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County's coal mines history is long, dark

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 28, 2006

HARLAN, Ky. - As John "Junior" Deaton's leathery hands brushed over the hundreds of names etched into a granite wall, he fell silent for a moment

Then it all rushed back to him: "These four boys were killed together," says the retired coal miner and union leader, pressing his fingers into the engravings. "This one was my daughter-in-law's daddy."

Deaton, 79, said he is saddened that five more names, victims of a May 20 explosion in nearby Holmes Mill, will be added to the coal miners' memorial.

Like so many other longtime residents, he can point to the names of scores of miners he worked with or knew as friends or relatives.

But the memorial - bearing the names of about 1,200 coal miners who died on the job in Harlan County since 1912 - depicts only a fraction of the county's dark coal history.

The county, home to several century-old coal-mining communities, is a historic hub of Appalachian coal and is known for violent labor battles that earned it the nickname "Bloody Harlan."

The recent explosion at Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 and the Sago disaster that killed 12 miners in West Virginia in January will do little to keep Harlan County miners from their work, locals say.

"The only thing that allows you to make a decent living around here is mining," said Tilda Thomas, whose husband, Paris Thomas Jr., died in the Darby accident May 20.

Federal investigators yet to enter Kentucky mine

HOLMES MILL, Ky. - Federal officials have yet to enter an eastern Kentucky mine to begin investigating the cause of an underground explosion that killed five miners.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration said Saturday the mine won't be safe for investigators until its owner repairs some walled-off areas.

[Last modified May 28, 2006, 05:35:38]