Hey there, traveling troubadours! It's time for another instalment from me and my sisters of the Traveling Tote, and a giveaway! Be sure to read further for instructions on how to enter to win the giveaway, and also to catch all my tribe sisters' travels with their post links provided.
Following an interim, "summer fun" post (you can backtrack to see where we left off in that update, here), the group is now back on our normal, quarterly schedule of sharing travels. Today, I'm sharing the last bit of summer outings with my town tote, Miss Charley C.
August was 🔥HOT🔥. So what do you do when it's hot? Go underground! Mr. P. and I spent a day traveling about an hour south here in West Virginia to visit the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine.
A city run facility since 1962, it was once a bonafide, working mine that originally opened in 1889 and continued operating through 1953.
First, a little background.....
At the beginning of the 20th Century, coal was the engine of industrial progress. Coal was KING in West Virginia's economy for many years, and men were even recruited from other states to work 10-12 hour shifts to mine coal by hand in horrific conditions. Coal camps were established, wherein mine owners/operators had entire towns built and owned by the company, including housing, general store, school, church, post office, barber/beauty shop, and doctor's offices. This permanent exhibition has all these buildings, relocated from their original locations elsewhere in the city, to this site.
The tours for the Exhibition Coal Mine are led by retired coal miners. Ours was Don B. Below, Don was demonstrating how far down the miners had to crouch (sometimes lying on their backs) to (hand)drill the wall in order to excavate the coal.
Don took us on the mantrip (small rail cars which carried miners and their supplies to the mine face). It was dark and dank.
Miners were expected to dig up to two tons each per shift, and were initially paid as little as $3 per shift. Deductions were taken if the load included rock.
Miners carried their lunch pails into the mine, and didn't come out until the shift was over.
Women raised their kids in the coal camps, and sometimes worked in the company store, or did sewing/ironing, while the husbands worked in the mines. Their children went to school within the camp, and families worshipped together at the coal camp church.
Working for just $3 a day, being paid in scrip (company issued coin), while trying to feed a family, often prompting women to signing groceries on credit, was the crux of a vicious cycle of poverty for coal mining families. Tennessee Ernie Ford's song, "16 Tons", couldn't have been any truer with its lyrics in the early days of coal mining:
Most people who have lived lifelong in West Virginia have a relative who worked for a coal company, including me! I worked in what field workers referred to as "the ivory tower" - the main office of one, very large WV coal company, in their finance (budgeting) department, back in the late 1980s. Mr. P.'s family lived in a coal camp for a few years. His father worked in the mine, and his mother worked in the company store. His grandfather worked and died in a coal mine. His death certificate reads, "mashed in mine".
Today, coal is a dying industry in West Virginia. The day we stop seeing sights like the one below will, indeed, be a sad day for our state.
Enough of the sadness! We moved on from the coal mine, and headed to Tamarack: the Best of West Virginia. If you're ever traveling WV Turnpike (I-77 / I-64 at Exit 45) and you've never experience Tamarack, you stop you next opportunity!
Following an interim, "summer fun" post (you can backtrack to see where we left off in that update, here), the group is now back on our normal, quarterly schedule of sharing travels. Today, I'm sharing the last bit of summer outings with my town tote, Miss Charley C.
August was 🔥HOT🔥. So what do you do when it's hot? Go underground! Mr. P. and I spent a day traveling about an hour south here in West Virginia to visit the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, coal was the engine of industrial progress. Coal was KING in West Virginia's economy for many years, and men were even recruited from other states to work 10-12 hour shifts to mine coal by hand in horrific conditions. Coal camps were established, wherein mine owners/operators had entire towns built and owned by the company, including housing, general store, school, church, post office, barber/beauty shop, and doctor's offices. This permanent exhibition has all these buildings, relocated from their original locations elsewhere in the city, to this site.
"You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store"
Today, coal is a dying industry in West Virginia. The day we stop seeing sights like the one below will, indeed, be a sad day for our state.
Simply put, it showcases the best of West Virginia's artisans in a retail center: wood works, pottery, glass, and many other art forms you can purchase.
The food court offers notable regional cuisine, and has been reviewed and given accolades by Southern Living, among other critics.
NOW, ONTO THE GIVEAWAY!
