(indistinct chatter) (gravel crunching) - [Interviewer] All right, Beaver. - [Beaver] Yeah. - [Interviewer] Beaver,
tell me where you grew up? Where you from originally? - [Beaver] Harlan County, Kentucky. - [Interviewer] Harlan County. And tell me about your childhood. You had both your parents
when you were a kid? - Both my parents, yeah. - [Interviewer] What kind
of childhood do you have? - Well, in my family I'm eighth. There are twelve of us, I
was the eighth young one. I had a lot of hand me downs, but I had a pretty decent life. - [Interviewer] Yeah, this
is a poor part of the country and your family was probably poor. - My dad had to go out to work. He worked out of state. - [Interviewer] What did your dad do? - He did carpentry work,
Carpenter. - He built tables, (indistinct) tables. - [Interviewer] And how was your mom? - My mom, she was a housewife. You know, she raised the garden. Taught us what we know,
what we really know. Dad, he was gone five
days out of the week. Come home on weekend. And then he'd stay drunk all weekend. - [Interviewer] Then you
left home at what age? - 13, I was 13 when I left at home. - [Interviewer] What kind of kid were you? - Hard to handle. My old man whooped me all the time. I hear him come out hollering, I'd leave. I'd hit the mountain. My mom would wake me up. - [Interviewer] So you left home at 13? - At 13, yeah. - [Interviewer] And went up to where？ - Oh, I slept in barns, people's garages, buildings, basement, smokehouses. - [Interviewer] You finished high school? - Huh? - [Interviewer] Did you go to high school? - I went to about a year in high school. - [Interviewer] Yeah. - It didn't interest me. I wanted something else, something better. - [Interviewer] What kind of things have you done for work in your life? - Well, carpentry, I've
built couple houses. You know, like lay block and brick, rock, carpentry work. (indistinct) I have learned that
from my day and brother. - [Interviewer] Right.
And you make Moonshine? - Yes, I make moonshine, yes. - [Interviewer] And
tell me about moonshine. How do you make moonshine? - Well, you gotta make beer first. You gotta put malt, malt and corn. Then once it sprouts,
you got to ground it up. And then you gotta put
it in a barrel of water. Then you add water,
then you add your yeast, then you add your meal,
then you add your sugar. The more sugar you add,
the more liquor you got. So you got a 50 pound gallon drum, you put 50 pound of sugar. Then you wait and it germinates. Then you taste it every couple
days and it turns into beer. And then you put it in a still. Then you run it through a copper worm. (indistinct) Then you run your worm in cold water. And once that steam hits that cold water, it just turns into alcohol, and you drop it in a jug, and a jar. - [Interviewer] It ends
up clear as water, right? - Clear as water, yeah. - [Interviewer] There's
a bottle of it right in front of you. What is moonshine like? Is it like Vodka? Is it like- - Well, it is got its own taste. - [Interviewer] It is harder
than Whiskey or Vodka, right? - It's more like Bourbon
than anything else. Comes out of the still about 140 proof. - [Interviewer] 140 proof. - Then you gotta take good clear water to tamper it down to where you want it. 80 proof or 90 proof, or 100 proof. My old man only drank 100 proof liquor. Drink anything under 100
proof won't hurt you. That's what he told me. - [Interviewer] And how do you drink it? You don't drink it, right? - Yeah, you sip on it. - [Interviewer] You just
put your lips to it really- - Right. You drink quick, you will be drunk quick. (Interviewer laughing) It will knock you on
your ass pretty quick. - [Interviewer] And
Moonshine is popular here in this part of country? - Yes, it is. - [Interviewer] Yeah, lots of
people we've talked to said, "Can you get me any Moonshine?" - Yeah. - [Interviewer] Told them
I'm gonna talk to you, and they said, "Yeah, get me some." - It is pretty easy to find. - [Interviewer] Yeah. - There's still a couple
people here you will find it. - [Interviewer] It's illegal? - It's illegal, yeah.
Yeah. What are the penalties
like for making Moonshine? - Well, it's a federal offense. You're allowed to have a still, but you can't have it put together. - [Interviewer] What was
the purpose of having a drink that's so strong? - Well, they say the stronger the better. I mean it kills all the
worms in you, you know. They say that cheap
liquor, you know, rot guts. - [Interviewer] Right. - It hurts you. Normally I only drink a 100 proof liquor. - [Interviewer] Yeah,
your dad used to drink it? - He drank it all the time, when he weren't working. - [Interviewer] Yeah,
tell me about your life. So you, you got married at one point? - Yeah, I got married in '90. We were together twenty
something years before she died, twenty-one years really. Until she died of cancer in 2011. - [Interviewer] And you have a daughter? - I have one daughter,
yeah, she was born in 2014. - [Interviewer] Since your- - Since my woman died, yeah. She got me over her.
