I hadn’t been on a good motorcycle trip since July 1991. On that trip I rode from Delaware down to North Carolina. Spent two days with a buddy riding the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Cut over to Nashville, Tennessee to visit another buddy, then back home. As I see other motorcycle riders, whom I looked up to when I was younger age, I am becoming aware that I might not be able to ride forever, and that retirement might not hold the time and the money to do it, even if my health holds up, so it seemed to be time again for a long trip.
With the time that the business requires, I cannot get a “real” vacation. The closest thing that I get has become Vintage Days, held at the Mid Ohio Sports Complex in July, usually the weekend prior to the AMA Superbike races. At Vintage Days, all the bikes that I remember owning, or wanting seem to be present. Some are pristine original, some are pristine restored, a few have been converted into race bikes with no concern for “originality”, while a large portion have simply aged very badly. I enjoy the weekend around the old bikes and have gone for the past 10 years. My daughter Olivia has made it our father/daughter trip for the past three or four years. Even though she doesn’t have much interest in motorcycles, she travels well and occupies her time well while there and we have fun. In past years, I have driven the van, taking motorcycles out and sold them. As the “new” of the event has worn off for many people (and perhaps, because of Ebay making all of these old parts and bikes available daily) and gradually, I sold less and less. After some thought, I decided that there really wasn’t any need in taking a bunch of stuff out there this year.
In January, I had bought a KLR650 Kawasaki and had the yearning to ride out, then hit Eastern Kentucky. As it turned out, Olivia was working me to ride out as well. With a better seat and aluminum panniers, we were ready to go. Eastern Kentucky has really never had any economic boom, other than the coal industry. I decided that I wanted to learn more about coal, the people, and their area.
Mid Ohio is a Thursday through Sunday thing. After some planning, we decided to turn it into a Saturday only thing this year. The schedule ended up falling something like this. Olivia is interested in horses, so we would travel Thursday to Louisville, KY.
Friday we would be at Churchill Downs for the 7:00am tour. Then we would travel to Fort Knox and see what we could see. Then onto Pickerington, OH to the AMA museum for the motocross exhibit that is a must see. Ending at Mid Ohio that evening.
Saturday would be at Mid Ohio.
Sunday morning would see us hit the road to Van Lear, KY, then to Benham, KY, stopping in Circleville, OH only long enough to take a photo of the closed Thompson TV factory, that now sits right beside the new Wal Mart Super Center. Thompson was the last American TV manufacturer. Ironically, according to the interviews in an PBS broadcast, the Chinese (mainly Wal Mart) is blamed for the closing of the Thompson Plant.
Monday would see a tour of the Mining Museum in Benham, along with a tour of a mine in neighboring Lynch, KY, then we would mosey along by several mines that I had mapped out and take whatever photos hit my fancy ending simply where ever the day ended.
Thursday saw bright skies and we hit the road at 7:00am. Stopped in St. Louis looking for a store that an old co-worker currently works at, couldn’t find it per the Mapquest directions, decided to hit the road before too much more time got away. Hit a slight rain shower at Mt Vernon, IL, but didn’t even suit up for it. Stopped a bit later to let the vibration quell on a ramp. The stench of stagnant water filled the air. Olivia asked “Are there cows around here or something?”. I hesitated a moment, then said “Well, sure, right here is a Cow...asaki!” She simply made a face and we remounted. I was finding it difficult to take much more than 75-125 miles in the saddle at highway speeds. Olivia seemed to be doing much better than I was, and I was glad. That had been a MAJOR concern before leaving. A bit later we hit a pretty good rain shower and stopped under an overpass to suit up with rain gear. A guy on a chopper passed us. We waived, he didn’t. Oh well. Once suited, we were back on the road . It rained for approx. 9 miles. We passed the chopper guy, soaked, sitting under the next overpass waiting for the rain to stop. I guess that he couldn’t share our overpass. About 2 miles past him, the sun shined again and the rain had ended. We rolled into the Days Inn, checked in and asked for directions to Churchill Downs. As it was only 5:00pm or so, we decided to ride over there and make sure that we could find the place.
On the way there, we passed by the University of Kentucky. It turns out that their teams are called the “Cardinals”. Since Springfield, MO welcomed the farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals this year, I found that funny. Churchill Downs was easy enough to find and on the way back, we stopped to get a photo of the Louisville Cardinals Baseball Park. That night, the weather channel showed the entire Eastern Seaboard in green, indicating rain. In fact, we rode through rain 5 days of the 6 that we were gone. The rain was due to Hurricane Dennis that had passed a couple of days prior.
