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I Forge Iron

Coal miners


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It's not Christmas, it's not labor day, it's not anything but wednesday, just another day. Yet somewhere out there a good bunch of folks risk life and limb again in the pursuit of making a living for their families by riding that tram down that dark hole deep into the earth as they did yesterday and today and they will again tommorow so that we may have the coal that we burn in our forgefires. Sometimes some of them don't come back up again. When I buy more coal I always think of where it came from and how hard it was for someone to provide this for me. However much they earn for their labors it ain't enough. So for all you coal miners out there- YOU GUYS ROCK!!!
THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

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My Grandfather was a West Virginia coal miner back in the 30's and before. I heard it told that he lived the line in the song " loaded 16 tons and what do you get...another day older and deeper in debt". We found some reciepts from 1944 where he bought things on credit from the local "Groceries, Feed and Explosives" store.

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Both of my Grandfathers were West Virginia coal miners in the depression era and after. I never met either of them, as they both passed away long before I came along. However, when I forge I look at the coal, and imagine what it must have been like to have mined it all day long, every day.

The work had to have been hard, backbreaking labor. Using coal as a fuel, I feel a connection to them.

I started a few years ago collecting the scrip tokens they had to use to purchase their families' necessities, from the county in which they worked. I have a few pieces from the actual mines they worked at. When I hold it in my hands, I feel like I'm holding a piece of West Virginia history. To think that maybe, one of my grandpa's had actually held that token in his hands, wow, what a cool thought. I'm sure my daughter will appreciate the collection some day, too.

I appreciate coal miners, also.:)

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