Missing Mountain Tops

Greetings from the home of Todd and Robin and their children Ben, Kat, Shea and Morgan in Lewisville, WV who have invited us to use their internet and camp in their beautiful country back yard. The last few days have been packed with ascents and docents both literal and figurative. We got off of Hwy 119 and landed in the deep heart of coal country (which we tasted in Harlan County) and as my father-in-law who sells furniture in the area says, “extreme hillbilly country.” From Williamsburg, WV we weaved our way back and forth between the WV and KY border into Logan, WV- unlike any place either of us has been. Formerly a booming coal town, now the pawn shops and run down store fronts reflect the challenging economic times that most families in the area face, even though there is more coal extracted from this area than during its boom time. This and many other contradictions of coal permeated our time in Logan County.

We began yesterday morning by traveling (via car) up Blair mountain with Kenny King, an amazing man from the area who has been surveying the area of the 1921 battle at Blair Mountain, the largest armed uprising in the US since the Civil War. Kenny took us to the site of the trenches where company thugs, local law enforcement and militias opened fire on the miners from across the area who had joined forces to fight the oppression of the coal operators. The beauty of the forested mountains in unsurpassable; as Kenny drove us through the winding roads he pointed out things we wouldn't have noticed on casual glance. He highlighted the- purposely hidden from the road- sites of the strip mining and places were mountain tops used to exist, but have been obliterated by mountain top mining (where coal companies literally remove a mountain top to extract the coal- employing many fewer miners than traditional underground mining). Kenny showed us where communities had existed and told us how the coal companies are trying to push the residents out so that people are not there to witness the destruction. While Kenny works to fight the destruction that mining causes, he pays his bills by testing the quality of coal.

We biked through areas that have been impacted by the big floods that have caused Obama to declare states of emergency in several counties. Many of them are places that had never before flooded, but have strip or mountain top mining now. As Kenny stated it is quite clear that there is a connection between the destruction of the mountains for coal extraction and the flooding, but people don't talk about the connection out loud.

Our conversation with a local waitress at lunch in little gas station/cafe outside of Man, WV reflected this.
Jim- "Looks like they took the mountain top clear off."
Waitress, as she cleans the window that frames the missing mountain top, "Yep, they’re mining up there."
We began to talk about the flooding and I said, “So I hear that areas that have never flooded before got hit hard last week”
Waitress, “yep.”
Gabriela, “Why do they think flooding happened in these areas?’
Waitress, “I guess it was a big rain cloud.”

After descending from Blair Mountain, we visited the Logan, WV AFSC office and learned from Ron Jones and Eileen Bell about their amazing work in the community with youth empowerment, housing improvement and other social justice issues. I am touched by the powerful work and dedication of my colleagues across the country.

The day ended after 63 miles of intense mountain road cycling, a blown tire, worn front brakes and weary legs.