"The Narcotic Farm" by Nancy D. Campbell, JP Olsen, and Luke Walden

The University Press of Kentucky web site describes this book in the following manner:

"The United States Narcotic Farm opened in 1935 in the rolling hills of Kentucky horse country. Portrayed in the press as everything from a "New Deal for the drug addict" to a "million-dollar flophouse for junkies," the sprawling art deco facility was equal parts federal prison, treatment center, working farm, and research laboratory. Its mission was to rehabilitate addicts, who were increasingly criminalized and incarcerated as a result of strict new drug laws, and to discover a cure for opiate addiction. This richly illustrated book offers an important history of this progressive yet ultimately doomed experiment. "Narco," as the locals called it, pioneered new treatments such as prescribing methadone to manage heroin withdrawal and developed drugs that blocked the action of opiates. The coed institution admitted federal prisoners as well as volunteers who checked themselves in for treatment, and through the years it hosted several legendary jazz musicians, including Chet Baker and Sonny Rollins, as well as actor Peter Lorre and writer William S. Burroughs. The facility ultimately closed in 1975 under a cloud as Congress learned that Narco researchers had recruited patients as test subjects for CIA-funded LSD experiments from 1953 to 1962, part of the notorious project MK-Ultra."

In the early 1970's, as a part of my intial involvement in the world of substance abuse treatment, I was an occasional visitor to The Narcotic Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, as it is described in the quotation above. I always went there as part of a group of people, both professionials and patients, who were visiting the facility as an aspect of our involvement either as staff, patients,or volunteers in the field. I was never an employee or a patient/inmate at the facility. By that time, the name of the facility had been changed to the Federal Medical Center Lexington. I often attended group actitivities there and met numerous members of both their professional and patient/inmate populations. It was a fascinating place to visit since it was both a segment of the federal prison system and a treatment and research facility funded by the federal government as a part of the federal response to alcoholism and drug addiction. This book is a fine piece of work, especially in the area of the massive amount of research it required by the three co-authors. They must have spent mulitple years seeking, locating, and compiling the vast amounts of records, photographs, books, media articles, documentaries, and other records, both first hand and secondary, which comprise the book and its supporting documentation. It is somewhat easy for the casual reader to misinterpret this book as a "picture book". While that term can be accurate as a partial descriptor of the book, it is nowhere near a fully accurate assessment of the book. Yes, the book is documented with several hundred excellent and powerful photographs from a wide variety of sources, but is also comprised of thousands of words of written material which is divided between a fine written assessment of the work involved in the institution's work in the twelve areas which comprise the individual chapters, and dozens of lengthy descriptions of the multitudinous photographs which are primarily classic black and white highly professional documentation of the facility and its work with a smattering of more recent color photographs of generally equally professional work.

This book is a fine historical document of a facility which has lasted more than 90 years as both a prison and a treatment and research institution for what were often considered the most severely addicted persons in the nation. In the early days of the facility, its patient population was composed of both convicted felons and patients from the general American public who were allowed to voluntarily admit themselves to the facility as patients seeking treatment for their addictions. My impressions of this book are naturally dual in that I am writing about it as a general reader and also as a reflection of my own personal knowledge which was derived from actual time spent there as a visitor with experience in the field of substance abuse treatment. I strayed into my copy of this book at a local Goodwill Store as I often do with used books in a variety of fields, and my investment of $1.59 was repayed by my initial inspection of the photographs, Contents page, and the Index and Credits. Instantly, I was reminded of the two most interesting men I met during my visits to the facility. One was a somewhat aged but physically and mentally active man in his late fifties who was both a chronic alcoholic and sometime drug abuser who was also an inveterate con artist. He was able to achieve long term periods of abstinence especially at those itmes when he was in a controlled environment. But at those times such as his incarceration and treatment at the Narco Farm, he would invariably be ruminating about his impending release and perpetration of the "perfect con game". He also told a personal narrative of his first incarceration in a state prison in the northeastern United States shortly after he attained adult legal status. He claimed to have been the person who picked up a package containing some firearms which an outside source threw over the prison wall to be carried to the inmate who led one of the worst prison riots in American history. He claimed to have never been an active participant in the actual riot and related attacks on prison staff, and claimed to have never been prosecuted for his part in the riot planning. He always said he had simply been assigned to pick up and transport the package of firearms as the were thrown over the downtown prison's wall and transporting them to the key figure in the riot. During the time I knew this man, he was released from the federal prison system and instantly attained a job as a chef in a large hotel in Lexington. As the book discusses, it was not uncommon for inmates at the facility to be released and remain in Lexington. Almost immediately after his release, this man began the perpetration of his "perfect con game" and was subsequently reincarcerated because of it while claiming to have remained stone cold sober the entire time.