- Yeah. Then this girl, that was
one wish that come true. I always wished I had a
young one before I died. I raised three step young ones you know. Her boy was a year and a
half when we got together. Now, I walked both my
girls down the aisle. Their real dads are still living. That's the only time I
wore a tux in my life for going to a wedding. - [Interviewer] Yeah, tell me
about living in Appalachia. It's a one of the poorest
parts of the country. - It's hard to get a dollar, you know? - [Interviewer] It's
hard to make money here, very few jobs?
- It is very hard. - Unless you got garden
work or odd jobs for people. - [Interviewer] And coal mining which used to be the only
option is fading away. - Yeah, I never did like coal
mining because it's dangerous. Or logging, I never did
nothing like logging because it's dangerous. - [Interviewer] Yeah. Do you consider yourself a hillbilly? - Yes, 100 %. - [Interviewer] Tell me about
it, what is a hillbilly? Is it a derogatory term? Is it a negative term? - Well, a hillbilly is just
born and raised on the land. You live off the land if you wanted to. - [Interviewer] You are
proud of being a hillbilly? - I'm proud of it, yeah. I wouldn't take nothing else, I wouldn't be nothing else. - [Interviewer] What is a hillbilly? Tell me, what's your
definition of hillbilly? - Live on your own. Live off the land. You know, take pride in everything you do. And you know, that's about it. - [Interviewer] It's
almost like an outlaw? - Yeah, I been an outlaw. - [Interviewer] For this
part of the country. - Outlaw from the law, yeah. But I've had my share of jail time. - [Interviewer] Have you? - Yeah. - [Interviewer] What kind
of stuff got you in jail? - Drugs. - [Interviewer] Drugs?
You used to use drugs? - Yeah, I do drugs, yeah. - [Interviewer] You still do? - Once in a while. - [Interviewer] But what have
you played with in the past? - Cocaine, heroin, pills and marijuana. I still smoke Marijuana once in a while. - [Interviewer] I think the
first time I photographed you you had a whole field of Marijuana. Didn't you?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was 12 years ago.
(Interviewer laughs) - [Interviewer] Yeah,
and living here, I mean, what are the upsides and
downsides of Appalachia? I mean the doctors and
dentists are very few and far between, right? - Yeah, it's hard to pay bills if you've ain't got no income. I draw SSI now, though,
but 'cause of my health. - [Interviewer] Right,
how old are you now? - I'm 58.
58. - Yeah. - [Interviewer] Have you traveled? Have you been in other
parts of the country? - Yeah, I've been to Chicago
and Florida, Georgia. You know, places like that. But I didn't like the city life. I stayed in Chicago five years. I worked up there, but, I made big money and spent big money. But there ain't no place like home. - [Interviewer] This is one of the most beautiful parts of the country. - It is, it is. - [Interviewer] It might
be one of the poorest and toughest to survive- - Yeah it is. - [Interviewer] But it's
spectacularly beautiful. - Yes, it is. - [Interviewer] Are you happy? - I'm happy here, yeah, I sure am. - [Interviewer] Yeah,
you always seem to be. I photographed you for my first book, and you seemed to be- - Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure enough. - [Interviewer] Truly loving this life. - Yeah. - [Interviewer] What are your
best memories in your life? - Best memories, I guess
being with my family. Having family reunions. But I don't have that no more. Every time we get together
now we always fight, we wanna fight all the time. (indistinct) - [Interviewer] Tell me
more about Appalachia. There's hunting here? There's a lot of animals, right? - Yeah, a lot of animals, you know, bear, hunt bear, turkey, deer. But my woman she wouldn't
fix nothing like it. She wanted everything
bought out of a store. I wouldn't kill it
unless she wanna eat it. Me, I can eat anything like
that, but she wasn't like it. If it wasn't bought from a
store she wouldn't eat it. - [Interviewer] What is
the most important lesson you've learned in your life? - Be honest, be honest, be honest. Honesty is the best policy. I learned that the hard way. I stole stuff in my life, it don't pay. It does not pay. Honesty is the best policy. It is hard too around this
neighborhood, you know? It feels good to get a
lick up, though, it does. And I've done it 20
years, and no retirement. But I had to make some kind of living. - [Interviewer] Yeah. - It's nothin' to brag about. - [Interviewer] What regrets
do you have in your life? - Pardon? - [Interviewer] Do you have any regrets? - Yeah, a whole lot of regrets. I stole off my family, this and that, to be able to build up my. Took me 40 years to realize, you know, what was wrong with my life. I came back here by myself. I'm better off that way I guess, you know. I don't have to worry about
nobody else bother me. I aint gonna bother nobody else. - [Interviewer] How is your personality different than everyone
else in your family? - Well, I'm the last boy that was born, and I got three fingers, I guess. I'm just the oddball out of the bunch, I am the only one who
is never had a real job. I always survived on my own, picked up pop cans and
bottles for a living. Just try to live off the land. You know, my hat it's all I got. It's all I got here.
