and will continue to be lost, and they call it progress
So sad. Sad for me, because I was in several of these places when they were "booming." There were thousands of mining and mining support jobs. These towns and communities were busy, busy, busy.
Tony, most of these towns saw their boom back in the 1940's and early 1950's. A downshift in demand and automation of mining (strip mines) cost thousands upon thousands of workers their jobs. Most of those workers left the area for jobs in the north. The industry eventually picked up, and some miners were hired, not nearly what it had seen decades before. Stiff competition from the Natural Gas industry has once again taken the demand for coal down. Some of that down tick was due to EPA regulations.
+Nellie Robertson You backwoods hicks believe every lie told to you by the republicans. Pres. Obama didn't close shit! And too bad he didn't as dangerous as those coal mines are. Ya want to end up having your loved ones blown to pieces like the Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine did in April 2010? 29 Of 31 miners killed due to the CEO who violated safety regulations. Find another line of work, stop clinging to a lifestyle that's over 100 yrs old. You're so uneducated you don't even know how to spell "welfare".
I live in Kentucky. I still see loads of coal piled up here. They are still mining it. but these photos are very interesting, sad and beautiful. nice music with it.
I yes to drive trucks for Sherwin Williams. And I delivered to hazard and Pikeville Ky. Dangerous roads. Cold truck skidded down side of my trailer. .1970s. . And drove in there when the coal strike was going on.. Scary!
At 0:14 Jacobs Creek PA. This and nearby coal towns involved in the Darr Mine disaster. 239 people died. Part of the worst month of coal disasters in the US. 3000 died that December. The building closest was the old company store.
I'm from McCreary co. Stearns used to be full of the big beautiful white houses... my Daddy worried in mines when I was small. 7 kids and vet small house in Smihtown Ky.
What a neat photo essay. These re the kinds of place we should be helping out instead of flitting all over the world frittering away taxpayer money on foreign adventurism. What ever happened to LBJ's "Great Society?" I notice in many of the pictures the railroad tracks are shiny and the signal systems still work. I guess there's still trains rumbling through with business from somewhere.
Thanks for doing this video. I know some of the new cameras have GPS embedding capadbilitys wouldnt it be nice to have coordinates with the pics so people could see where they were and perhaps visit some of these historical sites. AGAIN . . . Thank you so much for this video David Lawrence
I used to live in a house on the corner of 63 and 209! about 16:00 into the video. deep valleys, only way in is over a 3600...3800 foot mountain pass. the *real* Appalachia. not much poverty, no coal mining. a wonderful mysterious valley, the Spring Creek valley. the town where this store is, on the corner, the town is "Trust", that is its name. when I lived there with sister for a year or so, its population was TWO, she and I. now there is a boom there, maybe four people and the store! note how few cars there are, on this road.
Most of those mines were closed because they were already played out, meaning the coal had already been removed. I saw Thurmond WVa. in there a couple times. Also, a lot of those areas in this video are not dead. Coal may be on a decline right now but it is going to be around for a long time.
Who wants to work in coal mines so many men here in wales have died through coal related diseases and very cruel at that for very poor pay and now of course our dear exminers who are left are fighting for ther. e compensation
Oh my goodness. What beautifully poignant photos We also lost the coal industry in the UK, but the people largely remained in the towns. Possibly because we are smaller, so it's not as easy to just abandon complete areas? I don't know. Anyway, our ex-mining communities here are tragic. High unemployment. Few opportunities, even less hope..... I look at these photos, and hear the life, the activity, the noise, the sound of children playing.........just as I hear the ghosts of sounds around here where I live xx
Many of the old row houses look to be kept up and lived in. What do people do for a living now? Lots of the railroad track is shiny with trains still coming through. It's not total desolation.
Why do people try to act like these places were booming until Obama was elected. They have been abandoned for decades and few people have jobs even when times are better. If you've ever lived with someone with black lung you would just as soon every mine be closed. It's a horrific life with a horrific ending and some people want to go back to the good ole days. Go ahead.
it started long before the late 90's WV had nothing more than mining to offer for work so many left for a decent job a lot of these mines closed years ago and now the strippers are just trying to pick over the left overs and making a mess of the land
thank you for the truth, as my dad was a coal miner during times when they hand loaded the rail cars and it was hard hard work, he suffered from black lung disease and it was so hard to watch him fight for every breath and was not compensated for his suffering at his miners pension was a big total of 95 dollars a month which was paid to my mom after he died from the disease
And to all those miners who lost their lives just trying to feed their families that died so tragically of Black Lung, rest in peace as you should be proud of being a loving person.
I am retired and have emphysema now and I have the best medical care. These poor miners were as bad as I am, much younger, and had to go back into the mines to feed their children and try to keep their wife happy. Death by a thousand cuts.
@@AmericanPatriot-bp7cu Get well soon.
