DUmmies Discuss Coal Miners

[I_B_Perky]

Are you talking about "Corridor G" out of Charleston? 

That's 119. Goes thru Williamson. It ended at Chapmanville last time I was down there. Two lane thru Logan to Williamson until you go into South Williamson. Then it was 4 lane. This was back around 92. They was tearing down the mountain directly east of South Williamson to connect the two four lanes. I understand it's all 4 lane now and not too bad of a drive.

Hell I give ya a hint how old I am, DD. I remember when 119 ended at the Shopaminit 2-3 miles from 61. You could go left up to South Hills or right down to I think it's Davis Creek road to South Charleston.

Damn I just realized how old I really am and now I'm depressed. Need some Michelob.   

[I_B_Perky]

I went that way from Williamsom to Huntington.  I remember passing by a little town named Kermit, off to my left as I was heading north on 52.  Beyond the town was a large mountain, and the town went right up to it. 

That mountain was Kentucky!

Yep that's how I ended up on it. I was in South Williamson and needed to get to Huntington. Sign said Huntington, x miles, so I took it.

One of the nice things about southern WV though is no matter what state road you get on, you will eventually end up in Huntington, Charleston or Beckley. Except for the ones that go to Virginia. 

[I_B_Perky]

James always dressed like Senator Phogbound from Li'l Abner, and came across on TV like Foghorn Leghorn. He led a crusade against junk cars, which are like a natural resource in some parts of the state. I think he was a pretty harmless comedian, when he was Secretary of State, then lost the state a huge amount as treasurer, before being impeached.

The most entertaining WV documentary I've seen is the saga of Jesco White. There must be a million bootleg copies of that thing around.
http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Outlaw-Jessico/dp/B0009XBR6O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309295780&sr=8-1

AJ Manchin was my high school graduation guest speaker. He was definitely colorful.

[GOBUCKS]

That's 119. Goes thru Williamson. It ended at Chapmanville last time I was down there. Two lane thru Logan to Williamson until you go into South Williamson. Then it was 4 lane. This was back around 92. They was tearing down the mountain directly east of South Williamson to connect the two four lanes. I understand it's all 4 lane now and not too bad of a drive.

Hell I give ya a hint how old I am, DD. I remember when 119 ended at the Shopaminit 2-3 miles from 61. You could go left up to South Hills or right down to I think it's Davis Creek road to South Charleston.

Damn I just realized how old I really am and now I'm depressed. Need some Michelob.   

I think that's the Robert C. Byrd Corridor G. For several miles, teh Robert C. Byrd Corridor G follows the Robert C. Byrd Tolsia Highway.

The idea is to build a new interstate highway to make it easier to get from Prichard and Fort Gay to Myrtle Beach, one of Senator Byrd's priorities.
And if Byrd hadn't died, it would probably be under shovel-ready construction right now.

[Ballygrl]

That's !

[I_B_Perky]

I think that's the Robert C. Byrd Corridor G. For several miles, teh Robert C. Byrd Corridor G follows the Robert C. Byrd Tolsia Highway.

The idea is to build a new interstate highway to make it easier to get from Prichard and Fort Gay to Myrtle Beach, one of Senator Byrd's priorities.
And if Byrd hadn't died, it would probably be under shovel-ready construction right now.

Everything in WV is named after "Big Daddy" Byrd.  

There actually some serious talk a while back about renaming a city after him. Can't remember which one now.

[Freeper]

WV hasn't gone for a Dim president in the last 3 elections.

I still haven't figured why they elected Manchin to take Byrd's place, but then again, Virginia elected Waterhead Webb over Allen.

I seriously doubt Toothless Thom even lives in the state.  I know this for a fact, because they don't say "hollow" in WV (or here, for that matter).  

We say "holler"!

Manchin ran pretty much as a conservative would be my guess.

I loved this post,

LeftinOH  (1000+ posts)      Tue Jun-28-11 11:32 AM
Response to Original message
2. For what reason should coal miners dislike Obama?

0bama is the one who is actively trying to destroy the coal industry.
Any right thinking person would make the connection that if the president is trying to put you out of a job, he's not good for you.

[Ballygrl]

BTW, why was he shopping at Walmart? I thought they boycotted that place?