The Traveling Totes Tribe is offering another giveaway. Debbie at Mountain Breaths is our giveaway sponsor this time. One lucky reader who leaves a comment on Debbie's September 1 post will have their name thrown into the hat for an opportunity to win this MacKenzie-Childs whisk! Hurry over now!
As promised, here are all the links to the rest of tribe members' travels since our July 31 post. There are some very seasoned travelers in this group, and you won't want to miss the tote antics!
Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths
Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch
Patti with Miss Kenzie and Miss Taylor @ Pandora's Box
Jenna with Miss Coquille @ The Painted Apron
Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda
Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply (you are here!)
Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul
Jackie with Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home
Be sure to visit us all again on our next instalment, coming to you on December 1, 2019.
Thank you so much for dropping by the blog today. I love reading your comments, but don't forget to leave one on Debbie's blog for a chance at the giveaway! If you're here in the US, I hope you're enjoying your Labor Day weekend. Ta ta for now, I'll just zip along in my little checked mini now.......Ha! Don't I wish?!
Rita C. at Panoply
My Dad used to sing that song....as I read it, I sang it out loud! What a great memory for me!! I can't even imagine working in those conditions.....but a great side trip for you and your tote (i like how she slid into many pics!!) Your tote is very photogenic!! LOVE those chairs in the food court and have contemplated buying them many times!! Happy September and happy travels!
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect post for Labor Day Rita! Love TEF. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, it is hard to imagine the incredibly difficult life of a miner...and as you said, such a major part of the history of West Virginia with almost every family having a connection to someone in the industry. I love day trips, some time the best adventures are right outside our doors!
ReplyDeleteJenna
Wow Rita, it is uncanny how we both wrote about visiting the mines. Very different mines, but still the long hours and hard work. How interesting to learn more and also learn you had a relative who worked in the coal mine. I cannot image kids growing up in coal camps. $3.00 a day is utterly amazing. Thanks for taking us along on this interesting adventure. Enjoy the Labor Day weekend.
ReplyDeleteI guess I may be one of the few West Virginians who doesn't have anyone in my family who worked in or for the coal mines. But we sure did burn a lot of coal in the winters to keep warm! My mother hated that coal dust on every single thing in the house. The bottoms of our feet were always black. I grew up in Monroe county & there aren't any mines there.
ReplyDeleteI love Tamarak! I had some of the best fired green tomatoes there.
Jenny, it's surprising there aren't any coal mines in Monroe county (active or abandoned), as we so often hear "the coal mines of Southern WV". You live in the county where the Federal Women's Correctional Prison is (Alderson), most recently made famous by Martha Stewart's incarceration there! Thanks for stopping by the blog today and leaving your comments and how coal impacted your family's lives.
DeleteThis was an amazing post...and the first time I heard of the "traveling tote" ! Love it. I was especially interested because I am a "coal miner's daughter"! I grew up in the little coal town of Sugar Notch, PA in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was famous for anthracite coal. My dad worked at several mines, survived 3 cave ins, and we lived in a "company house" that my grandparents lived in when they emigrated from Slovakia. My dad was the baby of the family, very smart, but had to miss out on high school because the older brothers were gone and if nobody in the family was working in the mines they would have to leave the house. He went into the mines and worked there until they closed in the late 1960's. We had no indoor toilet until I went to first grade....my dad would not put money into a house his family would have to leave if he was killed or injured. We ( and every other company house on our street) had a two seater outhouse. How my mother raised 4 children, did diapers, and potty trained with that set up is beyond my imagination. We shopped at the company store...just as you mentioned in your post. Finally in 1960, right before I went to First Grade, the coal company offered to sell the homes to the miners.My parents went to the bank and took out a loan for $3000 to buy both sides of the double house...and were scared beyond belief that they could make the payments. My dad made bathrooms out the back porch on each home...his brothers helped dig to the sewer line. They rented the other half of the house to help with the mortgage. If you go to that house today and rip off the tile you will see that I was the first ( as the baby of the family) to use everything in there...my dad wrote it on the wall under the tile in carpenter pencil. It was not until my father was long gone that I went on a Mine Tour like you did, but here in PA. I had no idea how hard he worked, how cold it was, how scared he must have been during cave ins...and wished I could speak to him about it. Now...I am 64...a retired school librarian, living in a luxury apartment in a gorgeous retirement community, wanting for nothing. But...in my master bathroom I have a photo of a 2 year old me, sitting in and enamel tub on our kitchen table, next to the coal stove, taking a bath. A sweet reminder of how far life has brought me...and a reminder to be grateful. Sorry to go on so long with this response...it's Labor Day Weekend, and I am thinking of how hard my father worked and how I wish he could see me now ! THanks for all the great posts - Happy September!
