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BELL and
HARLAN COUNTY’s THE GATEWAY TO THE WEST
D uring
the Revolutionary War, and immediately after, a
mighty impulse stirred the people of the Atlantic Coast region ---an
impulse to cross the mountain barrier that impeded their progress to
the West. A vast wilderness lay across these mountains and beyond
toward the Pacific Coast. It was an
unknown country, a new country to be discovered and occupied. Its
vagueness and vastness intrigued their imaginations. From time to time
hunting parties penetrated eastern Kentucky through Cumberland Gap and
gradually learned of the possibilities of the
new country. Immigration
began to flow into the region and the
movement to settle the West had begun…
. Harlan
and Bell
County stood at the very gateway to this movement and passed the moving
hosts
on into the mountain region of Kentucky, into the bluegrass, and on
into
the West
. Less than two
hundred miles inland, and parallel with the Atlantic Coast, were the
mountains.Beyond these lay a wilderness of unknown extent,the
occupation of which presented obstacles scarcely less formidable than
those which attended the first planting of the colonies.
With the accomplishment
of independence, however, the time came for passing the western
barriers; the section of occupied territory was to widen from
a narrow ribbon along the coast line to the whole extent of the
continent.Space
was to be cleared for the gigantic growth to the new Republic, and
the coming wonders of railway and steam navigation.
It was in the
far-distant region of Kentucky that the permanent occupation of the
West began. In the heart of that region, full five hundred miles as the
crow flies from the sea coast, and more than three hundred miles beyond
the crests of the mountains, population suddenly gathered and
civilization suddenly bloomed.
It was not an
adventure of bold men alone, but a movement of men, women and children.
It is equally wonderful that from the first they were imbued with the
idea of permanent settlement and residence in the far-west country.It
was to be their home; return was not thought of. They carried with them
all their possessions, and as the alter-fire for the distant colony
they
carried with them a clear perception of the prime necessity of stable
government,of obedience to law, and the observance of order."
Copied from “The
Historyof Bell County” By Harvey Fuson
Be sure to check the links at the bottom ofthis page for
chapters from the book"Hell in Harlan
by George Titler"
I n the nineteen twenties, thirties and forties the town of
Harlan Kentucky earned the reputation of being BLOODY HARLAN fair and
square. Harlan was characteristic of the gold rush days of theold west
where life was cheap and anything that money could buy was for
sale, of course the days of the Belmont Hotel and gunfights in
the streets are over as the gradual evolution of the city of Harlan
and her people made their town a decent place for hard working people
to raise their families, although this is not to imply the corruption
of certain politician's is altogether gone.
Born in a small town
called Loyall where I lived the first nine years of my life, after the
death of my grandmother Annie Estes and moving to Harlan we then moved
to Birmingham Alabama for about a year, then back to Loyall again.
Leaveing my newly found friends home in Loyall
I later moved to an old
coal camp on the outskirts called
Sunshine
with my
mother and step father, there were other members of the family living
in the same area Grandmother Louisa {mammy} aunt's uncles and of course
cousins, my friend "Homer
Richmond" he lived two houses down and my friend "H" "Kenneth Hampton Combs"
who lived in town both passed away at very young ages, this place I
called home and still do in my mind although I only lived there a few
years I remember it as being home where I went fishing and prowled the
mountains the same
mountains that have been raped
of it's coal and logged for it's lumber leaving huge scars, they have
been tunneled under and chopped through to divert the rivers and all in
the name of progress.There is good as well as bad in everything man
try's to improve on however when man try's to improve on nature he is a
huge failure but when there is a dollar to be had nature will always
take the back seat...in these mountain's I played and lived a kind of
happy carefree life with my friends and cousins kids today can't safely
enjoy, for the values and morels of strangers must be suspect in these
times ..
Central street 1910
Central street today
Below a large crowd gathers for a circuit court meeting
Church services were held in this courthouse as far back as 1881
In the background left that looks like Hamp and Cam Huff's house before
the porch was added
upstairs and down .