Today if they had the correct breathing aperatis they still be alive or living out there older years it sad it truly is that many died got stuck in them mines never to get out
@@keithburchett3982 Yes, so sad.
sigh....I once lived just west of Asheville, North Carolina. no coal, but mountain people. I recently asked a man who lived near here, and I asked him, "all of those empty houses in the hollows, did they all go to Detroit after the war to work in auto factories?". no...he says, the out-migration begun at ww II where the mountain Celtic Scotch-Irish, natural warriors, enlisted in the army. they saw the outside world for the first time, then they never went back! coal, as the comments say, below, many mines just played out, ran out of coal. the China-thing was merely a death blow. but this video does not show the healthy areas and even the healthy areas within the very same towns as in the video. there are still many good people there. I grew up in Interlaken, new York. on the top of the Northern area of the Allegany Plateau. very rich farmland. my hometown of maybe 1200 on a good day, why a farmer could make a good living on 50 acres, in the 1950s. alas, over the years , one now needs 2000 acres to make a living. thus many farmers moved to the big cities. look at "sleepy" Nashville! now three hour traffic jams and 30 construction cranes seen at once downtown, and 1.4 million people. 100+ moving in every single day. where do they come from? why...from these dying towns, all over the south! we are losing our small towns and farm life. everyone moves to the city. what will be the Traditions that we honor, 40 years from now? maybe clubbing and transgen! but in my Interlaken, there is still life. at least three or four small factories and then the Finger lakes tourism. but for many of these towns, the Dreamers have left: only the dysfunctional, the elderly, the non-dreamers, tend to remain.----as if each of us is destined to commute 10 to 20 miles each way per day in that rush hour and then work in a windowless office and eat only fast food and die young of a stress disease!!
freestone wilson I laughed at *”what will be tradition 40 years from now? ... clubbing and transgen?”* 😂🤣
I lived in asheville for 6years. That was the greatest place in my life. Asheville means heaven to me
My wife worked in Asheville, Duke Power. I would drive there every weekend and got to know the place really well. I grew up in a coal town with company houses and old tipples like in the video. I wish they subscribed where the places were. It seemed like every place was familiar. I'm almost certain I recognized some of these locations.
@@vivekguna2608 i lived in Asheville 48 yrs and had to get out cause so many moving in and everything just got so high i had to move, Asheville has changed so much and i am not sure its for the best.
West Virginia, is wild and wonderful, however it is poverty stricken. Coal industry, ruined it.💀👽👀👽🙏🌜🚂⭐
You can visit a genuine coal mining "Patch Town" that still has a few people living there but it is now an open air "living history" museum in Eckley, Pennsylvania (near Hazleton) in the northeastern part of the state. Many of the small towns are literally dying with empty store fronts and no jobs for the younger people, but a few have re-invented themselves hand have become charming weekend destinations with great restaurants, cafes, shops, and lively main streets: Jim Thorpe, PA and Pittston, PA are two examples.
I recognize a few of these places in McDowell County, WV. In the 80's, the mines started shutting down, so my family left for VA. My family still lives there, and I taught in War, WV for several years. It's so sad to see the efforts of such hard-working and proud people become so dilapidated and neglected, like ghost towns. That's my heritage, and it's very depressing to see it fading away, as if it never existed...
That's where I was in McDowell County
It was by the name number six or seven and the name of Filbert or Elbert
I forgot I was in grade school at that time
We moved to Chicago when I was in the sixth grade
Some of our relatives moved to Chicago and worked for Motorola in the factory
some went to Detroit and worked on the assembly line for General Motors and some went to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania work in the steel mills
My people are from Mingo County.
I grew up in Tazewell county on the Virginia side, and I thought a place or two looked like McDowell county. I thought one place was Hartwell, or Cainbreak. Another Aminnata, half of it is in Tazewell county VA, and half of it in McDowell county WV, and a couple more looked like Whitewood and Jewel Valley. Not really sure though.
Not to mention everyone is hooked on opiates like OxyContin or heroin
I believe that as long as there are people who remember WV Coal towns and the people who lived there , it exists.
We remember.
At 00:33 is Thurmond, West Virginia. That house on the left is being completely restored right now. I filmed it. They may rent it is what I was told
Where can we see a video of the building?
Big Creek High School 1969 here, I recognized many McDowell County memories in your video. Thank you for capturing the faded remains of what I remember as vibrant communities and mine structures. Our town of English was a great place to grow up in the 1950’s and 1960’s! May God bless you and yours.🇺🇸👍🤠🙏✝️
The dilapidated building you called a mill was actually the Bad Order Car shop where light repairs were done. Heavy repairs were done down in the Terra Alta yard across from the station. The platforms that you were looking at were the LCL (Less than Car Load) platforms. The B&O RR specialized in this form of freight because there were numerous businesses in Preston County WV in need of such transport.
I just love that area! I went to military school in Kingwood, n sadly now live in northern WV.
So sad to see these places wherein worked hard and mothers bore and raised families. The empty churches where people worship and were married. Towns where people were born, raised and died. All these people now scattered to the wind, leaving empty dead towns. Very sad.
Welcome to the hidden costs paid by the workers to support the corporate elite. It is called "conservatism". Our entire nation is now owned by the corporations with "United We Stand". Thank you very much "good, moral, conservatives"
@Johnny Draco
What are you talking about???