Friday morning we left the bungeed on luggage with the desk clerk and headed for Churchill Downs. I don’t know anything about horses, or racing, and only knew of the Kentucky Derby. As it turns out, there are 35 or 36 horse barns on the grounds and there are horses there at all times being groomed and trained to race. Trainers rent either an entire barn (like Wayne Lucas) and train their horses, and others horses, or they can rent an area in a barn to work with a horse. The big guys have their own trainers, jockeys, wash people, feed people, hot walkers (people who walk the horse while they cool down after leaving the track) and manure shovel people. They each have their own special feed “mix” that they feed. Every morning the horses are on the track running, walking, and working out. Races are held on the track approx. 3 months out of the year. The track is 1 mile long. The Kentucky Derby is 1 1/4 miles long and starts on the backstretch. A Kentucky Derby horse is three years old. I learned this when I asked why none of the horses ever tried to win it again. A stupid question, but the tour guide was gracious with her answer.
On the way out of the barn area, the tour guide told a story from earlier that week. They have concrete rectangles outside the barns. This is where the manure (mixed with straw from the stable) is deposited by the barn hands. Then the Downs has someone come get it with a large truck. On an afternoon tour (when the horse are kept in their stalls, as it is too hot for a workout) people can walk through the barn area during the tour. Earlier that week a girl had grabbed a piece of straw from the concrete cubicle and was munching on it when she asked the tour guide what the concrete cubicles were for. I gather that once the explanation was offered, the girl seemed rather sick! The guide stated that we were seeing horses ranging in value from $2,000, to perhaps as much as 2-3 Million. The old portion of the grandstands that have the steeples on it was originally located on the backstretch. It has been relocated to the front stretch and has been granted government recognition as a landmark.
Rode in the rain to Fort Knox. Despite being told on the phone that we would be able to go in, we were turned away at the gate. Spoke to two people within 25 feet of each other and received two different stories on top of that. I suppose in the end that this was about what I had expected. It was then that I began to realize how much the country is changing. My grandmother toured the place in the 70’s, and I believe (cannot confirm, for she has passed away) that she toured the bullion storage area as well. We had hoped to get a photo at the old Main Gate. The lady on the phone had said that would be allowed. The first guy at the visitor center said that we could not go on base and that the old main gate had been dismantled, therefore there was nothing to take a photo of anyway. The next guy at the guard shack stated that it was still there, but that we couldn’t go in. In fairness to them, Fort Knox is no longer listed on the Kentucky Tourism website, and it appears that they do their best to send everyone across the street to the Patton Museum. Unfortunately for us, I don’t have enough interest in war or history to desire to spend the time that it would likely take to tour the museum.
Stopped at an A&W on the way back to Louisville and ate, then to the motel to pickup the strap on luggage, then to Pickerington. Rain stopped after leaving Louisville and we hit no more that day, though the sky was overcast in several places and the threat was constant. I motocrossed a lot in the late 70’s/early 80’s and I must say, the AMA really did a fine job with this display. If you have interest in motocross, it is a must see. Suspension systems, clothing, cutaway motors, motorcycles such as Brad Lackey’s World Championship winning RM500, James Stewarts KX80, Ricky Carmichaels Supercross winning Honda, Jimmy Weinerts riding suit, Mark Barnetts riding gear, etc.. We bought some posters and a DVD at the museum and asked them to ship them home for us.
Stopped at a Wendy’s exiting the highway for Mid Ohio, then on to Vintage Days! We arrived to find my old friend Mark, Tom, Skippy, and Doug there with the motor home. It had apparently rained all day. BS session until late, hit the bed.
Saturday it rained most of the day. I hardly even went around to see anything. It was on this day that I became aware that my rear was bruised! I could hardly sit in the lawn chair. It was a good thing that we had the day off to recoup, although, Olivia was doing fine. I usually buy nearly as much as I sell. This year, I bought two CZ carburetors for $10. I thought that they would fit my street bike and might be handy as spares, but it turns out that they are for a CZ MX bike. Oh well... If you don’t buy or sell something, you really didn’t play the game at all!
Sunday morning we left in the rain headed for Circleville. Ate breakfast across the highway from the Thompson Plant at Burger King. Left there, rode across the highway and entered Thompson’s drive, took photo, then hit the road again. Quit raining by now, but still cloudy. Hit rain again at Portsmouth, didn’t suit up for it. By now, a pattern was developing of light to medium rain for 5-10 miles, then sun and clouds for 100 or more. We realized that the damp clothing would quickly dry and just kept going. I had learned that morning that the taillight wasn’t working on the KLR, only the brake light. Stopped in Portsmouth at an Autozone and bought a taillight bulb. That did the trick.
