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Originally posted by DeltAlum
To say the least.
As a relative of one of the trapped minors said on NPR yesterday, the only way to make a decent living in that area of the country is to have a college degree or work in the mines. Pretty much everything else is poverty.
I pray for a safe outcome to this situation, but it would appear that some kind of miracle will be necessary.
My late grandfather's family came from Applacian Ohio (10 of Ohio's 88 counties are, or at least were when I was growing up there, considered depressed areas. My Alma Mater is located in an Appalacian county -- not all that far from the West Virginia border) All of my great uncles on that side of the family worked in the mines -- and all got out and went to work for the railroads because of the danger.
My grandfather worked in the "company store" in Glouster, OH, and also assisted the local undertaker. He had some really amazing stories to tell.
Miners are a tough breed. Hopefully that will help in this situation.
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When I was in college, I got to be part of "The Pittsburgh Heritage Experience", which was mostly conducting oral histories & photos of immigrants and others who lived here at the turn of the century, up to WWII. It was such an eye opener! I left the project two years later, saying that I would
never marry a miner! It's just too scary. You are so right - those men are a breed of their own. May God bless them.
My granddaddy was a company man, too. I never met him, but my daddy told me stories about their house being stoned and all. It was especially weird because
his granddaddy owned a greenhouse - it almost seems surreal.
BTW, if you live near Pittsburgh, the only two places which do NOT have a mine under them are Crafton, and the corner where St. Ann's Church in Castle Shannon was - as the immigrants wouldn't "undermine" their church! Beyond that, it's not IF you're over a mine, it's a matter of how much space is between your house and the roof of the mine.