It is probably safe to say that anyone who has families from the Perry county area has at least one or more relatives who worked in the coal mines at some point in time. Some of us had relatives who were injured or killed in coal mine accidents, and many others who died in later years from Black Lung and other mine related causes.


Coal mining is and has always been a dirty, hard and very dangerous occupation. For many, the only way to support their families was to work the mines and accept the dangers and hardships it presented. They worked deep in the mountains, in cold dark tunnels with only a carbide lamp to light the way. Often, the tunnels did not even allow them to stand upright as they dug and loaded ton after ton of coal. For this they received aching backs, blackened lungs and low pay. Some neglectful mine operators made the task even more difficult by ignoring safety rules in search of more profits. Many lost their lives due to this neglect, leaving parents, siblings, widows and fatherless children in despair.


Some Mine Operators set up Coal Towns, building small 3 or 4 room houses for the miners. Many miners were paid for their labors in "script" that could only be used at the Company store, with their inflated prices. You could trade the script for silver money, but onlyat the rate of about 80 or 85 cents on the dollar. Life in the coal camps was hard and about the best one could hope for was to feed and clothe his family. Luxuries or extras were few and far between for the miner's families.


During the early to mid 1900's there were dozens of coal camps scattered throughout the mountains in the Perry county area. I can remember some such as Allais, Hardburly and Blue Diamond, but there were many more that escape me now. As the coal petered out or the operators moved on to other ventures, the camps began to disappear, in some cases just as quickly as they had appeared. The tunnels were closed, the small houses sold for lumber, and for those who once lived there, only memories remain


Some of you reading this may have been among the thousands of children who grew up in a coal camp and know first hand the hardships and struggles to survive. You remember the long hard days your daddy labored in those mines and the toll it took on his body and mind. That in itself is proof of how very much he loved you. Be proud to proclaim to anyone that your daddy was a coal miner.


It is said that it takes more than bacon and brawn to enter the darkness of a mine. Not a truer word was ever spoken; they were/are indeed brave men. For the coal miners and their families, we dedicate this page.


By: John F. "Freddie" Wilson

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