Wasn’t using a GPS. Instead, I had purchased a topo map and was using it for directions. The problem that quickly developed was that when in reality we could take HWY 7 to Interstate 64, instead of saying that, it would change HWY 7 to Bennett Street when passing through a town, or like when it joined with HWY 62, Hwy 62 took priority on the print out directions. So before long, we were off course flying over the mountain in the rain on Hwy 62, when we should have stayed on Hwy 7. I realized this at the point when it was nearly as far to backtrack, as it was to simply keep going and work it our when we hit the Interstate. Now time was an issue, as we had an appointment in Van Lear, KY with Danny Blevins (Loretta Lynn’s cousin who operates the Van Lear Historical Society and works the museum). We were able to make the time up. The positive part was that the estimated travel time on the topo program is pretty conservative. I had decided to go to Van Lear, as it is the town where Loretta Lynn was born, the town that she sung about in the song Coal Miners Daughter. Turns out that the song is pretty much just a song, and her dad might not have actually worked in the coal mines, but the gist of the song still rings fairly close to the mark. Loretta has chosen to support the coal mining museum in Benham, KY (with some memorabilia donated), instead of the one in Van Lear, and that is too bad.
Yet, I get ahead. We roll into Van Lear and follow signs, until there aren’t anymore of them. We stop at a book store operated by James Trammel . He proved to be an interesting fellow with two brothers who had coal mined, as did his grandfather who raised him. With little time to spare, we took directions and promised to return after the tour. Danny and his son Trevor were waiting at the museum, which is the old office building for Consolidated Coal Company (Consol). Consolidated had built the town. We learned that there is a distinction to be made between a Coal Camp, and a Coal Town. In general, Coal Camps are rough places with rowdiness, drunkenness, prostitution and the like. Coal Towns were developed by forward thinking coal companies in effort to provide a better life for the employees, no doubt, feeling that they would be more productive and loyal in return. Danny stated that the Consolidated had built the school, hired the teachers, operated the store (stores, as the case was in Van Lear). Danny says that even though gouging at the store could be an obvious problem, that Consol had not done so. Consol had subsidized teachers salaries so that they could hire the best. In fact, in James Vaughan’s book, Bankmules, James states that when he left Van Lear for his senior year of school in Ashland (much larger town), that he felt that he was ahead of the students there and mostly put in time to get a degree. I asked about Tennessee Ernie Fords song “I Owe My Soul To The Company Store” (ironically, another book that I read states that Ernie Ford grew up in Jenkins, KY, another Consol town, and his father worked in the mines there). I had asked Danny if miners were only paid with paper that had to be used at the store. Danny advised that those papers weres called “script” and that script had to be redeemed at the store, but that miners were not paid in script. Script was used when the miner ran out of money and had to ask the company for a pay advance. Otherwise, they were paid with a check to spend wherever they liked. Working in the mines was like any other job, Monday through Friday, with a few exceptions. Some overtime if needed was allowed. After reading the books that I have, I am guessing that it wasn’t that way in the beginning. It appears to me that the unions kind of got that deal in place around the late 20’s, early 30’s. Though, Consol started Van Lear in the around 1912. The mines worked in shifts with the cutters coming in a cutting under the wall, then the blasters coming in and drilling for explosive placement and “blowing” the wall, then the loaders coming in to load what had been blasted from the face. The workers were paid by the ton loaded.
The old Consol office building had contained nearly everything needed at the time. It had a post office, store, soda fountain, jail. Consol had built a theater and brought in top movies and plays. Danny says that the Van Lear people saw many movies before the larger town of Huntington, VA even saw them. It appears that despite the poor work conditions that go with the job, that Consol tried hard to keep the townspeople entertained. In his book Bankmules, James Vaughan laments that they way of life that he knew as a child is gone. He seems a bit sensitive to people who might think that he is a “stupid hillbilly”, probably rightfully so. He spent his life in education within the Arkansas State School systems and appears to be capable. I feel that many of the things that he laments being gone are things that I also miss about America. Our innocence is gone.
Danny showed us the old Doctors office with the actual table in it that Loretta was examined on and told she was pregnant. The same table was used in the movie. James Vaughan has reconstructed a huge model of the town as it had been in it’s glory day, loaded it into a U-Haul truck and hauled it from Arkansas to Van Lear to reassemble it in the old Consol office building. Another local painter has painted murals on the walls that depict miners of the period doing different things. We learn about different types of coal. We learn that coal is from extremely old plants that grew in swap areas, then were covered with silt, compressed, and eventually turn into something of redeemable heating value.