I was born in West Virginia in a coal mining town there's hardly any people living there
From a relative
We move to Chicago during the late 50s
Anyway I don't understand your comment
can you explain THAT
@Johnny Draco
I was in grade school at that time when residing in West Virginia
but I did know the coal company owned all those homes that we were in
And in our small town we only had one big store that was known as The Company Store
they also owned
the coal mining company
@@GrumblingGrognard
I'm not really understanding you do you mean companies as AT&T used to be they're the only company but now we have choices they were the
I forgot the word
I want to say .a Monopoly
But we have large corporations and we do have the smaller businesses how are people supposed to earn a living I don't get your point
You know Sears and Roebuck they never finish High School and they had a large Corporation so is that wrong?
I forgot which one because I read a lot and I can't remember everything but one of them started as a Salesman
And they I happen to meet each other and that's how they got together was Sears and Roebuck
Later on I can't remember all that information
then it was just Sears
I read that years ago
So are you also referring to big name tech companies
The way I think about it they started a business
And of course they're hoping to make it a success and I'm sure they're surprised that they are that Corporate business now
that they made it big...
So we all have chances I used to think of a business to start a lot of people don't want to have that
they don't want a business rather work for someone
My daughter is in IT AND SO IS HER BOYFRIEND THEY WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL TOGETHER
She good programming I think it's coding and they and then they put her as the lead and project manager I think that was after that I'm not sure you probably know better than me then assistant manager manager director I think I miss some position in between and she's now a senior director she works 24/7 they call her anytime even when she's home after work they call her before she leaves for work they call her anytime and I assume you probably know all that that's what they're doing tand my girlfriend's daughters the same and she's a director that travels to China and Arizona
Anyway she got laid off couple weeks ago was there for years worked your ass off for the company just something else even when she took me out for breakfast they called her and just I think it was really overboard the way they're doing things now
You'll probably laugh
But years ago in the late fifties I was a data entry operator in the accounting department downtown Chicago for the pure oil company and at that time they also had pure oil gas stations and the building is still there the Pure Oil building. On Wacker Dr
the side street is Wabash and the other side is State Street
And I could program our machine I was a verifier and then I work for the government verify military payroll instructed new employees and all that and then when I got married I thought I would have a data entry machine in my house as some women did in my area
They called me when they needed help when they had too much work
And my goal was to work on the computers in the computer room and I did eventually promoted in the computer room. Tape library accounting Department
Anyway my point is I asked my daughter have you thought about you and your boyfriend ton get together they know the business and she says do you realize how hard that would be
And she has enormous amount of experience and some years ago when she was looking for a job she was interviewed by five different people in a company I guess they didn't believe about her experience
I'm assuming they're trying to catch her in a lie she said she has never been through that kind of extensive interview as that it was as 5 hours
It was 4 or 5 people... I forgot
So I'm not sure if I'm understanding you
you think it's wrong with all the big Corporations
@poewhite
I know about the Communists that they are extreme
That you included the globalist word
I thought globalist is to be good to trade with other countries and to get to know
For everyone to get to know each other better
And in this way not all that much conflict and there was a quote I should have wrote it down it's better to do all this trading instead of with their military killing conflict
Born and raised in front of a coal mine...takes me back..thank you🙂
Years ago I was driving through the coal producing area of Pennsylvania and stopped for gas at a small coal mining town. It was an odd looking place in some ways. None of the buildings in the entire town looked as if they were ever painted. Just dark unpainted weathered wood siding. The whole town was that way, even a small gas station where I filled up. People at a small store told me some stories of the town being an old company town and a bit of history I wish I could remember where it was
I have driven through many old and abandoned coal town and my wife's grandparents live in one it is sad and kind of creepy to see so many abandoned buildings
Thank you for producing the history of my people. I was born in Welch, McDowell County, the heart of WVs Southern coalfields. In my lifetime I have seen it go from boom to bust. The miners are now left in poverty while the robber coal barons live hundreds of miles away in the lap of luxury, wanting for nothing.
Daniel Coleman
Raised in Pageton, WV.
sos. nothing's changed
At :14, that is Jacob's Creek, Pa. And that's the old C+O main that runs from Chicago to Washington, DC with many miles alongside the Youghiogheny River. It's been the CSX main for several years now. I live 8 miles upstream, next to the stream called Jacob's Creek that eventually flows through the mining town that was named after it. I've driven along that railway & river many times over the years & passed through many old mining towns along the way. Some are ghost towns today & some still flourishing. There's so much railroad & mining history along that railway. The Allegheny Passage, part of the beautiful 335 mile "rails to trails" path from Pittsburgh, Pa to Washington, DC is on opposite side of Youghiogheny River. Many miles of that trail was formally Western Maryland RR, B&O RR and other RR's dating back from the 1880's. Some beautiful mountain territory & surprisingly no more than 2.5% grade. Very easily peddled or hiked. Google it. So much to see & learn. The Darr Mine explosion happened in 1907 just a few miles upriver from Jacob's Creek. Over 239 miners bodies were recovered. Many burned beyond identifying & all buried in one mass grave here in town. It was brutally difficult work. Many immigrants, new to the USA, were sent to this part of the country to work mining coal. And many of them never got to enjoy the "American dream". Sometimes history is not pretty. I've often said a prayer for people I never knew.