Everything is mine out here. I've got stuff people give to me, and I've got out of garbage
dumps and this and that. - [Interviewer] So you live
up on top of a mountaintop all by yourself here.
- Yeah, yeah. I don't think the cops could even find you if they wanted to. - They've been here a time or two. They've been here, they've been here. - [Interviewer] Everyone
in this town knows you? - Yeah, I don't know
them, but they know me. Yeah, a lot of people know
me, but I don't know them, in different states. - [Interviewer] Yeah, what
are you famous for？(laughs) - Growing pot, I guess. - [Interviewer] Moonshine and pot? - Moonshine and pot, yeah. - [Interviewer] So tell
me about your life, you still have hope for
things in your life or? - I'd like to see my
girl's eighteenth birthday. That's the only thing
I hope in my life now. That's 11 more years. I don't know if I'll
make 11 more years or not if I don't quit my ways. She'll be seven in May. - [Interviewer] Yeah. - I was 52 years old when she was born. - [Interviewer] Did you have friends here? - Yeah, I got all kinds of friends, yeah, Well, so called friends, you know. When you're down and
out that's when you know who your friends are, or you're in jail. - [Interviewer] Tell me about your hand. What happened to your hand? - Well, that feller right
there, Edward Caldwell, we were chopping wood in '74. (indistinct) My old man
played cards all night, come in and wanted to build a fire. And we went outside in the dark at about one o'clock in the morning. And we had a pile of kindling
on a big ol' chop block. And I laid up a piece of
wood about six inches round. The chop came and he was
coming down with the axe and cut (indistinct) I
got it's head back up. That's when he come down
with the axe and cut it off. Cut this one, (indistinct). And I raised it up like that. I clapped my hands together
like that and passed out. They ran me over to the hospital. - [Interviewer] So show me
your hand you're missing- - My little pinky. And I remember I had
(indistinct) in winter time and I had two or three sweatshirts on and I remember cutting up my arm. And then digging up in my
arm to get it by itself and blood everywhere. - [Interviewer] How long does it take to get to a hospital here? - About two hours. They had to give me three pints of blood. It happened over here on the other side, where the picture was taken
is where I lost my finger at. - [Interviewer] Right. - But, these days they can put it back on, but back in '74 before they didn't. - [Interviewer] Yeah,
and he was your friend, and he remained your friend
after removing your finger? - He's my brother-in-law,
yeah, he dated my sister. And it was an accident, he
felt guilty for a long time. But you know. - [Interviewer] Do you
ever wonder what your life would been like if you'd
been born in New York city? - Oh, it would have been pitiful. I'd probably been dead by now, probably. I'd say, but I can't tell it. I've had a good life the
way I look at it, you know. I was never a hog, I was never greedy. I'd take a small amount
and go about my business. I never steal nothing
that I didn't really need. To be honest with you, I mean, when I was in the court system, I always told the truth. That's what my mom always told me. - [Interviewer] So what
do you do for enjoyment at this point in your life? What makes you happy? - Well, I've always had, as long as I've got a dollar in my pocket Or a joint I'm happy. I got something to eat,
and my dog ain't hungry. I don't ask nobody for nothing. I do that before, I ask somebody. It's always been that way. If I can't get it from home I do without. It's always been that way. - [Interviewer] When you were a kid, did you have dreams of
doing something in life? - Yeah. - [Interviewer] What kind of stuff? - Being a cop. - Being a cop?
- Yeah. - [Interviewer] You ended
up the opposite of that. - Yeah, I was in the big
pen when I was twelve. Grand theft and breaking and entering. (indistinct) Yup. I was 18 years old before
I got out of grade school. That was one tough
decision going to school. I was 18 before I got out of grade school. I graduated from eighth
grade on my 18th birthday. - [Interviewer] Really? - [Beaver] Yeah, when I graduated yeah. Well, you know I wanted to go, I had to go to school to
eat and hit the mountain, and I missed a hundred or
something days of the year. - [Interviewer] You had
to go back to school? - Yeah. I went to school to eat, though. Twelve of us in the family it was hard to raise enough garden, you know. We raise 200 pounds of 'taters. I was working the garden all the time, come home, still had to go to work. And if we didn't work hard enough, he'd make us take the rock pile. Take the rock pile here,
move it over there. If he didn't like it
by the end of next week he'd make you move it back. That's how my old man was.