The other man I met at the Narcotic Farm was an early perpetrator of an airliner hijacking. He had been a traveling salesman based in a fairly large southeastern city. He said that he had gotten on a commercial airliner in his home city while in an alcoholic blackout during an extended drunk. Shortly after the plane reached cruising altitude, he said he had told a stewardess "This is a hijacking and I want to go to Cuba." The pilots and other personnnel had pacified him to the best of their ability while communicating with federal law enforcement the entire time. They told him that the plane did not have enough fuel for the long trip to Cuba and they would need to stop somewhere to refuel. Being a somewhat sociable alcoholic, he agreed, and the plane landed at a major airport in another city. When they landed, the crew advised him that none of the other passengers wanted to go to Cuba that day. Once again being a really nice alcoholic, he agreed and allowed the passengers and most of the support staff to leave the plane. The entire story had, of course, been a ruse and as the other passengers completed their deboarding an FBI team boarded the plane and arrested him. This man always swore that he had been in an alcoholic blackout the entire time and remembered nothing of the incident until he regained consciousness in a federal prison holding cell in that second city. He said when he regained consciousness he knew he was in a jail which was unlike any he had ever been in before. He said he could see a television on the wall near the end of the cellblock in which he was being held. He said that the first thing he could remember seeing was himself on the evening local news being led off the plane by two FBI agents. He was convicted of the hijacking but was able with the help of a fine attorney and a good psychiatrist who examined and hypnotized him to convince the necessary authorities that he truly had been in a total blackout due to his alcoholism and had no organic memory of the event. He received a sentence which was shorter than most hijackers at the time and was eventually admitted to the Lexington facility for treatment. I have no idea what happened to this man upon his eventual release from prison.

The Narcotic Farm was often the temporary home and treatment facility for a variety of high profile inmates. It came to be known as a hotbed for jazz music due to the heavy involvement of narcotics in the jazz music scene. The book records that at times aspiring jazz musicians would actually volunteer to become patients at the facility in order to get to play with the actual stars who were incarcerated there at any given time. The book records that:

Chet Baker, Elvin Jones, Stan Levey, Jackie McLean, Red Rodney, Sonny Rollins, Howard McGee, Benny Green, and Tad Dameron.."

were at various time incarcerate there. The Beat Writer William S. Burroughs, Sr. who wrote the classic book "Junkie" did time there as did his son the writer William Lee Burroughs. In addition to "Junkie" by the elder Burroughs, several other well known books were written, at least in part, about time spent at the facility by their authors. Those books include "Kentucky Ham" by William Lee Burroughs, "The Fantastic Lodge: The Autobiography of a Girl Addict" edited by Helen MacGill Hughes, and "The Farm" by Clarence L. Cooper, Jr. Recently, the facility received the latest of its celebrity inmates when Joseph “Joe Exotic” Maldonado, the star of the Netflix documentary series “Tiger King,” was tranferred there. The facility in Lexington is and always was a unique location in the federal prison system. This book is equally unique and well worth reading by a variety of readers including musicians, clean and sober alcoholics and addicts, workers in the addictions and correctinos fields, writers both aspiring and famous, photographers who still love to see exceptional work by others in their chosen profession, and general readers in search of a change of pace in their reading matter.

Closure of The Federal Medical Center Prison In Lexington--How Many Jobs Will Be Lost

On July 1, 2026, WKYT-27 announced that the Federal Bureau of Prisons had announced in a press release that they were planning to close the Federal Medical Center or at least a portion of it called the Satelitte Camp on Leestown Road in Lexington. The press release from the Bureau of Prisons refers to the facility as a satellite camp which is a minimization of the history and the ongoing importance of this prison. It was one of six facilities on a list of six proposed closures. This facility has been in Lexington and Fayette County since 1935 and is one of the most well known prisons in the nation. It began as a federal drug treatment facility and was also a leading research facility in the effort to successfullly treat alcohol and drug addictions for most of its long and productive life. During the 1940's to 1980's, the facility was frequently the point of incarceration and treatment for many famous people. During the period when heroine was widely connected to the jazz music scene, numerous famous musicians who had become addicted,eventually arrested on federal drug charges, and convicted.

