Interview with James E. Childers, June 11, 1987

Interview Summary

James Childers was born in 1910 on Adams' Branch near Elkhorn City, Kentucky. His parents, Love Childers and Lizzie Sanders Childers, were born on Marrowbone Creek. Lizzie was raised on the land where Peabody Coal opened up the Allegheny mine. Lizzie sold her land to Peabody in 1906. Lizzie and Love farmed and raised their family on Adams' Branch. James provides a vivid description of the richness of the land and the abundance the mountains provided. The family owned several horses, cows, hogs, sheep, turkeys, geese, and ducks. His mother used the sheep's wool to make socks and weaved blankets on her loom. Childers states that farmers did not have to feed their stock because the mountains were full of timber that provided plenty of "mast" for the animals. He recalls that chestnuts were so plentiful that one could pick up a bushel full in half an hour. Mountain farms also had large orchards full of apple, peach, pear, plum, and cherry trees. Adams' Branch also had many paw-paw trees. Farmers dug roots and herbs, such as pennyroyal, mayapple, and wild cherry bark, to sell to the R.T. Greer Company in Pikeville. As a child, Childers also hunted and trapped and recalls that occasionally a man would come by on horseback to buy the pelts. There were also bear and wildcats on Adams' Branch that fed on the farmers' chickens and young sheep. Childers states that his family would take corn to be ground to Aunt Rachel Sloan's water mill, located above the mouth of Water Branch. They bought their flour in 196-lb barrels and he estimates that they would use 25-30 pounds a week. They also bought salt by the barrel. They rarely bought sugar because they used molasses as a sweetener. His family had a well for water and a springhouse for cold storage. He remembers peddling eggs and other farm products at the Edgewater coal camp on Marrowbone Creek. He mentions community bean-stringings and corn-shuckings. At the age of eighteen, Childers began work as a coal miner for Edgewater Coal Company. He walked six miles to work, leaving at five o'clock in the morning and returning at seven or eight o'clock at night. He started out earning fifty cents an hour as a "chalkeye" or "backhand." This meant he was employed by a contractor or miner and not directly by the company. The miners from Elkhorn Creek did not move into the company towns but continued to live on farms. The mines provided the only means of earning cash. When Edgewater shut down in the spring of 1930, Childers began working at the Henry Clay mine. He describes earning four dollars a day when he first started, but by 1933 wages were down to $2.80 a day. During the miners' efforts to unionize the mines in 1933 and 1934, Childers joined other miners in going out on strike and he describes the violence that eventually erupted. He recalls early UMWA field organizer Tom Raney as the "best speaker in Pike County," and talks about the work divisions within the mines. The coal loaders were the paid the least and were often "backhands." The "company men" who ran the motors and laid track received higher wages. When the UMWA tried to organize the miners, a split developed between miners. The coal loaders sided with the union, while the company men were mostly anti-union. Childers also talks about working in McRoberts, Kentucky and having to walk 24 miles one way to come home on weekends. He recalls the first automobiles in the area and one man who made a living pulling cars out of the mud. Electricity was not run up Elkhorn Creek until the late 1940s. Childers suffered permanent hearing loss in a mine fire at the Allegheny mine on Marrowbone Creek in 1946. He retired in 1963 when he was crippled by a slate fall.

Interview Keyword

Adams' Branch Black miners Edgewater Coal Company Egalitarianism Elkhorn Coal Field Foodways Henry Clay mine Marrowbone Creek McRoberts, Kentucky Mine fires Mountain farming Mountain wildlife Recreation Rural electrification Social activities Spinning and weaving Tom Raney United Mine Workers of America African Americans--Segregation Edgewater Coal Company Marrowbone (Ky.) Pikeville (Ky.) Salaries Occupations Childhood

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Childers, James E., 1910- Childers, James E., 1910- --Interviews Coal miners Coal miners--Kentucky--Elkhorn City Coal miners--Kentucky--Pike County Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Elkhorn City Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--History Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Pike County Pike County (Ky.) Pike County (Ky.)--Social life and customs Families Family histories Farmers Farm life--Appalachian Region Coal miners Coal mines and mining--Kentucky Coal--Kentucky Appalachian Region--Social life and customs Coal mines Coal mines and mining Employment--Kentucky United Mine Workers of America Coal miners--Labor unions--Organizing Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Kentucky Coal mine accidents Coal mines and mining--Safety measures Coal mines and mining--Safety regulations Appalachian Region--Economic conditions

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All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

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