He was mean to all of us. He was, he was a hateful old man. I like my dad, but he was mean to my mom, but that's life, I guess. - [Interviewer] Everybody
in this county knows of you. You don't follow the rules, you seem to be like this outlaw legend that lives up on this
mountain all by himself. You've lived a life that a
lot of us fantasize about. - Ah, a crazy life, I mean, I have a lot of hand me downs. - [Interviewer] Any run ins with the law? - Oh yeah, I got away
with I've had 97 felonies and no convictions. That's what got me my five years. - [Interviewer] How many? - 97 charges, but no convictions. - [Interviewer] 97? - Yeah, charges, yeah. Felony charges and no convictions. And then finally the judge said, "Your past history is
gonna get your time." For 28 months straight before I got out. Then I got couple year sentence. When I turned over forty, that's when I said jail ain't made for me. That's when I try going straight. It's still hard. It's hard to go straight. It pays in the long run. You sleep better at night. - [Interviewer] You sleep better at night? - Yeah.
- That's good. - Yeah, being honest. All I got to do is ask people. If I don't have it, they give it to you. You know what I'm saying,
work for it, you know. As my mom always said. - [Interviewer] What are you
proud of stuff in your life? - Proud? I guess when my girl was born. That's the most proud
I've been in my life. When my girl was born. But she was born in jail. I didn't know she was mine
until she was 18 months old. But, that's one wish come true. - [Interviewer] Are you
are a religious person? - Yeah, I believe I'm Baptist, yeah. I believe in God, yeah. - [Interviewer] You ever
step foot in a church before? - Yes, yes I have. Yeah, several times.
- Yeah. - But I didn't like the preacher. He tryin' tell me somethin'
right and I done it wrong. But you know, they're evil
in church just as much as they are out here. But you can't go by that,
you've just got to go by your own belief. - [Interviewer] What do
you think of the future of life here in Appalachia for people? I mean it seems like this
lifestyle is kind of fading away. - It's gettin' rougher,
it's gettin' rougher. If you can't raise a garden
it's gonna be rough on ya. Another five years down
the road these stores are gonna go out of business. If you can't live off the land you're gonna have a hard time. It's gonna be hard. It's
gonna be rough on ya. - [Interviewer] Yeah, you're
the last of a breed I think. - [Beaver] Right, right, yup. Sure enough. Right here the animals make
livin' on the land (indistinct) You leave me here I can
live two or three on it. On my garden. - [Interviewer] Is that right? - Can goods you know. - [Interviewer] It seems
like drugs are taking over the community here. - It is, it is. - [Interviewer] It's gotten really bad in the last 20 years, right? - Yeah, I've had a lot of
good close friends leave here. That crank, and crystal meth. Heroin's now takin' over. 10 years ago there was
no such thing as heroin. All there was, was maybe
a few fields of marijuana. Now it's everywhere. Dope dealers, meth dealer, it's two to one of them. - [Interviewer] What was
the worse time of your life, losing your wife? - Pardon? - [Interviewer] What was
the worse time of your life, losing your wife? - Losing my wife, yeah. Mom and dad. I lost my mom in '94,
I lost my dad in 2015. - [Interviewer] Who
were you closer to, mom? - I was close to my mom, yeah. My dad always stayed away all the time. - [Interviewer] You
ever get depressed here? - Every now and then yeah, if you don't, you know you lyin' to you. Yeah, I get depressed, yeah. - [Interviewer] Yeah. - But I'm hardly ever alone. Somebody's always here. My dog makes me company,
somebody's always here. - [Interviewer] Yeah
every time I've been here, I've been here several times and you always have people hanging out. - People live upside of me,
my family live upside of me. All that live up here is my family. Ain't no outsiders lives here. My family. It's probably been in my
family since the 1800s. Early 1800s. - [Interviewer] Your whole family's lived in Harlan county? - My old man, he was
born in this old house down here on the hill here. And he was born in '27 and
it's still standing there. - [Interviewer] How many
generations have you guys been here, you think? - Five, six. My great, great grandpa
patented this property in 1829. It's probably been in
my family ever since. My brother used to live here. My other brother was born
over there, somewhere here. And then the house got burnt, you know. - [Interviewer] Did you ever hear of what your grandfathers, great
grandparents did for money? - [Beaver] Well, they made
moonshine, they made moonshine and tend garden so. - [Interviewer] Yeah, you're a 3rd or 4th generation moonshiner? - [Beaver] Yup, yeah just about it, yup. - All right.
- Yeah. - [Interviewer] Beaver thank you so much for talking with me. - Yeah. - [Interviewer] Good luck with
your daughter and everything else that's going on with you. - Right, sure enough, yeah. - [Interviewer] It's great
seeing with you again. - Yeah.
- Thank you. - [Beaver] You too. Glad to. You too and love those pictures. I sure do I actually have
a couple of that book. - [Interviewer] Yeah you look great there. Those are awesome.
