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My father, Howard Aliff, second row, third person

Photo courtesy of Patricia Aliff

As a child in the late 1950s - early 1960s, I remember no other industry in Raleigh County WV other than the coal mines . Every man that I knew as a child worked in the coal mine or was retired from the coal mine.

I have memories of men who looked as if they wore eyeliner because they could not get the coal dust out of their lower eyelashes.  My dad, Howard Aliff and my Uncle, Billy Tucker, were missing half of their middle fingers because of slate falling in the mine. My grandfather, George Aliff, was missing his small finger because of a mine accident. You had to be a rugged lot to work in this type of environment.

I am proud of my ancestors because of  their strength and willingness to work in such conditions in order to provide for their families.

American Memories Collection

 

 

It's dark as a dungeon and damp
as the dew,
Where the danger is double and
pleasures are few,
Where the rain never falls and
the sun never shines,
It's dark as a dungeon way down
in the mine.
---Merle Travis, "Dark as a Dungeon"

 

 

 

Early Days of WV Coal Mining

WV Coal Company Stores

WV Coal Company Housing

WV Coal Company Doctors

Coal Mine Disasters

Montcoal WV Coal Mine

Early WV Coal Wars

Coal Wars of 1921