Interview with Buster Ratliff, July 25, 1987

Interview Summary

Buster "Buck" Ratliff was born in the mining camp at the Henry Clay mine on Marrowbone Creek in 1918. His paternal grandparents, Harvey and Jane Bartley Ratliff, at one time held vast tracts of land there. His father, Cephus, worked at the Henry Clay mine and other mines around Marrowbone for forty years. Buck Ratliff began working in the coal mines in 1936. In 1933 and 1934, Buck Ratliff carried a shotgun with other union miners and supporters to help organize the Henry Clay mine for the UMWA. He describes how Wash Kinney, one of the union leaders, wore his army uniform and marched the striking miners like troops. When fighting between the company guards and the miners broke out, one miner, Perry Adkins, was killed and another miner was wounded. Ratliff recalls that at Adkins' funeral, which drew UMWA members from several states, everyone was armed and there was talk of finding the sheriff who killed him and hanging him over Adkins' grave. Ratliff attributes his decision to fight for the union to the treatment his father received in the mines. He was able to see his father only on Sundays because his father operated a pump and would come home at night in the winter with his pant legs frozen. Ratliff also worked at the Rockhouse mine where miners had to trade at the company store and were paid $2.10 a day, and comments that it "was slavery." He states that John L. Lewis "stopped the slavery." Ratliff recounts the divisions and violence within the community over the union, the frequent fights between the "rednecks" who were the union supporters, and the "yellow dogs" who supported the company. He also talks about Marrowbone figures like Lawrence E. Ratliff who owned a general store in Lookout and was known for his generosity to miners and their families.

Interview Keyword

"Rednecks" Appalachian Volunteers Black miners Buck Ratliff Coal camp strike violence Company stores Elkhorn Coal Field Immigrant miners John L. Lewis Lawrence E. Ratliff Mine safety Murder of Perry Adkins Racism Rockhouse mine African American miners Scrip Silicosis United Mine Workers of America Wages Wash Kinney "Yellow dogs" Buck Ratliff Coal industry Mine guards

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region 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 Ratliff, Buster, 1918- Ratliff, Buster, 1918- --Interviews Coal mines and mining--Kentucky Coal miners--Labor unions Appalachian region--Economic conditions Strikes and lockouts--Kentucky Coal--Kentucky Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining Childhood Coal mines and mining--Safety measures Coal mines and mining--Safety regulations Communities Mining camps Coal miners--Labor unions. Collective bargaining--Coal mining industry Protest movements Strikebreakers

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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.