In the 1970's, I used to be a regular visitor to the facility along with other members of the substance abuse treatment community in Lexington and as part of my commitment to the treatment of addictive behaviors. I met several interesting people during those visits although I have to admit that I never met any of the more famous people who were incarcerated there over the years. But I did meet a man who claimed to have been the prisoner at Walpole, Massachusetts, who picked up and carried the firearms to their eventual user which were key to the Walpole prison riot,one of the worst prison riots in the history of the country. I also met one of the early American airline hijackers who told a fascinating story about his crime and incarceration. He was a traveling salesman at the time he committed the hijacking and also a chronic alcoholic. He said that he took a flight for business reasons at a time when he was drunk and in a blackout. Shortly after the plane gained cruising altitude, he said the stewardess came down the aisle taking drink orders, and he told her "This is a hijacking. I want to go to Cuba." He said shortly afterward, one of the crew told him the pilots said they were not carrying enough fuel to make the trip to Cuba and would need to stop somewhere and refuel. He said "OK!" since he was a well mannered alcoholic. The plane landed in Atlanta and a crew member told him "These other passengers don't want to go to Cuba. Would you be willing to let them get off here?" Being a well mannered alcoholic, he said, "Sure, they can get off." When the steps were lowered and the passengers left the plane, a team of FBI agents boarded, arrested him, and took him to the local federal prison to be held for the police and court processes. He said that he came to full consciousness at about 6pm that evening, realized he was in jail, and that the place didn't seem like any ordinary jail he had ever seen before. He always swore that the first thing he could consciously remember about the events was that when he came out of his blackout there was a televison on the wall at the end of the cell block and the 6pm news was on. He said he saw himself being led off the plane between two FBI agents. His family had some money and got him a good defense attorney and a psychiatrist who hypnotized him to probe his memory of knowledge of the events. He and the psychiatrist both testified that he had no organic memory of the hijacking. He eventuall was able to either get a plea deal or was simply convicted and given a fairly light sentence.

These two men were not typical of all the prisoners at FMC and they stood out in a place where it was hard to stand out. The Lexington Herald Leader published a story on February 16, 2024, which contained a lenghty list of former famous musicians who had been incarcerated and treated at the facility when it was called The Narco Farm. That list included the names of Jazz musicians including Chet Baker, Howard McGhee, Benny Green, Red Rodney, Sonny Rollins, Tadd Dameron and Jackie McLean. It also mentioned William S. Burroughs, Sr., a member of the Beat Writers whose book "Junkie" mentioned what might have been a slightly sanitized version of his time there. His son, William S. Burroughs, Jr. also spent time at the facility and wrote his own book primarily about his incarceration and treatment. But for my money, which was simply $1.59 spent at a Goodwill store, the best book about FMC is "The Narcotic Farm" by Nancy D. Campbell, JP Olsen, and Luke Walden which was published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in 2008. It was a fantastic reasearch job and contains hundreds of historical photographs from the facility along with an excellent historical account of the life of the prison since 1935. In addition to the William S. Burroughs, Sr. book which was originally published in an Ace Double, it also mentions William S. Burroughs, Jr's book "Kentucky Ham" which contains a more lengthy story of his time at FMC. Two other books about life at FMC when it was known as The Narco Farm, are also discussed in "The Narcotic Farm". Those two books are "The Fantastic Lodge: The Autobiography Of A Girl Drug Addict" edited by Helen McGill Hughes and "The Farm" by Clarence L. Cooper, Jr. who was also incarcerated and treated in Lexington before being released and dying as a homeless addict.

Research done at FMC Lexington on consenting prisoners has been instrumental for many years in affecting how substance abuse treatment has been done and the production and approval of several drug therapies both moderately successful and unsuccessful. The long, productive, and incredibly interesting life of FMC Lexington deserves to be told and the facility deserves to be preserved. At a time when the current treaonous administration is destroying much of what is productive in America, and simultaneously creating and wasting billions of dollars on asinine failures such as Alligator Alcatraz, and two totally unjustified wars of aggression, FMC Lexington needs to be preserved and maintained as an active institution in the Bureau of Prisons. Why in the face of potentially several hundred good jobs being lost aren't the Right Wing Radical Repugnican majority in the Kentucky state legislature fighting this proposed closure?