ReplyDeleteAnn, no apologies necessary! I am grateful you've given your firsthand account! Thank you for sharing your story! It was so very real for so many. I was with my husband's (Mr P, as I refer to him here on the blog) family today, and they were all recounting similar stories of outhouses, one room schools, etc. They had the coal camp homes on this exhibition site - a shanty for a bachelor or married man who left a family elsewhere, the family homes (3 rooms, no matter how many kids), and the super's home (2 story, much more lavish). The cave-ins were all too real, as were the canaries in the cages to detect and measure the methane gas released by the coal, an ever present danger. The roof bolting was a limited security against the cave ins. When I worked for the coal company in the late 80s I visited a mine where it took 45 min to drive to the face of where the crews worked (longwall operation, much more modern than the old pick axes, shuttles or continuous miners). The ceilings where they bolted the roofs were like cathedrals (!!). We had to have ID tags made to wear before we entered the mine. It was humbling, to say the least, and made me realize every miner certainly is worth his pay!
DeleteRita, what an informative and interesting post, and how remarkable that you and Linda both posted about mines. I haven't been down in a mine since I was a young child visiting an old gold mine near Colorado Springs, CO. Family vacations to the area every summer left us with some wonderful memories, and you've just sparked some of them. Thank you. I can't imagine working down in a mine. The poor coal miners, backbreaking labor, and little pay.
ReplyDeleteHappy September, sweet friend!
I meant to mention, I have a friend with the cutest mini and she has the checkered mirrors.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun you and Mr. P have, Rita, with your traveling tote. My late father-in-law worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines before heading to Ohio. He developed black lung from the mines. it was hard work for all those coal miners. I love the parting pic of the mini!
ReplyDeleteLove that Mini! That would be a fun one wouldn't it.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a life the coalminers and their families lived. We went down in a silver mine in Park City, Utah once and the walls just ran with water - talk about damp. So grateful for the coal miners of the past and present. Tamarack looks so fun! I love the checked chairs - I would love some of those tucked into my garden!
Rita, such a great post. When I was in high school our WV History class toured a local mine. I can remember how happy I was when it was over. Your post truly tells the story of the brutal work for so many and what a hard life it was. My dad had a trucking business and he hauled the majority of the rock which sealed off the Farmington mine with men inside, after the terrible explosion. Farmington, WV was only about 15 miles from where I grew up. It was truly a terrible time for all those living in the area. You are right, it will be a sad day for our state when we no longer see coal going in trucks and down the river. I believe you have to have been exposed to coal and the life of the miners before one can really understand how they deserve every cent they make. To me they earn their salary just for making their trip underground.
ReplyDeleteAgain, Rita, such a great post and I thank you for bringing awareness of these hard working West Virginians to the front on this Labor Day. Happy September to you and Mr. P.
Sandra, I couldn't agree more on how the miners deserve every cent they make. I realized that my first trip in the mine back in the 80s. Your Dad's history of hauling the rock from the Farmington explosion had to be a traumatic thing for him. I'm certain many family members were there keeping vigil, hoping for a miracle. I firmly believe the hard work of West Virginians is what also makes our people such giving people too. Happy September to you also.
DeleteRita did you know I have a ten year old Mini Cooper? I LOVE it except when we get a lot of snow. It's a classic deep "British Racing green" with silver and black stripes from "bonnet to boot." Bring your tote and visit Pittsburgh and I'll drive you around in it!
ReplyDeleteRita I always love your traveling totes series! This one was very interesting. Sad how hard coal miners worked under such terrible conditions. It's funny when you mentioned that song, I immediately started singing the words in my head. I think my grandparents listened to it a lot. Tamarack sounds like my kind of place. I could get lost in there! On a side note, Patti from Pandora's Box is on Ten on The 10th with me. That girl is a hoot!!!!!