@@LS-ug1im Interesting. Not sure what university your referring to, but I grew up 3.5 miles from Pitt @Gbg. I moved away in 1979. Now I'm back after retiring & I'm living 15 miles away from where I grew up. It's amazing how some of us return home after retirement having spent our careers in other parts of America. Yes, the scenery has changed . My old dirt bike trails are housing communities. Where I used to bag a deer every year now has new $500K home construction. Lots has changed but a lot has stayed the same.
the large stone building at 1:39 is the company store for the coal camp of Itmann one of the largest hand cut stone structures in the region an it still stands today
Yes it is. I have family in the area. It served as a homeless shelter for quite some time but I'm not sure if it still serves that purpose.
no it doesn't, it stands empty but still has maintenance done on it such as a mowed lawn.
My dad, Wiley V. (Boots) Moses worked at Itmann #3 for 37 years. I was at this building when I was a young child and remember it well. I have been by this beautiful building several times lately and have recent pictures of it too.
Where is Itmann?
Douglas Casey Wyoming County WV, take WV rt 16
For some reason these places fascinate me and seem to have some kind of magnetism despite the hard times. I'm glad most of the railroad tracks seem to still be in use. Nice photo essay. It would be wonderful to see good times come again to these places. I admire those who still live there and somehow seem to hang on.
Your right there is a "magnetism" to these places. I live close enough to these places to drive through them ever so often. Because somehow, I am drawn to them in hopes they would be returned to their glory days.
I understand perfectly. There's some sort of bitter sweet atmosphere to them that draws you in. You remember the better days and hope for a better future.
+zeb quakenbush coal was 1950s..dusty dirty. i was a kid
@@zebquakenbush3547
I don't think it was really Glory Days
They worked in those coal mines with accidents
Our friend in town just up the street from us in his early twenties was in one of those accidents where one of the coal mines section caved in and fell on him lost his two legs
And the coal mining company made him and his family a indoor bathroom he was single living with his family
And bought the family A Car
A lot of people didn't have cars as they do now
None of the houses have garages
We didn't have indoor bathrooms
We had just cold running water in our kitchen sink
I remember my Grandmother and Mom had to heat water on the stove coal stove
Had to get up early they would use chopped wood from the yard that they chopped and put into the stove with newspaper and Coal
The coal was in the back of the house by the back alley
And we had a coal stove in the living room for heat
And one big bedroom upstairs and there was no heat up there
Took a hot water bottle to bed to put down by your feet
Open the kitchen door so that the heat.can go upstairs
And in the living room up by the ceiling cut a square hole in the wall so the heat from the living room could go upstairs
Had no car and had to walk a distance to wait on the bus and if you miss the bus well you had to wait a long time
And if somebody drove by that knew you they would take you to the next town
In our town we only had one big store and it was owned by the coal mines co. it was by the name of the company store
That just reminded me of many years ago remember that song The Company Store?
and he was a famous singer I can't think of his name at this time
Maybe you can Google the song The Company Store
That's what I remember when I was there during grade school
we moved to Chicago when I was in the sixth grade
That was as a different world for a while till I get used to the city and we were in a third-floor . One bedroom apartment
I just looked it up it was 16 tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford and then I also saw where it was sung by Johnny Cash
I am from SW Pa, and it is my homeland no matter where I happen to be living. (Ca; ugh) thank you for the nice comments. I get so tired of the negative ones. :)
A sad reminder of what once was.
I was going to say it looks both charming and depressing.
When America Was America
My Grandfather was an underground coal miner in Boone County, West Virginia. My Dad told me when he would come home, all you could see was the whites of his eyes. He died from the black lung
Mine died of black lung too... I'm from Smithtown Ky
My grandfather was a coal miner in Harlan Country during the time there were on strike to become a union. Talk about a tough man. When I saw Boone county , I thought coal mines? in Boone County? because he moved there, but in the north in Kentucky. :) I think those Appalachia areas are beautiful, full of very hard working people past , present and future. COAL MINERS MATTER
I feel ya, my uncle died from getting stabbed by a black in his lung.
So sad to see these towns, that at one time were so vital to the progression of this country, and now so forgotten and neglected. I wonder what they looked like in their hey day when hard working, honest, good people walked the streets and sat on the porches visiting neighbors. Homes housing families living a hard life, while husbands and fathers worked themselves to death in the coal mines, but did what they had to do without complaint. These people were the strength of this country along with the farmers. Without them, what are we becoming?
Too bad the locations weren't labeled
That's what I was thinking. I now live down south, but grew up in a coal community just like these. I thought all the places looked familiar.
0.34 Thurmond west Virginia
1.52 also thurmond
A lot of it was Eastern Kentucky. That’s where I live. Also West Virginia as well
Thanks for sharing the places and lives of the great parents and grand parents... good memories.
fine video essay. what a musical choice! evoked the loss and echoing silence that remains
I agree with you 1000%. Thank you for posting.
"Home Sweet Home."
