Hall for Bush

Hall for Bush

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Odyssey 2008, Part 1 by Burl Cloninger

Folks,

A few weeks ago, Linda and I began planning a trip with our friends Bill and Javone Hall. The plan was to leave home on September 18th and return on or around October 26th. I don't want to tick anyone off, so if this is something that you are not interested in, please just hit the delete key when you see Odyssey 2008 in the subject line. I just thought there might be some who would be interested in this travelogue. If this does not interest you, please hit the delete key when you see Odyssey 2008 in the subject line.

On the morning of September 18th, we were all packed with the refrigerator and cupboards fully loaded and the tow car attached to the back of The Poor House, Jr. By arrangement, we were planning to leave around nine a.m. We were awaiting a call from Bill stating they were nearing their entrance to I-40, about 7 miles west of The Poor House. The call came, and we put the diesel in gear and moved out onto I-40, stopping at a pull off area about a quarter mile toward Knoxville. Bill came on the CB letting us know he was near, and we fell in behind him on I-40 east to I-640 and north on I-75 to Williamsburg, KY. We took KY 92 across to US 27 north to Stearns, KY. Our destination was The Big South Fork River and Recreation Area National Park. We drove several miles back into the park to the Blue Heron Campground, where we put in for a couple of days.

The Big South Fork is a relatively new park established by an act of Congress in 1974 at the behest of Sen. Howard Baker, who lives nearby in Tennessee. It covers thousands of acres in Tennessee and Kentucky, with the larger portion in Tennessee. It is very rugged territory with many sharp ridges and deep canyons. There are several campgrounds in the park, but we chose the Blue Heron. This is an area of many abandoned coal mines that were the source of employment for those living in the area from the beginning of the last century up until around the 1960s when it became unprofitable to extract the coal.

Stearns and the coal mining was established in 1902 by a man named Stearns who came in and bought thousands of acres to establish the Stearns Coal and Lumber Co. He employed thousands of men and women in the area to cut and saw the timber and mine the seams of coal from the many mines he established in the area. The first mine to use electricity in the mining operation was at Blue Heron Mine 18, which has been developed by the Corps of Engineers for the National Park Service. It is a self-guided tour of a mining operation to include a tipple and coal cars. The area was a source of many mines, and there is a long bridge across the river. At the opposite side where the rails came up against another ridge, the rails went left to serve mines on that end of the side of the ridge and to the right to serve mines on that side. The coal was hauled in small cars, called "Joy" cars, across the bridge on a rail track where they were dumped into the tipple. There the coal was sorted and each size was diverted to a coal car hauling that size coal. These Joy cars were made by the Joy Manufacturing Co. and were so named.

We rode the train from Stearns to the Blue Heron mine, and when the mines were in full operation, the train was the only way into the area of the mines. Each of the mining communities housed 400 - 500 families who seldom left the camp area. They bought their supplies at the company store using script, a form of money issued by the mining company. Stearns saw to it that each camp had a school, a church and medical personnel. Early in the century, the state paid the school teachers for seven months, but Stearns paid them for an additional two months. Many of the residents seldom left the community, and eighth grade education was generally the highest education obtained the those areas. The boys, at ages 13 -14, began working in the mines and, in many cases, their sons and grandsons went to work in the mines. There was a huge logging and saw mill operation, located in Stearns, that employed thousands of men. It was the first band saw operation for a saw mill in the country.

One man who had worked in the mines in the 1930s and 1940s left the area and made a lot of money. He returned to his roots and restored the Barthell Mining Camp. This is in the middle of nowhere, and his son and daughter-in-law operate the place. One has to be lost to find the place. It is now accessible by car, if one can find their way there, but for many years it was accessible by the train that hauled coal from the mines. There is a restaurant, a museum of old cars, cabins to rent that apparently get several guests, and a stage area where blue grass and gospel groups perform for those who can find their way there. Anyway, we had dinner there on the night of the 19th. Just good country cooking - you know, the kind of place where one can get a fried bologna sandwich, or as we say out in the county, baloney.

Some campgrounds do not have any type of Internet service, so I may be sending out two or three parts on the same date. Bear with me, if you are interested.

Well, we are pulling out in the morning. That will start Part 2. See you then.

Remember, Delete is the answer if this is of no interest to you.

B

Burl E. Cloninger
11447 Goldenview Lane
Knoxville, TN 37932-3146
865-966-7888
865-207-9300 Cellular

Life Begins When I Damn Well Say It Does | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Life Begins When I Damn Well Say It Does | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Barack Obama | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Barack Obama | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Number Of Acceptable Things Candidates Can Say Now Down To Four | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Number Of Acceptable Things Candidates Can Say Now Down To Four | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Blogged with the Flock Browser

YouTube - KBR Convoy Ambushed in Iraq

YouTube - KBR Convoy Ambushed in Iraq

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Age-Progression Technology Indicates Missing Child A Prostitute By Now | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Age-Progression Technology Indicates Missing Child A Prostitute By Now | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Blogged with the Flock Browser