ReplyDeleteTammy, many of us sang that song, and I admittedly didn't really understand its meaning until I learned the history of mining families. Indeed, you would love Tamarack. Happy September.
DeleteRita, I will share your post with my husband. His grandfather was a coal miner in north Alabama. They lived in the mining town of Pracao( near Birmingham) which no longer exists. My husband has many fond memories visiting there during his childhood. He visited the area maybe ten years ago but recently took our grandchildren there to show it to them and it could not be seen it was so grown up with trees. Just a few weeks ago as we were going through papers and pictures from his parents home he found pictures of the mine and workers there. It was very interesting and he was very glad to show the grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteThat is so good that the Beckley Mine has been preserved and tours are offered. That is an important part of history. Miners worked hard and still do. Thanks for your post about it.
That sounds like a fascinating tour. I know little of the coal mining industry apart from the issues it causes with health. It seems like it would be interesting -- and yes, very cool in comparison. I love Tamarack. We haven't been south in about five or six years but always stopped there on our way down to Myrtle Beach. It was a good break and fun to look at the diversity of things. Seems I always left with something, too!
ReplyDeleteHi Rita,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this and loved reading Ann's comment story above too. It is amazing how hard life was for our past family members a grandfather's in my case. He did not work in the mines but he worked in the paint factory in Detroit with no OSHA laws yet and got COPD and Lung cancer from the fumes and died early. That was the start of OSHA laws starting because of all the early onset death for people in factories too. What our past family members endured. I feel so blessed to have been able to have an education and a good living in my life. So this story is a great way to have all of us remember how Labor in this country use to be. Thanks for sharing and have a great day today.
I loved traveling along with you and I always enjoy a little bit of history. This looks like an amazing tour!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lee. I was surprised at seeing moss growing underground. :)
DeleteRita, what an interesting and informative trip to the coal mining exhibition. I have read how horrible the conditions were for coal miners. With my extreme claustrophobia, I can’t even imagine going underground in a mine and working. Alabama still has quite a few active mines with the majority of coal seams located in five counties. How well I remember 16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford, I don’t think I really grasped the meaning of the lyrics back then. The artisan center would be a wonderful stop over. I enjoyed traveling with you, Mr. P., and Miss Charley C!
ReplyDeleteThat was quite a visit to the coal mining region. I grew up in northern PA and the coal mines in Scranton & Wilkes-Barre always fascinated me...but they had their share of troubles and mistreatment in years past of workers & families,too. Love that your traveling tote went right along with you. xo Diana
ReplyDeleteRita, I remember that song but never paid attention to the words. I just listened to it twice, and will always remember the lives of the miners. I recall when my dad burned coal at our camp and we all woke up with soot in our nose. I love day trips, and recently told Joe that I want to travel and explore all of New York. Wishing you, Mr. P and Miss Charley C many more adventures! Happy Labor Day.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to visit a coal mine in WV. My good friend and her husband are both from WV and he is the first of his family to go to college and to get out of the coal mine life. My friend arranged a field trip to the coal mine but it was a one time event because the charter buses had a terrible time getting over the mountains to get the kids to the mine to tour and then to get them home. I've only been to Tamarack one time and would love to go back. When my mother and father-in-law used to drive from Chicago to visit us, they always stopped at Tamarack for a piece of pie.
ReplyDeleteRita, this is such a moving post. Thinking about all the men who had to face going into the mines for work each day not knowing if they'd come out. It's sad to know how these families must have felt living in these camps surrounded by all that coal dust. Tamarack sounds amazing, if I'm ever in the vicinity I'll make sure to stop. Thank you for writing about the mines, so interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting blog! Thank you for sharing. I've read historical novels about the families and the mines. What a hard life and I'm so grateful for these workers....something I could never have been able to do. Claustrophobia! As a child we had a 'coal man' deliver chunks of coal for our furnace and it was a favorite day when he came. My brother and myself just loved him and I was fascinated with his 'dirty' face and clothes. He gave us candy. Great memories!
ReplyDeleteSusan, thank you for leaving your comment. I had no idea when I wrote this how impactful it seemed to be. Growing up in WV, coal mining surrounded us, even if our families weren't directly involved. I have more than enjoyed reading others' comments on stories like yours with the 'coal man' deliveries.
Delete