Thank you for the video. It brings back wonderful memories of my kin in Panther 🐆, West Virginia. Yes it is hard to see the change. Somehow these relics have a mysterious artistic appeal to me. 😎
...it's a damn shame...honest hard working men doing honest hard work used to be what this country was all about...where it goes from here...God only knows...almost makes me glad to be old...
being a slave to the company store is not “what this country was all about”, coal barons raped our mountains and then left with no consequence spending their money somewhere other than West Virginia
@@magneto44 don't forget black lung
Oh I have A comment . I was laid off from the only job I have ever had that I actually enjoyed . The coal mines in southwest Virginia are the safest place in the world . It's A dangerous job do not get me wrong . I only worked for A few years underground but the time I was underground I always felt safe . The only reason that I felt safe was the people . The best people I have ever met in my life . Hardest working , most intelligent , down to earth people you would ever meet . The mines that have been shut down in this area have devastated the economy . They just shut down A whole hospital In Lee county . The effects are on our jobs . Now there are a few large mines still open for NOW . But all of that coal goes to China , to support the steel industry that left the rust belt behind . I worked my butt off to get the best job of my life and then politicians threw it away for Fracking . I mean come on have you even looked into what kind of chemicals they are pumping into our ground water . These people do not care . They make their millions , billions and move to another country leaving us with out any jobs . Were drinking hydrochloric acid ...THEY....... Then say " Well it's good for the environment " ......are you freaking kidding me .
Please people reading this spend a few moments of your time and look into fracking
They say coal is bad ........it's not the environment they care about it's their buddies bank accounts that change the policies in this country . Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely .....................GodSpeed ......................
....................The Cracken ................................................................
Fracking is horrible. Thanks for bringing that up. horrible coal companies taking advantage of people --- still!
coal is the worst thing to ever happen to the state of West Virginia, luckily it is the past and will never come back
The Clean Air Act took your jobs , pushed by the liberal Democrats that you just kept voting over and over for . You have no one to blame but yourselves . And by the way , fracking isn't a new thing , been going on for at least 100 years . Your boy Barrack made sure your jobs will never return . Good luck with that DA .
I. Love. Appalachian. Mountain. Coal. Minning. Towns. My. Only. Complaint. About. Them. Is. The. Lack. Of. Motorcycle. Races. In. Them. The. Only. I. Have. Ever. Lived. In. That. Had. A. Motorcycle. Race. Was. Lookout. Mountain. They. Had. A. Motorcycle. Race. In. Harlan. Kentucky. Back. In. Nineren. Seventy. Four. It. Was. A. Good. Race .
Donald. Trump. Is. A. Rich. And. Snobbish. Person. Whom. Could. Care. Less. About. The. Poor. Appalachian. Mountain. Person . Coal. Mining. Will. Never. Be. What. It. Once. Was . Coal. Mining. Should. Have. Never. Become. Mecagnized . Donald. Trump. Just. Told. People. That. He. Was. Going. To. Help. Coal. Miners. Just. To. Get. Them. To. Get. Him. To. Vote. For. Him !
This is the most saddening and depressing video, accompanied by the most mournfully appropriate music which depicts the conditions in the area around McDowell County. The transition from a viable, thriving life into one of abject poverty is described vividly with not one word having to be uttered.
I was born in Richlands, VA in 1948. There were only three types of industry there in those days, the coal mines, the rail road, and a casket factory. When my grandfather retired from the Norfork and Western Railroad in 1954, we moved to Orlando, Florida. Orlando was a land of opportunity so here we stayed. Richlands , and that part of the world though, always feels like "home" to me. The hard working mountain people are the salt of the earth. It's sad to see that industry has left these little towns and that the "mom and pop" businesses are being replaced by the "big box" stores.
This is really sad. First the buildings are left to rot, then the towns are trashed, and finally, the actual people are disposed of too. These are all the things that point to a dying country.
very hard workers ppl spilled sweat and blood for there families the kids of today dont appretiate hard work they want everything handed to them they dont realize our ansesters spilled there blood for there families and future generations
That's real talk
I also blame the parents as well. Allowing their grown kids lived at home with no responsibility it's crazy
Is there any economic hope for these towns, hell, even growing hemp on marijuana?
Gary Smith again, I also posted a video named, "Kentucky's Back Roads" filmed near Hazard, Kentucky
Sad to see my whole comes from the coal mines in Phelps Kentucky, hope that one day the coal industry will come back around and be a good as it once was
That is beautiful Coal towns I like.
I'm from Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, home of Yeungling Beer. We had nothing but coal mines all over that county and beyond. My family, all worked in the mines and with coal. I was barely 17 when I left and I have only been back once, in 1986 for about 7 weeks after leaving Dallas, Texas with my now late Husband and daughter. The S&L's went bust, construction about shut down and we were all leaving it seemed like. Then went to Florida. I've been all around the South and the mining areas, it's sad to see them all dead. They took the clothing manufacturing with them too. There's not much in the old Coal Mining areas anymore. I could never go back.
popcorn Sutton kept these ol' miners happy.....!!! ;-) rip ...you Legend...!!!
No he didnt he was in nc. There were plenty of stills in wv.
Wow, what a flood of memories. All my wife's uncles were coal miners and they all died with black lung. My wife's grand mother was a cook on a tug boat on the Kanawha river. We ate ramps every spring and hunted deer and Turkeys. We caught small mouth bass on the New River and on down to the Kanawha. We moved away some years ago. I really miss it. What a great video for me.
It's sad how little effort is made to preserve our coal mining heritage
do you go to the school in Kentucky.💏
Samantha Farbe Excuse me?