Danny explained that Consol had kept a pretty good baseball team. That they would sometimes scout outsiders to play on the team. That rivalry between the coal companies baseball teams was fierce. Danny introduced us to the term “Bankmules”. Bankmules were the oxen, shetland ponies, or mules used to pull the loaded coal cars from the shafts in the early days. This later became general reference to these hand picked baseball players hired by the coal company. In James Vaughans book titled “Bankmules”, James tells a story about how the Consol team played the Cincinnati Reds in a pre season game one year (late 1920’s) and beat them! These Bankmule guys would be given a preferential job at the mines that generally kept them to less danger and exposure to coal dust.
Danny explained that there were three staple photo’s in nearly every miners home. One of Theodore Roosevelt, one of the mining union president John Lewis, and one of Jesus. James Trammel would later explain how the miners generally thought that the Democrats were their saviors, and that the Republicans owns all the mines, yet , according to James, Roosevelt had major shares in several mining companies! Sounds like typical politicians!
Danny ended the tour with a tour of Icky’s soda fountain. This man grew up in Van Lear and joined the military during World War II. Many of the Eastern Kentucky people felt that it was there “duty” to protect our freedom and these people were well represented in the military. Icky received his nickname due to the story of Ichibod Crane. This story scared him, so the kids teased him and the name had stuck through life. When Icky returned home from war, he opened a little soda fountain/burger joint in Van Lear and operated it up until about 10 years ago. The historical society has refurbished it and has it fully functional in the basement of the old Consol office building. Candy jars filled, photo’s of Elvis and other celibrities from the time, booths and stools at the counter, and the restored juke box that plays the old hits. Danny is rightfully proud of this. Olivia really thought that it was neat! Danny showed us the Historical Society’s publication that he had started in college (I am guessing that Danny is currently around 40-45, so he has been at it a while) called the “Bankmule”. They celebrate historical events in the town and honor the elder miners, football plpayers, etc each year at a festival. It is clear that these people really care about each other and Danny fights hard to help them honor one another and their history. I am impressed with the quality of his efforts.
We thank Danny for giving up his time on a Sunday to show us about his town. He was a most gracious host to spend his time telling us about the people who’s blood and sweat made the town. It is now sprinkling, but we are running out of time to see Loretta’s childhood home, so we do not put on rain suits. We head to Herman’s store (the old #5 General Store) to see if we can meet him to see the house it begins to rain hard. Arriving there soaked, we are told that Herman is already at the house and that we can follow the road up the hill to find it. It is a solidly built shack in the mountains, just as one would guess. Not to make fun. It has all that is needed to live. I wouldn’t mind living there myself. The drive to the place is very narrow at one point with a severe drop off on one side (maybe 50 feet) and a near cliff wall on the other. There are some steel girders visible off the side (no guardrail). Herman later tells us that the state had come in recently and done this work, as the road was eroding off the side of the mountain. We are dry enough by the time that we get there so as not to track the floors. Herman gives us the tour of the home. Cystal Gayle had recently returned the old kitchen table that they had in the home as children. Crystal was born in the house, but they moved when Crystal was very small. I thought that it was neat that Crystal, with all the moving, and all her success, had kept the table all this time.
Back now to the book store. We catch James just as he should be leaving, but he is very gracious and visits for nearly an hour and a half with us. He recommends some reading, we take his advice and ask him to ship the books home. He tells us about the Hatfield/McCoy legendary battles, about mining strikes and fights and gunfights, and about Consol. I ask him if the miners were offered by the companies to wear ear plugs or breathing filters as they were working. He made himself very clear that they were offered, but that many of the guys thought that “they were men, and men didn’t need those things.” He told us of his grandfather who raised him and was also a miner. His grandfather was injured in a mining accident in Eastern, KY and was told that he wouldn’t live. His grandfather went home and laid for 1 1/2 years and eventually was able to walk again. He immediately went searching for work (despite what history tells, in Eastern, KY, there were few better paying jobs than working in a mine). The local companies wouldn’t hire him because they knew that he had been nearly killed and didn’t want to finish him off. He found work eventually in New Mexico in a mine. His brother traveled out there to visit him, because his brother felt that he would be killed in that mine and that he would never see him again. He was injured in an accident in the New Mexico mine, and was told that he would never walk again. He came back to Eastern, KY and laid for another year and found that he was able to walk again. Located work in a local mine this time. James’ point was that no one made these guys go down in those mines, they wanted to. They enjoyed the work so much, that they would overcome huge obstacles to be in the mine. James stated that he was scared to go into a mine, but that his two brothers mined. At one point, his brothers bought a mine, but eventually went broke. They were unable to get the same money for their coal that some of the other companies received. Something like 25 cents per ton on coal was the difference between them making it or going broke.
