Interview with Garland Davis, June 27, 1987

Interview Summary

Garland Davis was a coal miner in southwest Virginia, and he describes attending a one-room schoolhouse as a child. He recalls the changes that he has seen during his employment as a miner. He describes hand loading coal into three-tiered buggies when he first started working in mining. By the time he was laid off in 1985, he was mining coal with a continuous miner. Davis blames the excessive mechanization of the mines for the high unemployment rate in Appalachia, and expresses his concern for the future. Although he worked in a coal mine during the roving pickets' movement, Davis is not sure if the movement operated in southwest Virginia

Interview Keyword

Appalachian coal mining Appalachian Region Belt Line coal mechanization Coal Mining coal mining mechanization education in one-room school hand-loading mining equipment

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Coal miners Coal mines and mining--Appalachian Region Davis, Garland Davis, Garland--Interviews

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.