Harlan courthouse in
1903
BLACK
DIAMOND COAL
Harlan fuel company at Yancey
Harold sellers at Elcomb coal camp1950
Some of the houses in the old coal camp
area of
Harlan known as "Sunshine" are on the verge of collapse as a few
already have. I remember very well the folks that lived in the house
above, the Marshals, later on the Shepherds and even later
my brother Buddy
Estes and his family,these old coal camp houses have seen their better
days but have a marvelous history to tell of families sheltered and
children raised. I think everyone would agree they deserved better for
they are a museum of life in its self....
The
Story of
the coal war
W hen
the UNITED STATES cranked up its factories to supply raw materials for
Europe in the nineteen twenties and thirties a great demand for coal
was created and the mountains to
the west and north of Lee County Virginia and Harlan County
Kentucky were full of the black gold they called COAL, every
able bodied man who wanted work found it in the coal mines.
Some men had to walk many miles to work every day and others lived in
the coal camps in company houses, many men died in these mines and
others migrated to jobs in safer industries when they opened up. At
that time though there were about a
dozen or so coal companies up the hollows [hollers] leading away from
Harlan town proper,, in 1925 Harlan County had 64 mines operated
by 50 coal companies and most all the
company's had a camp [company housing] for the miners. These miners
and their families had more than the dangers in the mines to
worry about for the coal companies in addition to just plain cheating
the miners out of their just wages they had hired thugs{they liked to
call themselves deputy's}to discourage the unionization of these mines
and those thugs would not hesitate to blow up
or burn a company house or any house for that matter with the miner
and his family in it if they suspected union activities or union
talk was taking place there, many miner's died and although by accident
when trying to kill the miner sometimes a child would be killed,
just because dad wanted a better life than the slavery the mine
operators had to offer, if you were lucky they just ran you out of the
county,
with the threat of death if you returned,it was a perilous time
for the miners danger in the mines and danger at home too I can
remember a lot of miners funerals when I was a boy for I lived in an
old mining camp with my mother and step dad, the mine at this camp was
closed but there were miners living there who worked at other mines and
accidents and slate falls were common and one time that I know of a
planned explosion just a few houses away, this one was aimed at
Harvy Fuson who wrote the book "History of Bell County" a Mr Roy
Redmond was killed when a case of dynamite rigged in Mr Fuson's car
exploded when the key was turned to start it
.
Curiously some of these company thugs went on to
be prominent men in the Harlan community, one
that I know of personally was elected Mayor of Harlan.
THE COMPANY STORE
$32.05 This is not a whole lot to live on for
a month even in 1939 is it ?
M
Most companies had a company store
and the miners could go to the office and draw script [company money]
for work done the day before however this script was only good at the
company store where prices were greatly inflated and if there was a
strike going on they were very selective who they
let go to the store, which is very important since no one was allowed
to leave the company camp and the thugs would let no one in either, in
one instance a machine gun was mounted on a meat case to make sure no
one ate, if a family could make it to payday they could be paid in real
money and shop where they wanted however they were subject to
punishment and harassment if they did not shop the company store. Yancy
Kentucky home of the Harlan Fuel Co. and also the mine at Martin's Fork
saw a lot of Wilson's and their relatives laboring there however I
don't have any record of Isiah Wilson my Great grand father working in
the mines this is not to say he did'ent I just cant prove he did or did
not. Isaiah was a farmer this is the only way I have ever found him
listing his occupation,it was a hard life but it
was all he knew and even though they grew most of what they consumed
and I'm told used the barter system frequently they did sometimes need
a little cash I suppose. However working in the mines digging coal,
sometimes for as little as fourteen cents a ton could not provide much,
it was often said by the miners themselves that "they didn't even own
their own soul's"
The life back then was
Isuppose hard by our standards today but more simple and so much less
complicated than today, family values and family ties were stronger and
though they worked harder they slept better and knew that
God had blessed them.
That made them richer
than all the money in both states could
E MAIL CARL---
Hell
In Harlan the Book LARGE FILE WILL
TAKE TIME TO OPEN
Names in
Hell In Harlan
Real
Detective Magazine..1937
A really good
site for photos of HARLAH COUNTY and the mine towns
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