James is somewhat wary of the outsiders who come in and pass judgment on them. He defends their way of life (as did Danny, and everyone else that we met who was involved in this trip). He points outside his window to the row of “company homes” (I had not realized as to what they had been). He points out how today, one or two are well kept, many are not. In fact, some are downright poorly cared for. He this to when Consol had owned the town. Back then, every year those houses received a fresh coat of paint, the fences were painted every year, any and all maintenance was kept to high standards. When electricity was available, the company had started at one end of the town installing it and worked to the other end. The same was done with plumbing when it became available. Now, it seems, the chief industry in the area is meth and welfare. He told of a little kid that was recently taken to the hospital sick. It took them two days to figure out what was wrong. The learned that this kid had been breathing meth. The Police went to the apartment house to bust the parents, but upon searching, they could not find anything to prove this out. Thinking, they went next door and found that those people were making the stuff, and that it was seeping through the walls of the apartment. I told him that we had the same thing here. He didn’t believe me, but it is a fact. I think that James feels that if the coal industry were still booming, that the money there would be better and the people would not feel so pessimistic.
At some point, the government decided that building highways would boost the economy in Eastern, KY. James was able to become a highway engineer and worked on several, including HWY 119 that goes through his town. He is rightfully proud of his involvement, yet acknowledges that the highways seem to have made little difference to Van Lear.
We left James with a warning to us as to how dangerous the coal trucks were, how many people were killed by them on the highways that we were traveling each year.We rode down the street of ex-company homes, seeing them through an entirely new light. Stopped at a Long John Silvers in Prestonsburg and ate a very late lunch. Leaving the restaurant, we saw the most clear rainbow and were actually able to capture each end in a photo. Not wanting to be on unfamiliar roads at night, we left and headed down HWY 7 toward Whitesburg. I had intended to stop at the city limits of a town, shown on our topo map by the name Hall and get a photo, since that is our last name. Turns out that Hall is a pretty common name in Eastern KY. It seems that we had traveled for a time without seeing any of the towns that I expected to see on the map, when I saw an old grocery building with the faded sign that read “Hall Grocery”. I did a U-turn and we went back, in the rain (we had suited up earlier), and took a photo of Livie with the bike outside the now converted apartment building while the people across the street watched with interest.
We left wondering if that was the town (there never was a city limit sign) or if it just happened to be a store. I decided to determine our location when we hit the next crossroads. When we arrived, it was apparent that store/apartment was about all that was left of the old town. In fact, none of the little towns that were on our map were actually there anymore. It appears that when the coal slowed, the towns had disincorporated. In some places, a town would still be represented by a few old buildings, in other cases, there would be nothing left to suggest that a town was ever there.
This caused a further delima when we were to turn left immediately after the town of Democrat. Taking a left on Democrat-Millstone Road would be the dirt road over the mountain that I had chosen when studying the topo map at home. We were past Democrat, maybe even to Colson by the time that I realized that we had missed the road and the town. It was raining again and getting dark. I U-turned to go back. Started down a road to the right that wasn’t marked. Starting to get concerned about this “adventure” thing. Started thinking about the Meth that James had told us about. Started wondering if this road would dead end at a Meth lab. Shortly, there was a guy walking the same direction with a brown paper bag in his hand that appeared to have whiskey or similar in it. We asked him if we were on Democrat-Millstone Road. He thought for a time, then said “Where are you going?”. I explained that we were headed to Millstone. He advised us to go back out to the road, turn right, go for 1/4 mile, then we would find that road to the right to go over the mountain into Millstone. It was actually nearly 2 miles, but he was close enough. And the road wasn’t called Democrat-Millstone Road. It is now called Indian Creek Road or something like that. It started out paved, apparently the pavement had been laid in sections at different times, 1/2 of the road at a time, maybe 50’ at a time. After a short time the road began to climb and instantly became dirt. Raining like crazy and near dark, it was apparent that there was something along the lines of a cliff on the right. I am guessing that the view would have been tremendous, had we been able to see. In the end, the dirt road surface was very good and we made it up and over the mountain with no incidents.
When we reached Millstone the road signs were missing and it took a little enie-meenie-minie-mo to figure that out, but we guessed correctly and found ourselves shortly at HWY 119 just outside of Millstone, rain ended and daylight fading fast. Rode into Whitesburg. When the stoplight changed, we turned left to follow HWY119 over the mountain. HWY119 winds its way very aggressively up and over the mountain and back down. As we entered the very first 180 degree right hander just past Whitesburg, I had downshifted from 70mph in 5th to near stopped in 2nd gear, crossed over the yellow line into the oncoming lane (still too fast), and could only think of the warning that James had left us with. Thankfully, there was no dump truck. It seemed that the mines might not have been working on Sundays, especially at 9:00pm. Immediately after completing the turn there was a line in the road where the rain started. I mean, it POURED on us! I could barely see. We would round a second gear-near-stopped corner to hit a straightway and ease through the gears, making it to 4th or 5th, only to find ourselves in a 180 degree switchback and struggling to slow enough to stay on our side of the road. Guardrail the entire way on our right hand side, along with, I assume, a beautiful view, had it not been raining and dark. At the top there was a pull off to look over the side, but all that we could see was steamy fog and a few lights way, way down below in the valley. We hit the downside and found it to be more of the same. Shortly after reaching the bottom, the rain subsided and we rode on into Benham.
