Tennessee Coal Mining, Railroading & Logging in Cumberland, Fentress, Overton & Putnam [Hardcover]

Jason Duke (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Turner (January 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563119323
• ISBN-13: 978-1563119323
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,975,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a pretty boring bloke who writes about pretty boring stuff, such as coal mining in Tenesse.

You may think it's boring but I think it's amazing. If you want to know about such things then read, read, read away but even better is buying. Buy the book, I want your cash:)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Look Back, July 6, 2007

By 

David W. Straight (knoxville, tennessee United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tennessee Coal Mining, Railroading & Logging in Cumberland, Fentress, Overton & Putnam (Hardcover)

The book is a fascinating look back at life in the early 1900's
in 4 counties of the northern Cumberland Plateau area of Tennessee.
There is a wealth of old photographs--at a guess, about 250 or more
in the book's 120 oversize glossy pages--maps, and descriptions in
the book. The emphasis is primarily on the coal camps such as Wilder
in Fentress County, with a lot of detail about the railroads that
served the coal mining communities, and not as much about the logging.

The book is divided into histories of some of the towns in each county
(the book calls them "cities", which is a very generous term). Then
you'll find histories of the timber and lumber companies, and the coal
companies. There's a nice chapter on the people--biographies of some
of the residents (mostly coal miners in this book). There are brief
chapters on the Wilder and Zenith strikes (1919 to 1937 or so) and
some excerpts from the 1930s from Jamestown and Livingston papers. All
chock-full of photographs of the people and places--including a couple
of photos of hangings from the late 1800's: it would appear that the
local law enforcement preferred using trees to building gallows.

The book is a nice companion piece to Ghost Railroads of Tennessee,
although the emphasis is on a much smaller part of the state. On a
personal note, I'm a caver, and most of the areas in the book are familiar
to me. Of particular interest is the town of Wilder, close to the gorge
of the East Fork of the Obey River. The population peaked at about 2500
in 1925 or so, with large hotels and a thriving coal business. What is
left has a population of about 60--the hotels, the mines, the railroad,
etc, are all long since gone and grown over--looking at the old photos
is a real treat! A highly recommended book.