Joker that's like saying we should still fly planes that look just like the first planes made by the Wright Brothers. It's still an aeroplane but it's much better and safer than it used to be.
same goes for energy. Unfortunately coal is finite and the dirtiest source of energy we've ever used. the companies that make windmills should actually be going into these small coal towns and employing the same workers to build windmills. then they would have a new industry that provides the same thing......energy for the American people.
Jayme Theis. While I agree that some of the best ways to revitalize eastern KY and WV would be to use some of the reclaimed land from abandoned strip mining operations for solar and windmill farms you have one age old problem in central Appalachia, corrupt politicians here refusing to allow any “outsiders” in here. Some of them even have the attitude, “My PawPaw was a coal miner. My Great PawPaw was a coal miner. We ain’t lettin’ nothin’ else in here! IT’S COAL OR NOTHIN!” Meanwhile people are leaving here by the droves to look for work! We lost a battery factory that was to employ over 1000 people in Pikeville, KY with middle class jobs but some stuck up politician here got his feathers ruffled and sat on his hands until their applications for the permits to operate expired and the company ended up setting up in Lexington instead! This has been this area’s “thorn in the side” for decades. They all run for office on the same tired old promise, “VOTE FOR ME AND I’LL BRING THE COAL MINES BACK!” What’s worse the people here are stupid enough to believe it! This place is home to me and thank God I have a decent job here in the medical field but the politicians and the uneducated are the epitome of insanity! They keep saying and doing the same things over and over and expect a different result!
@@ultrajayme
One of the best comments here.
At 0:38 there is a great photo of the St. John's Baptist Churh at Stotesbury in Raleigh Co. It has since collapsed
I live in Kentucky, this video is really fantastic , the music fits it very well.
Many years ago I used to read about the hollows of the Appalachians. Some of my favorite stories were of Rip Van Winkle, and the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Just out of curiosity I wanted to know what the places of Appalachia were like in these days. There was always something charming about those areas where the people were tough and hardworking.
When I clicked on this CZcams channel I was shocked. I expected to see vibrant little towns full of life, and busy people filled with activity. Instead of a vibrant town I saw lonely streets, buildings and homes with darken empty windows. I wondered where did all the people go. Why did they abandon their beautiful places. Why would one trade the serenity of country living for the congestion and crimes of big city life.
I just left West Virginia in 2013, but I lived in a town full of bad people so, I had to leave. I spent my teenage years there and part of my young adult life there. I was always judged for being an "outsider". So, WV is not a place I really want to go back to now after everyone who wronged me there.
was it the kkk?
Boone county? lol
Funny how those shitty little towns do that sort of thing.
Fabled Glory one day you might go back and visit. I had a similar experience in a small town in western Canada. A few years later I went back to visit, people were actually happy to see me, I was very surprised!! Those same people that were mean and nasty years before had never left that town. I had left and carried on a happy successful life. It made me feel sad in a strange way. Leaving was a good thing, returning healed me.
We don’t like outsiders
Enjoyed the video, music well that can go the window, thanks for sharing my compliments sir
What a treat to see Millie Thompson Stallard in the film of Upper Pond Creek.....she and her husband (Darwin) were my parents best friends in the 20's and 30's...they spent many week-ends camping out on the banks of the Levisa River and near Gilbert, WV fishing and swimming. It would have been nice if Millie could have related some of her adventures on the video....she lived to be in her 100's.......Peggy Rengers King
Brings back memories I'd rather forget! They were still thriving not too long ago in Virginia.
My contempt is leveled at the coal companies who have subjected Appalachians to a state of eternal poverty and dependence.
What a great video! Thanks for sharing all these photos. You put in a lot of work and travel to get these from all over the mountains. At the opening, I thought maybe it was Copeland, but obviously it was a different sound. Well selected. Who's the composer?
I live in Appalachia. There are lots of 5hese around such as Sligo PA, Summerville PA, and Limestone Pa.
I grew up in southern West Virginia and I remember how, in some towns, all the houses looked exactly the same.
All the people acted the same, some still do. Thousands moved to Ohio, they are still West Virginians!
We grew up together ol bud you on lorton lick and me in Montcalm
@@joeysands4115 sure did!! What's up joey!!
Not shit just hanging in there bro
@@joeysands4115 I know what ya mean.
I didn't grow up around coal mining,i grew up around farming..the town I grew up in called latah,is now nothing more than a ghost town.the thing is it's not the only one like that. there was so much history in that eastern Washington area that is all gone.the people who live there now I don't know.i can name a dozen towns in the area that don't have a store,a gas station,a bank,a restaurant.nothing.you have to drive forty to fifty miles to have any kind of shopping.so I know its hard. seeing the place my dad and my friends dad all in decay.but friends,that's life. I don't know how we can change it.. time moves on,with or without us.i long for the good old days when there was a community .everyone knew each other and you didn't have to worry about being robbed or beat up.... so it's not just your area,its the whole country that has changed.. good luck to you all...an old guy that remembers a different time,a good time.
Looks so familiar. I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains - Wise County Virginia. Both of my grandfathers were miners and had black lung.
The photography is just superior, the music fit perfectly...but the subject was very sad and strangely beautiful.
Did anyone else think of Tennessee Ernie Ford? It took me forever to find out what he meant about the 'company store'. It's something none of us should ever forget along with Mother Mary Harris.