At Benham we stayed at the School House Inn. I should actually take this back a couple of steps. Benham was founded by International Harvester Co. Benham had one of the better coal deposits for heating value in the entire state. International sent the coal from Benham to Gary Indiana to use in the smelting furnaces for melting the steel for making the International Harvester equipment. Benham was a coal Town (not camp). I believe that it was the first with an actual hospital. The other towns just had doctors. Later, US Steel extended the tracks and bought mining rights south of Benham and opened shop there and called their town Lynch. They also had a hospital. The neat thing about these two towns is that they were among the last to stop processing coal. They now have received some government grants to preserve some of the original buildings, and unlike Van Lear, many of the original buildings are still standing, though as I understand it, the number of the homes that comprise the towns is much smaller than it was in the boom years. Now there is a road with a few building on either side and a few houses up the hill, mostly on the Virginia side. We learn later that when this area was at it’s peak, there were houses and roads up and down both sides of the road from bottom to top of the mountains, for many miles down the road.
One positive story regarding the coal companies is this. During the late teens the influenza epidemic broke out in the Appalachia area. 90% of the population was killed. Within the towns of Benham and Lynch, only 6% were lost, due to the vaccinations provided by the company hospitals. It is clear that coal companies were not totally bad.
The original International Harvester Commissary building is now the museum. And excellent it is! A model mine in the basement (3 story building), tools of the trade through the years on display, diagrams of how mines are mined, videos, reconstructed doctors office, miners homes, repair shop, worker hard hats, quite a bit of Loretta Lynn stuff, just tons of memorabilia. The Van lear museum tour is more personal with Danny guiding and I felt a much better connection to the people and the history, but the Benham museum is larger. Kind of like the difference between the large box store and the little hardware store where the guy knows your name. The School House Inn was the original high school and closed in 1992. It still has the feel of a high school with the lockers still in place, but has been converted into a hotel with a bed and breakfast atmosphere. The original hospital and theater buildings are still intact.
In the morning, we head downstairs for breakfast, only to find that the restaurant is closed, due to a remodel. It is becoming clear that this area is struggling to get things in place for the future, but they are trying. We head into Cumberland to eat at a Hardees. Lynch is supposed to have an old mine shaft open for tours. We decide that we should start there, as the tours would likely be on a schedule, where the museum in Benham would be open all day. Once into Lynch, we pass the large Black High School, then the larger Lynch High School. The mine shaft that is supposed to be open for tour is closed for construction. Darn it! While taking photo’s of the opening, we realize that there are historical signs along the road to explain the different buildings. We ride over to the road side and park the bike, then walk back and forth across the road reading them and taking photos. Still standing are the original coal teeple (once the largest in the world), the main office building, the city water treatment plant (still used by the residents), the electrical power plant, the Bank (now city offices), the general store, The fire department building, and the train depot, to name a few.
About half way through the signs, a guy on a Yamaha V-Star pulls alongside. Turns out that he is a disabled miner who worked and lived there all his life. His father and grandfather mined. His introduces himself as Mike Poff and he explains that the shaft had been open for tours, but had recently received a government grant to make it safer and that it was being brought up to better standards. I figure that even though we wouldn’t get to go inside today, that was a good thing, as it would preserve it for the future. At first, Mike didn’t open up, as he wasn’t sure what our motive was to learn about mining (seems to be a pattern there), but eventually, he opened up. He showed us with his hands how both sides of the mountain had once been filled with streets and homes. He said that you could not imagine how busy that valley had been back even in the 50’s, even though the decline started in the 30’s. He told us that he lived in an old company home that his father had purchased from US Steel in 1962 for $150 per room, but that these houses had no insulation, as the coal company had provided the coal to heat them with. He told us how they had hand dug a basement under the house. His dad was highly energetic and fairly creative. As the mining company was building down the Black mountain side of town, his dad would barter with US Steel to purchase lumber and concrete from them. Their basement floor was old sidewalk slabs removed from streets on Black mountain. When I asked why they down sized that side of town instead of the other side of town, he explained that when the town was built, no one had cars. As cars came into vogue, the trains would be sitting under the teeples loading for hours, and the people on that side couldn’t get out and they would complain. He explained how the “managers” homes were high on the hill near the Virginia border. How they were better built and how they had steam heat, where the company homes only had coal heat. Many of the managers homes are still standing.