[I_B_Perky]

BTW, why was he shopping at Walmart? I thought they boycotted that place?

He was undercover outing out all the raaaacists that shop at walmart.

[franksolich]

BTW, why was he shopping at Walmart? I thought they boycotted that place?

Actually, the deal about that is that the primitives want everybody else to stop shopping at Wal-Mart, while the primitives themselves shop where they wish to shop, including Wal-Mart.

It's in their mentality; I'm free to do what I want to do, but you, you'd better do what I tell you."

[GOBUCKS]

Everything in WV is named after "Big Daddy" Byrd.  

There actually some serious talk a while back about renaming a city after him. Can't remember which one now.

There will be a referendum to decide if Charleston should be renamed Byrdopolis, Byrdograd, Byrdland, or Byrdbyrdstheword.

[I_B_Perky]

There will be a referendum to decide if Charleston should be renamed Byrdopolis, Byrdograd, Byrdland, or Byrdbyrdstheword.

You got forgot ByrdiKKKlanistan. 

[GOBUCKS]

You got forgot ByrdiKKKlanistan. 

I give him a pass on that one. Back then, it was mainstream democrat politics, and the Klan endorsement was important.
They were pretty harmless in WV - where black faces are as rare as in an advanced calculus class.
In fact, oldtimers there have told me that the real force behind the Klan in WV wasn't racial, it was anti-Catholic, and got really fired up by
democrats vehemently opposed to Al Smith, a Catholic, who got the democrat nomination to run against Herbert Hoover in 1928.

The Klan has always had anti-Catholicism as a cornerstone of its bigotry. That makes it really curious to consider that the only states Al Smith carried were in the Deep South, home of the Klan. Of course, the Deep South had a huge black population, and Catholics were rare, so maybe Klan voters had to prioritize their bigotry, and the pre-WWII democrat party was the home of segregationist politics.

[diesel driver]

That's 119. Goes thru Williamson. It ended at Chapmanville last time I was down there. Two lane thru Logan to Williamson until you go into South Williamson. Then it was 4 lane. This was back around 92. They was tearing down the mountain directly east of South Williamson to connect the two four lanes. I understand it's all 4 lane now and not too bad of a drive.

Hell I give ya a hint how old I am, DD. I remember when 119 ended at the Shopaminit 2-3 miles from 61. You could go left up to South Hills or right down to I think it's Davis Creek road to South Charleston.

Damn I just realized how old I really am and now I'm depressed. Need some Michelob.  

Oh, yeah.  You would go to the bottom of the hill and have to get off the Davis Creek road.  Then, they finished it to the top of the hill to Ruthdale on Alum Creek Rd.  One of the last time I was on it was back in 2002, coming back from Logan.  It was all 4-lanes, easier and faster to go to Charleston and come down the Turnpike to Virginia than to go back thru Welch on 52.

[diesel driver]

Everything in WV is named after "Big Daddy" Byrd.  

There actually some serious talk a while back about renaming a city after him. Can't remember which one now.

Probably something around Beckley, where he was raised.  I was thinking it was Coal City or Crab Orchard.

[I_B_Perky]

Probably something around Beckley, where he was raised.  I was thinking it was Coal City or Crab Orchard.

Ya know DD, I think you just may be correct. I seem to recall it was Coal City... but I'm probably wrong. Hell, if you ask my last ex girlfriend, I am always wrong.   

Nice yakking with ya and Gobucks about the roads down that way. Ain't been down that way in years. Don't wanna go back either!

I'm going to bed. The older I get the earlier 0-dark-thirty comes in the morning.   

[dandi]

Off topic, but does anyone watch the show "Coal" on SpikeTV? I've become addicted to it, along with Ice Road Truckers on The History Channel. Pretty interesting stuff.

[diesel driver]

Off topic, but does anyone watch the show "Coal" on SpikeTV? I've become addicted to it, along with Ice Road Truckers on The History Channel. Pretty interesting stuff.

Yep, sure did.  The last episode ran on the 18th.  My wife and stepchildren are from McDowell County, and personally know 2 of the miners.  Mike Crowder, the CEO of Cobalt Coal, has a Facebook page.  I'm hoping they will have another season of it at a later date, but so far, nothing.

