We have had a couple of interesting days. “Home” is Pikeville, KY for the next couple days, but this area is the stompin’ grounds of the Hatfields and McCoys and the home of the Mine Wars. First, the Mine Wars. As we told you earlier, the miners began to realize they were in a no win situation. Why? Their minimum pay locked them into the mine company. Even if they wanted to leave there was no where to go. They were completely in the middle of nothing. Travel in 1880 to 1920 was all but impossible in Southern West Virginia. Even if they could leave, the mountains made farming impossible. The miners became depressed, agitated, and frustrated about their living situation.
The mine companies did not want unions, as it would cost them profit, so they hired police to maintain peace by establishing a police state. They knew the workers were stuck, so they had no incentive to meet worker’s demands. The workers resorted to violence and the whole thing escalated into a war between the workers / union and the coal companies and their hired guns. Matewan was the site of one of the bloody battles. At the end of the battle, 10 men were dead, 8 police(Baldwin-Felts) hired by the mine company, one miner, and the Matewan mayor. Nothing was resolved. Ironically, the first stikes were over working conditions, not pay. One of the buildings in Matewan still has bullet holes.
More about Matewan shortly. In Williamston we found a unique building, made of coal. Appropriately named the Coal House. If you watch American Pickers, Frank and Mike obtained a couple of H&M artifacts and gave them to the Chamber of Commerce. While visiting, the City Commissioner introduced himself to Dan. He was a Hatfield. In fact during our journey around here, you meet many Hatfield and McCoy relatives.
Back to Matewan. It lies right on the KY/WV border. The Tug Fork River forms the border and flows right by Matewan. Over the years there have been several big floods, so they built a flood wall. This thing is a work of art! Along its entire length are murals about the town’s history.
So we walked down to the Tug. It is a long way down from the foot of the flood wall. The following pictures illustrate this placid little river.
When you look at it and you look up at that wall, you’re thinking, no way! Well the Tug has over flowed its banks several times and destroyed much of the town, so they built this wall. In the following picture Dan is pointing to steps representing water levels in three floodings. They are the top half dozen steps.
Back to Matewan and the Mine Wars. The interesting twist, the Chief of Police of Matewan was Sid Hatfield.
He and the Major, Edward Chambers were staunch miner / union supporters. They were in the Matewan battle, arrested and brought to trial for the deaths of the mine company’s hired police, Baldwin-Felts. Both were aquitted. Seeking revenge they were assasinated on the courthouse steps in Welsh by other Baldwin-Felts men when reporting for an indictment of conspiracy.
Hatfield was a local hero and this incident further fanned the flames. The whole mess really escalated on Blair Mountain when US troops were brought in to stop a miners’ march before reaching Matewan.
So, why the violence in West Virginia? That’s what we wanted to know. Other miners were unionized. Well, the best we can theorize is the situation got ugly due to the workers untenable position. They can’t make it on current wages, they can’t leave, and the mine companies were adamant on preserving profits. Over its course, the Governor failed to resolve it and President Harding did nothing. Finally 2 events resolved it. The Depression, which killed demand for coal and as part of his New Deal, FDR signed a law allowing workers’ rights to collective bargaining.
We have spoken to many people during our journey and they are the most friendly, genuine folk you will ever meet. Many have worked in mines or have family who worked in coal mines. The jobs are gone. Most coal produced from here now is exported to Japan and China. We understand that every coal burning powerplant in the US today can be upgraded with equipment that will meet current air quality standards. It is a plentiful, cheap, domestic source. Instead, we are chasing windmills and solar panels.
Now for our pursuit of the Hatfield and McCoy story. In this neck of the woods, everything is Hatfield this, or McCoy that. The Feud started near the end of the Civil War and lasted until about 1891. Again we had questions, why did this feud draw national attention? The area of the Feud was the border of WV and KY. At that time state extradition was not thought to be legal, so cross border raids by each family followed by escape back into their state allowed them to avoid arrest. The whole thing reached national attention with the news media and at one point the state militias and Supreme Court got involved.
Both states have markers designating various sites involved in the Feud. But our most interesting experience was in search of a general store that Devil Anse Hatfield frequented and even slept there. We had driven up and down this little narrow blacktop road looking for this store. If you watch American Pickers on History, they visited here and obtained a summons and ledger that involved Devil Anse. So we finally stop and ask a guy who’s chatting with a couple of other fellas. At first he trying to tell us how to get there, then said “Foller Me, I’ll sho ya!” so he drove a couple miles to a side road that we needed to take. “ I grew up in that holler there,” as he pointed down the road. Awesome, but it gets better.
So we park by the store and a women, a little younger than us, walks over from the neighboring house and asks if we would like to go in and see the store. Her name is Goldie and she owned the store. Yes, we answered, so over she came, unlocked the store, and gave us a tour.
The inside was a time capsule from nearly a hundred years ago.
The bed was used by Devil Anse when he overnighted here. The dresses and clothes are in pictures that Goldie has of the Hatfield family.
What a special time we had. Goldie was so sweet. We also met her family before we left. We couldn’t believe how friendly and at home she made us feel. It is typical of all the folks we have met here.
Well this post has rambled on for sometime, so we’ll close here. We are nearing the end of our adventure. Tomorrow we head to Huntington for a couple of days before heading home.
No comments:
Post a Comment