I had explained to Mike that I had wanted to leave by riding up and over Black Mountain (highest elevation in Kentucky) on an unimproved dirt road that showed on my topo map. Mike seemed to think that it might be hard to find our way, as there were many haul roads up there and it would be easy to get lost. We visited for a bit more and said our good-byes and headed back to the museum at Benham.
Tour of the museum was good, as mentioned earlier. Near the end of our tour, Mike poked his head inside the museum door and asks if I am serious about riding over Black mountain. I said that I would really like to (but in reality, had about decided to take the paved roads back, after the experience the night prior with the Democrat-Millstone debacle). He said that he lived just up the road from the Lynch High School and that his garage door would be open when we arrived and he would guide us over the mountain on his ATV.
On the way to Mike’s, it was raining again. We had suited up. We met a car at a point where water was running across the road and it splashed us. I heard Olivia yell and looked back to find that she had been riding with her face shield up and had received a face full of water! I guess that she now knows how a face shield is to be used. We arrive to find him waiting for us. The hand dug basement with the sidewalk slab floor was real. His father had been injured in a mining accident and Mike showed us the woodworking equipment that his father had used to fill his time as he sat in a chair, as he couldn’t walk. The lady across the street and the fellow next door still lived in the same houses and had grown up with Mike as a child. This reflects values and a time that has largely gotten away from most areas. Mike spoke of his neighbor yelling at his kids a few days earlier. Mike joked with him how that had sounded just like his father yelling at him years before. Mike has a daughter and a son. He sent them out of the area to learn a different trade. I think that he said the daughter was a teacher in Florida. I cannot remember what the son does.
The Lynch High School had closed around 1992 also. Mike graduated from that school. He told us (mimicking Danny’s story) how the mining company had subsidized teachers salaries so that they could acquire better teachers. There was quite a competition between the Benham and Lynch towns in high school sports. Mike told us that Lynch still holds more state “Class A” championships than any other school in the state.
Kudzu is everywhere and is killing the trees. Mike says that it can grow up to 6 feet overnight (or so it seems). We saw where it had covered abandoned cars and garage buildings. He said that the preacher at his church kept goats to keep it eat back, even though the town policy was to not allow goats inside the city limits. Kudzu was brought over here from Japan to control erosion. Nothing, and I mean nothing will kill it. It is now a problem is some southeastern areas of the country.
The old general store is a huge building, three stories tall. It would compare with a Wal Mart Super Center today. Mike pretty much said the same thing that Danny had said about the Van Lear store, that they didn’t price gouge and that EVERYTHING was available, even if it had to be ordered. The old building looks to be in pretty poor state of repair. I hope that they will be fortunate enough to find the funds to preserve it. It is a magnificent building.
Mike said that most of the coal veins are 3-4 feet high. They generally would dig them to 5 feet high so that they could get the rail cars inside and fill them over the top. Mike had felt that US Steel wasn’t treating them very good at one time and went over the back side of Black Mountain to mine in non-union mines (perspective adjustment). He said that in one instance, he was not allowed to leave a mine for 24 hours. In that mine, you didn’t quit until they said you were done. In another mine, he was working a vein that was rare, in that it was 6 ‘ tall. One day a rock fell out of the ceiling and hit him in the head, fracturing his neck. He said that the tall veins were the most dangerous as the falling objects had more speed when they hit. That is the day that he became disabled. He came to decide that while US Steel didn’t always have the workers best interest first, they certainly were not the worst and he gained new respect for them. He says that today he can do pretty much what he wants, but that he pays for it at night with severe pain.
Mike shared a photo album with us showing different people in different mines that he had worked in/with. It seemed that every time that he showed a photo with three or more people in it, one was dead from an accident and one would be crippled from another accident. He gave us a photo of him in a mine with one of the newer grinding machines behind the group of people surrounding him. It was kind of sad, but then again, it is all that these people have and it pays well relative to the area. I think that they are good people and feel very fortunate that they gave of their time as they did. This quality of people is hard to find in this day and age. Between the people of eastern Kentucky, and the trip over Black Mountain, those were the highlights of the trip for me, for sure.