The Music Of Coal

 

Few professions have ever generated the amount of music about their industry which has been generated by coal and coal mining.  The music of coal has been around in the United States nearly as long as coal mining itself.  Several important musical artists have recorded complete albums of coal mining songs in tribute to the industry and the men and women who do the work of coal.  There have also been numerous anthology albums about coal and coal mining with widely varied artists being involved in those productions.  The music of coal has been recorded by singers from nearly every genre of American music.  But the majority of coal mine music has come within the related fields of country and Bluegrass music both of which can arguably say they are the music both  of the Appalachian Region and of the working class.  There are numerous songs from the greater body of coal mining music which are among the most popular songs in all of American music.  Nearly everyone who has ever lived, worked, or been descended from anyone who lived or worked in the coal industry has their own list of favorite coal mining songs.  So do I!  I will begin this blog post with my own top ten list of coal mining songs which does include a couple of those which nearly everyone in America knows and will also include a few of which many of you readers might have never heard.

I cannot clearly state which is my favorite coal mining song of all time but I will begin this list with the songs which mean the most to me as the son, grandson, nephew, and brother of coal miners.  I never worked in the coal industry but I grew up in Knott County Kentucky about three miles from Wayland, Kentucky, a classic company owned coal mining town in Floyd County Kentucky.  I also grew up only fifteen or so miles from Wheelwright, Kentucky, and only ten miles from McDowell, Kentucky, both of which were also classic company owned coal mining towns.  My father and several other family members worked in the Elkhorn Coal Mine at Wayland, Kentucky, and two of my uncles worked for years at Wheelwright and McDowell.  I grew up in a country store and coal miners were our neighbors, customers, and friends.  My oldest half-brother, Hewie Hicks, died in a coal mining accident.  I knew and was mentored by several people who worked as union organizers in the coal industry including Don West, Hosea Hudson, and Florence and Sam Reece.  I was also mentored by William Howard Cohen, one of the first high profile opponents of strip mining, and by Bill Blizzard, whose father led the UMWA miners at the Battle of Blair Mountain.  In addition to growing up in Eastern Kentucky coal country, I also spent a total of about seven years in Raleigh, Logan, and Mingo counties in West Virginia and also worked as a salesman in Boone, Lincoln, Wayne, Wyoming, and McDowell in the West Virginia coal fields.  I know coal, coal people, and the music of coal.  

My Favorite Coal Songs

1) Which Side Are You On? by Florence Reece.  Almost anyone who has ever been around a union coal mining area or known even one United Mine Workers member has heard this song.  It was written by Florence Reece on the back of a calendar page in a Harlan County coal camp during the seminal organizing effort of the Harlan County Coal mines in the 1920's.  I am very proud to say I heard the story of this song directly from the mouths of Florence Reece and her husband Sam. This is arguably the greatest union organizing song ever written and has been adapted by numerous other unions in addition to the UMWA. 

2) Red Wing Blackbird by Kathy Mattea whose two grandfathers were Italian immigrant coal miners in West Virginia. This song comes from Kathy Mattea's incredible album "Coal" which is one of the three best coal mining albums ever recorded.  The song was written by Billy Ed Wheeler who actually wrote at least two of the best coal mining songs ever recorded.  This song fits squarely into a subgenre of coal mining music which I call "Music of Death and Danger In The Mines".  It is a beautiful piece of writing and masterfully sung by Kathy Mattea.  

3) The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore by Kathy Mattea.  This song also comes from that wonderful album by Mattea but was written by Jean Ritchie, the famous American folk singer and writer who grew up in a coal camp in Perry County Kentucky, and was the first graduate of the social work program at the University of Kentucky although she never used her degree in social work to earn a living.  It falls into a sub-category of coal mining music which I call "The Demise Of The Coal Mines".  It has been recorded by numerous musical artists but, in my opinion, no one does it as well as Kathy Mattea who is the granddaughter of two Italian immigrant coal miners in West Virginia.  

4) Last Train From Poor Valley by Norman Blake. This song is probably one of the least known yet best songs in all of coal mining music.  It is also a classic number in that sub-category which I call "The Demise Of The Coal Mines".  Norman Blake did an incredible job of describing and immortalizing the death of a coal mining valley in this song.  And the song also fits into a general category of music about lost love.  "I saw the last train from Poor Valley takin’ brown haired Becky Richmond bound."