Should have given the names. I stomped around a lot of old mine camps back in the 70's that have been all reclaimed and nothing is left to even tell they had been there now.
The very first picture is of Cunard, in Fayette County! Walked down that road many times, delivering news papers, long ago. Doesn't seem to have changed much. Nope, I'm wrong. Hard to tell after all these years.
I’m from Fleming Neon Ky and live in Pikeville Ky now. I actually recognize some of these places. One was definitely Stone, Ky near Belfry. Also saw Jenkins, Mcroberts. Maybe Van Lear Ky as well.
Nice video
great photos. But you definitely hit the wrong button for the music.
+Robin Roland I really liked the music! Looks like I'm alone in that : ) It does seem oddly upbeat in contrast to the lonesome photography, but to me it was a nice contrast. Like a David Lynch movie - just ... odd and off-putting in a mysterious sort of way.
Au contraire: this music seems to be almost ideally suited for the subject. It is sufficiently melancholy to accent the sadness of a bygone way of life, but at the same time it contains a bit of wonder to underscore the natural beauty and rich history of the region.
@@clementinemoss3904 I actually really liked the music as well. it really fit the pictures. :)
Best judgement comes from above. I can understand how things can get upside down,. Brian~Koller
I live in east KY & these old coal camps are everywhere here funny how they all look alike .
do you go to the school in Kentucky
yeah i saw benham and lynch on the video.
I also live in Kentucky. my grandfather was a coal miner. He died of black lung and other issues. Hard working people that's for sure. Coal mining still exists though, its not like its all stopped.
So do I. I’m from Fleming Neon
I grew up in Frostburg, Allegany County. Maryland - head of the George's Creek Valley.
My ancestors came there in the 1800s from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to work in the coal mines. Most historians are unaware of the quality of the soft ( bituminous ) coal that was taken from this area for over a century. Many of the photos in this video could have been taken there.
Yes I have my biological mother is from that area.dnot know her.they was the green clan a lot of them in w.MD
W.va
@@josephelliott9271 My paternal grandfather's mother was named Lily Green, and was from Lonaconing, MD - about 8 miles south of Frostburg. You and I are probably related!
Hey Jay it's Joe.Elliott havnt here back from you.did you know of William green.?
@@josephelliott9271 Hey Joe, the only Green that I know I am related to from Lonaconing would have been my great grandmother Lily Green. She had my grandfather John D. Crowe out of wedlock by John Francis Crowe. My grandfather died in 1935 ( never knew him ), and according to records in the Allegany Court House in Cumberland his mother Lily died in 1927 in Cumberland. This wasn't discovered until recent years, but we do know that John D. was raised by William Crowe of Frostburg and were told that William was his brother. However, it was revealed later in research that William was actually his uncle - a brother to his father John F. These things were always kept very hush hush years ago in families. My grandfather also had one sister named Mable by Lily and John F. I did not know a William Green, who would have been your uncle, but I'm almost certain that since Green is such a prevalent name in Lonaconing Lily fits into your mother's family tree somewhere. Do you happen to know if any Greens from up there have done an extensive family/ancestral search going way back? Do you happen to know what nationality these Greens were? Perhaps your mother mentioned that. There are many people of Scottish ancestry in Coney - thought maybe the Greens traced their roots to Scotland.
LOVE THEASE OLD MTNS,,SOMETIMES WISH I COULD GO THERE AND RESTART THE TOWNS,BUILD FACTORIES AND MAKE JOBS AND PRODUCTS FLOW AGAIN.BUT IM OLD AND RETIRED NOW...
Wow, so much history. America and the rest of the world is really changing!
I have been to many of these places shown in this video. Lots of old people still living in those old patch houses
How sad that once bustling towns and cities now are abandoned and so many jobs once available no longer exist. I know mining was very bad for your health but it was a job that needed to be done and paid well enough for these men to support their families. With technology imploding at super sonic speed, so many other jobs have been lost and will continue to be lost, and they call it progress
I sure don’t I’m hate technology
So sad. Sad for me, because I was in several of these places when they were "booming." There were thousands of mining and mining support jobs. These towns and communities were busy, busy, busy.
When was that? I'm interested in these towns, such sudden decline.
Tony Walton The Obama administration closed all our mines with no backup jobs. So now, my husband and all of us are on walefare.
Tony, most of these towns saw their boom back in the 1940's and early 1950's. A downshift in demand and automation of mining (strip mines) cost thousands upon thousands of workers their jobs. Most of those workers left the area for jobs in the north. The industry eventually picked up, and some miners were hired, not nearly what it had seen decades before. Stiff competition from the Natural Gas industry has once again taken the demand for coal down. Some of that down tick was due to EPA regulations.
+Nellie Robertson You backwoods hicks believe every lie told to you by the republicans. Pres. Obama didn't close shit! And too bad he didn't as dangerous as those coal mines are. Ya want to end up having your loved ones blown to pieces like the Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine did in April 2010? 29 Of 31 miners killed due to the CEO who violated safety regulations. Find another line of work, stop clinging to a lifestyle that's over 100 yrs old. You're so uneducated you don't even know how to spell "welfare".
do you go to the school in Kentucky
I live in Kentucky. I still see loads of coal piled up here. They are still mining it. but these photos are very interesting, sad and beautiful. nice music with it.