Mike has posted on his homepage that no news yet on a second season. 

[USA4ME]

My WV story.

I like college football and a good friend of mine is from Bluefield, WV, and we had been talking about going to a WVU game.  Maybe around 10 years ago, WVU was going to play Notre Dame at Morgantown and we decided to go.  I had another friend in the area who was from Morgantown and asked him if he was interested in going, and he was.

As we were discussing getting tickets, the friend from Morgantown said not to worry, he could get the tickets and they won't cost us anything.  I asked him how, and all he would say is "My father has political connections."  Well, I let it go at that for a few weeks, but finally I had to know, so I started pressing him on it.

He didn't want to tell me almost out of embarrassment, but he finally did.  Turns out his Dad had been the president of the UMWA in WV for about 20 years.  OK, so I could see how that would be politically connected.

The few days before the game, the friend from Morgantown drove up by himself to visit with his folks, so the friend from Bluefield and I went up together the Friday before the game.  We went to Bluefield to see his parents, then he took me to Montgomery, WV where he went to college (WV Tech), and then we drove Hwy 60 back to the road leading to Morgantown.  I do remember an area called Hawk's Nest that was nice, and we stopped there to look around.  I wouldn't mind going back there again with my family sometime.

We stayed with my friend from Morgantown's parents house that night.  His Dad was a nice guy.  Smoked like a chimney, and every other word out of his mouth was "union," but very accomidating.  And we did get free tickets to the game, so that worked out OK, too.  WVU lost, but it was a good game and the crowd there was great.  Still can't believe they close down the hospital on game day.

.

[dandi]

I had the "privilege" of having to make a delivery to a coal mine in Williamson.  I drove 12 miles to get to the mine, then I had to drive 8 more miles thru the mine to the supply building.

Before I did this, I had to take a 30 minute MHSA "class", because I wasn't allowed in the mine area without a "pink slip".

Basically, it boiled down to this:
Everything in the mine has the right of way.
If I hit anything, it's MY fault.
If anything hits ME, it's MY fault.
Here's a map, take your time, and be careful.

So, the coal trucks had the right of way, at all times.  If you refuse to yield the right of way, they will take it from you!

Apparently they thought the same thing applied to the roads, especially US 52.

[dandi]

Well, Crum and Fort Gay are metropolitan areas within the confines of Wayne County. If you studied for a Golden Horseshoe in the eighth grade, you should know that. To play coal truck chicken, you should travel the new Robert C. Byrd Tolsia Highway, through the heart of Fort Gay.

It's a pretty rural drive, only a very few buildings, bridges, and other edifices named for Senator Byrd along the way.

Tolsia Highway didn't really come into being until they did the upgrade in the late 80's (if my memory serves correctly it was '86 when they started).  Anything after Fort Gay, especially into Mingo County, was a crap shoot as to whether or not you would make it out alive.  The times I was referring to was the late '70s and early '80s. 

As far as Crum and Fort Gay being metropolitan areas, well, they were in the sense that there wasn't a damn thing else around.  Genoa doesn't count.

 

[dandi]

Are you talking about "Corridor G" out of Charleston?  It's named after him, but then again, so is 95% of everything in WV, and 100% of everything in and around Beckley.

The only other person in recent history that had more stuff named after him was Saddam Hussein.

[dandi]

Aah... the old Tolsia highway! I drove that road twice in my Honda Civic back in the 90's. The first time and the last time. That's one scary damned road. Hell the old Turnpike wasn't that bad!! The old Route 10 out of Logan... to Man I think, was damned dangerous too. Dad damn near died on that one when a coal truck nailed his Ford F-100 back in the 70's. 

Yeah, Rt 10 was/is a nightmare.  I took my children to West Hamlin one time to show them the area Chuck Yeager came from.  They asked me how much of it that he knew still existed (buildings, places, etc).  I told them that from the looks of it, I would imagine nothing had changed.

[dandi]

AJ Manchin was my high school graduation guest speaker. He was definitely colorful.

Which high school was that?  I remember he had several favorites.

[GOBUCKS]

Still can't believe they close down the hospital on game day.

They have to. Otherwise, after the game, fans would drag all the waiting room furniture into the parking lot and burn it.