Mike fired up the ATV and we headed up the mountain. The road that we took isn’t even on the topo map. It is a service road, though, and soon we encountered a drill rig that was core drilling. I was a bit of a feat getting that truck up there, I assure you! He pointed out gas wells, showed us the recent gas pipeline that has been laid over the mountain, visited with the core drillers, showed us his “secret” camping spot, showed us the opening to an old mine shaft that he had mined (it was now dozed closed to keep the kids from playing inside), then stopped at the top of the mountain at a radar installation. He said that prior to 911 this had been open and that the guys would visit with the ATV/motorcycle riders when they came by. Since 911, it had been fenced and gated. He said that when the military was learning how low they had to fly to be under radar, that planes were frequently flown up and down this valley.
No one seemed to care that we were there. It takes a while to get used to not getting chased off property every time that you are seen riding a dirt bike. In Van Lear we had seen ATV riders riding right down the road, we saw the same in Lynch. It seemed to be an accepted “normal” mode of transportation. Mike says that there was an effort in the Lynch area to promote ATV riding as a source of revenue and that he believed that we were totally legal; to be riding where we were. Mike started to leave us at that point, but I had asked about finding Rockhouse. On the topo map, it appeared to be a town. Mike asked how I knew about Rockhouse and I explained. He then decided to take us there. Along the way we saw the Garrison Cemetery. Mike said that the Garrison family had lived up on the mountain top in the late 1800/early 1900 period. Mike said that he hadn’t been there in a couple of years. He used to ride up there with a guy, but that guy had been killed in a mining accident a year earlier.
Soon we came to Rockhouse. It is not a town, but a large rock outcropping in the middle of the woods. It has an overhang much as a bill on a hat, yet it is one rock. There was smoke from a fire that someone had lit the night before. It is now a party spot for the local kids. It is still neat! A bit later we passed by an apple orchard. Mike explained that this was one of the largest in Kentucky. This guy had owned land down in the valley on the backside of Black Mountain. The mining company had pretty well mined the mountain out and wanted to mine his land. He was able to work a land trade with them and built the orchard up on the mountain top. We eventually reached paved road. Mike and I visited and said our good-byes while Olivia attempted to catch one of the group of butterflies that were hovering nearby. They were generally staying in one area, but they were quick and Olivia had no luck. In all, it took us 2 hours to ride 18 miles. Man, that was neat! With a final warning about dump trucks, we headed down the mountain.
We rode down to Evarts to see the old train depot. Mike had told us that the Benham and Lynch school districts had been absorbed in to the Cumberland school district, and that Evarts was soon to head the same way. We snapped a couple of shots of the depot and went inside a local restaurant to eat. I was only now realizing that we had not eaten since breakfast. I was glad that Olivia didn’t seem to notice. After eating, we pretty much had to hit the road for home. We headed to Harlan and caught 412 north to the Daniel Boone Parkway. At Manchester we joined the Parkway and headed toward home. Made it to Indiana, just east of Louisville, KY. Checked into a Motel 6 and slept. Up in the morning and droning on the highway again. This was the only day that we didn’t receive some form of rain. The entire trip we were riding around 100 miles and stopping for 5 minutes to shake off the buzz. On this day, I managed to stay in the saddle for one tank of fuel 215 miles. I think that took a toll on Olivia, as that was the first time that she complained. We stopped in Lebanon, MO to visit a friend that I don’t get to see much, then headed on home.
All said and done, 2,025 miles in 6 days and hit parts of 5 states. Met some very, very good people. Learned about some history that I was interested in. Saw some very pretty country. Spent quality time with my daughter. I can’t wait to do it again!
For those interested in Kentucky Coal Mining and the people, I can recommend a couple of places for more information.
This is the general website for the Van Lear Historical Society and Danny Blevins
http://www.geocities.com/coalcamp/
This is a good source for the Benham/Lynch area
http://www.kingdomcome.org/
James Trammel is an excellent source for litereature on the Appalachia area. He can be reached at his store Words and Stuff where he stocks maps, new and used books, music, collectibles and souvenirs. (606)789-3592
The three books that James had recommended to us proved to be very accurate insight into what I wanted to know.
Bankmules - By James E Vaughan. James tells of his childhood growing up in Van Lear. How his father died in a mine explosion when he was approx 11 years old. How the quality of life was for a child growing up in this town. How the community stuck together to help one another.
A Guide To Historic Coal Towns Of The Big Sandy River Valley - By George Torok. This book is a region by region guide of the local elements of thier history, gunfights, political fallout, mine strikes, company injustices, and historical buildings in the Appalachia region of Kentucky and Virginia.
The Mountain the Miner and the Lord - By Harry M. Caudill. James advised us that this fellow had grown up in Jenkins, KY and had become a lawyer. This book is an assemblage of local short stories showing the greatess of the men and women who made things happen, criminals, good people who worked hard, mostly local perspectives on the people of the region from a first hand view.