I spent the first 17 years of my life in the town of Jodie W.V. which is the first picture you seen in this film.
Great video, brother!
I yes to drive trucks for Sherwin Williams. And I delivered to hazard and Pikeville Ky.
Dangerous roads.
Cold truck skidded down side of my trailer. .1970s. .
And drove in there when the coal strike was going on..
Scary!
the row of houses at 1:27 are in the hellen coal camp they are in whats known as foreman bottom where the coal mine foremen lived with their families
At 0:14 Jacobs Creek PA. This and nearby coal towns involved in the Darr Mine disaster. 239 people died. Part of the worst month of coal disasters in the US. 3000 died that December. The building closest was the old company store.
as of 2014 i have`nt seen this bldg. in jacobs creek
I love this video. I wish you had included the names of towns. Where any of these locations in Indiana County, PA.?
A Wonderful Video , Like The Music !
Beautiful towns coal or not. Loved the house's
Sad to see the places of so many old railway photographs reduced as well
In northeast PA you can tell which towns were coal camps by the town layout
Really intresting places, sad to see them fading away.
I'm from McCreary co. Stearns used to be full of the big beautiful white houses... my Daddy worried in mines when I was small. 7 kids and vet small house in Smihtown Ky.
What a neat photo essay. These re the kinds of place we should be helping out instead of flitting all over the world frittering away taxpayer money on foreign adventurism. What ever happened to LBJ's "Great Society?" I notice in many of the pictures the railroad tracks are shiny and the signal systems still work. I guess there's still trains rumbling through with business from somewhere.
Wow thts A Beautiful Town
@ 0.22 that's Barrickville Wv coal camp there's still a mine back over that hill that still operates
Thanks for doing this video. I know some of the new cameras have GPS embedding capadbilitys wouldnt it be nice to have coordinates with the pics so people could see where they were and perhaps visit some of these historical sites. AGAIN . . . Thank you so much for this video
David Lawrence
beautiful and creepy
thanks so much for posting
buzz
I used to live in a house on the corner of 63 and 209! about 16:00 into the video. deep valleys, only way in is over a 3600...3800 foot mountain pass. the *real* Appalachia. not much poverty, no coal mining. a wonderful mysterious valley, the Spring Creek valley. the town where this store is, on the corner, the town is "Trust", that is its name. when I lived there with sister for a year or so, its population was TWO, she and I. now there is a boom there, maybe four people and the store! note how few cars there are, on this road.
Music is Jewels of the Sea by Les Baxter. Fab piece of music
The track is Ancient Galleon
One of the pix looked like a town I pass through on route 60 heading for the new river..
Most of those mines were closed because they were already played out, meaning the coal had already been removed. I saw Thurmond WVa. in there a couple times. Also, a lot of those areas in this video are not dead. Coal may be on a decline right now but it is going to be around for a long time.
Trump/Putin isnt' bringing it back either.
Who wants to work in coal mines so many men here in wales have died through coal related diseases and very cruel at that for very poor pay and now of course our dear exminers who are left are fighting for ther. e compensation
Oh my goodness. What beautifully poignant photos
We also lost the coal industry in the UK, but the people largely remained in the towns. Possibly because we are smaller, so it's not as easy to just abandon complete areas? I don't know.
Anyway, our ex-mining communities here are tragic. High unemployment. Few opportunities, even less hope.....
I look at these photos, and hear the life, the activity, the noise, the sound of children playing.........just as I hear the ghosts of sounds around here where I live xx
I can only think of the history of some of those towns and think of how they once thrived. Sad.
Many of the old row houses look to be kept up and lived in. What do people do for a living now? Lots of the railroad track is shiny with trains still coming through. It's not total desolation.
All the people that have extreme wealth should take a drive thru these town and see how these people live. Be prepared to be shocked.
Great clip...
Love these kind of vids, thanks for sharing.
Yes sad but there is a strange beauty in those images that I can't quite put my finger on.
That big white church near the beginning was amazing so sad it’s not being preserved along with many other locations
I thought the same thing!
Haunting and sad! Alot of people living and raising their families! Coal was King!
Looks like where I live in central Pennsylvania. Lots of good people in these areas please don't judge people by where they live.
Half the people in the coal region look like Yoda.
My great grandpa was a coalminer in kentucy
Can't help but wonder if the KY pics are from Evarts - which still looks just like this.
Why do people try to act like these places were booming until Obama was elected. They have been abandoned for decades and few people have jobs even when times are better. If you've ever lived with someone with black lung you would just as soon every mine be closed. It's a horrific life with a horrific ending and some people want to go back to the good ole days. Go ahead.
Rick James not really decades. People really began moving out and things started going downhill in the late 90s early 2000s
People like to go to work and support there family
then move to NC like so many did but stop destroying this lovely state
it started long before the late 90's WV had nothing more than mining to offer for work so many left for a decent job a lot of these mines closed years ago and now the strippers are just trying to pick over the left overs and making a mess of the land
thank you for the truth, as my dad was a coal miner during times when they hand loaded the rail cars and it was hard hard work, he suffered from black lung disease and it was so hard to watch him fight for every breath and was not compensated for his suffering at his miners pension was a big total of 95 dollars a month which was paid to my mom after he died from the disease