(music begins to end) The one hundred and ninety-two point six
miles from Abingdon, Virginia, to Ashland Kentucky, started out on a sunny July
fifth. The journey would be primarily on state highways. I knew I would see some
pretty scenery, so I had my camera ready. The projected travel time was three
hours and 40 minutes, but I knew it would take me longer. You have to stop and smell the carbon,
when you're driving through coal country. Eastern Kentucky has a rich musical
heritage. A large number of nationally acclaimed country music singers and
musicians are from the area. These include Loretta Lynn, the Judd's,
Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless, Dwight Yoakam, and Billy Ray Cyrus. When I passed the turnoff for Harlan, I
thought of one of my favorite TV shows, "Justified," which took place in Harlan
County. (GPS) In 3.5 miles, continue on to Jone's Branch,
Jone's Park Road. Coal played an integral part in our
country's development. Around April 13th, 1750, explorer Dr. Thomas Walker was the
first recorded person to discover and use coal in Kentucky. He burned it for
his campfire. 70 years later, the first commercial mine opened in the Western
coalfield in Muhlenberg County, which produced 328 tons its first year. By 1843,
Kentucky produced 100,000 tons of coal and 36 years later it produced a
million. And all of that coal was chiseled out of the Earth by a coal
miner with a pickaxe. Since its discovery, coal has gained both
economic importance and controversy regarding its environmental consequences.
The Eastern Kentucky coalfield, which I was driving through, covers an area from
the Allegheny Mountains in the east, across the Cumberland Plateau, to the
Pottsville escarpment in the West. Coal mines were built where the coal was,
which was usually in rural areas away from everything. In the late 1890s, many
miners emigrated from Europe to work in the mines. Companies built housing for the miners
right along the road, so it was easy getting to the mine. And they deducted
the rent from the miners paychecks. In fact, coal companies built whole towns to
attract workers to move there, from churches, to schools, to the company store,
where their paychecks were tapped again for anything they bought. I discovered
many houses to be long abandoned on my drive through the company towns.
Increased mechanization and the emergence of strip mining reduced the
need for labor. As of 2017, there were less than 4,000 underground coal miners. By 2001, 8.36 billion tons of coal had
been extracted from Kentucky. Most family farms in the region have
disappeared since the introduction of surface mining in the 1940s and 1950s. It
was rare to spot a garden on my drive. Driving through coal country on the Coal
Miners Highway, and seeing the Coal Miners Memorial, was quite a sobering
experience. On my way to Ashland, Kentucky, quite a road trip. Coal's biggest economic
impact has been low electric rates in Kentucky, which gives the state a
competitive advantage in attracting industry, including those with heavy
energy demands. When I finally reached the coal depot near Ashland, I imagined
many more mountains of coal than was present, though Eastern coal remains
widely used across the United States. I made it through coal country and I am in
Huntington, West Virginia, at a restaurant called Black Sheep, and they have a very
interesting menu, and I'm waiting for my Late Bloomer fans that connected with me
online, and waiting to meet them for the first time in person, Jeana and Angie, and
we're going to have a great lunch. Hey, I'm David, I'm Angie, I'm Jeana. Hi, nice to meet you! And we're in
Huntington... West Virginia! So, where are we now? We are leaving West Virginia and coming into
Chesapeake, Ohio. Oh my goodness. Then we're headed back to Kentucky, right? Yes. Okay. So, you're leaving Ohio and going
back into West Virginia. Why'd we do that? Because it's much quicker
than going through in West Virginia. It bypasses almost all of Huntington
traffic and puts you right up on the interstate approximately seven miles
outside of Kentucky. It looks like one cloud. It's the Appalachian version of June gloom. Except it comes and goes, right? June gloom is there to stay where we are. Yeah, this comes and goes.