5 Dark As A Dungeon by Merle Travis.  This is just one of the great coal mining songs written by Merle Travis, the classic country music singer and native of Muhlenberg County Kentucky, the heart of the Western Kentucky coal fields.  Travis also recorded my other most favorite album of coal music called "Songs Of The Coal Mines".  This song fits squarely into the sub-category "Music of Death And Danger In The Mines". 

6) You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Patty Loveless.  Patty Loveless who sings this song on her incredible album "Mountain Soul" grew up in the coal mining country of Pike County Kentucky and is a key artist from that amazing group of people from the Big Sandy River Valley who have changed the face of American music and popular culture with their work.  The song has now been recorded by a large number of other singers and would be singers but nobody can equal the job Patty Loveless does on it.  It is clearly  one of the songs about "Death And Danger In The Mines". 

7) Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Earnie Ford. This is another of the wonderful coal songs written by Merle Travis and is found on his "Songs Of The Coal Mines" album.  But Tennesse Earnie Ford's version of it is the one most people remember and is also my favorite version.  This song falls into a sub-category of coal mining music which I call "The Hard Life Of The Coal Miner".  The line "you load sixteen tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt" personifies the life many coal miners led all across the Appalachian coal fields of the twentieth century.  

8) Black Waters by Kathy Mattea. This song was written by Jean Ritchie, the second of her compositions which I have placed on my list of favorites, and it well deserves to be better known than it is.  This song is not on Mattea's "Coal" album as she says in the narration before the song on this link since she was not aware of it when she was recording that album.  I love Jean Ritchie's writing but I love Kathy Mattea's style a bit better.  If you are into folk music, you might want to listen to Ritchie's version of the song.  These lines from the song place it squarely in the category of "Environmental Protest Music In The Coal Industry" which, in my opinion is the second most important category of coal mining music just behind union organizing music: "Now there's scenes of destruction on every hand And there's only black waters run down through my land Sad scenes of destruction on every hand black waters, black waters, run down through the land."

9) Joe Hill by Joan Baez. Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson wrote this classic union organizing song which actually originated in the Colorado copper mining country.  But it quickly became a favorite of union miners in all types of mining all across the country.  Other than "Which Side Are You On?", this is probably the best union organizing song ever written.  In its own way, it memorializes every man and woman who ever died in an organizing effort whether that effort was in the coal, copper, iron ore, garment, or farming industries.  No one can equal Joan Baez's vocal work on this song.  These lines from "Joe Hill" are one of the strongest statements ever made about the importance of determination and unceasing effort in the union organizing effort: "From San Diego up to Maine, In every mine and mill, Where working-men defend their rights, It's there you'll find Joe Hill."

10) Coal Tattoo by Billy Edd Wheeler.  This is the second Billy Edd Wheeler written song I have put on my favorite list although numerous others have recorded excellent versions of it including Kathy Mattea on that incredible album "Coal".  But I really like Wheeler's version and so will you if you like coal mining songs.  This song fits squarely in that sub-category of coal mining songs called "Music Of Death And Danger In The Mines" and utilizes a very unique approach to the subject matter with a living miner, instead of a dead miner, as the narrator. "Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo You have on the side of your head" I said "That's the blueprint left by the coal A little more and I'd be dead".   

Categories Of Coal Mining Music

There are several sub-categories of coal mining music and I will discuss each of them separately and give a few more musical examples of each. Those sub-categories of coal mining music include 1) Union Organizing Songs; 2) Environmental Protest Songs Of Coal; 3) Death And Danger In The Mines; 4) The Hard Life Of The Coal Miner; 5) The Demise Of The Coal Industry; 6) Songs Which Glorify Coal Mining; and, 7) Songs Supporting Strip Mining.  

Union Organizing Songs

Obviously, the most important, but not always the most popular, of these sub-categories of coal mining music is "Union Organizing Music".  Without coal miners and the United Mine Workers Of America, life for the entire American working class would be very different.  The coal miners and the UMWA played a very important part in gaining many of the most important rights of workers in America.  And without unions, it would not be many years before these basic rights would be gone as has been demonstrated in the worst possible manner by the widespread proliferation of Right To Work laws in many states. In addition to the UMA, in the early days of the coal mine organizing efforts, the National Miners Union and the International Workers of the World, aka the Wobblies, were also important to the orgganizing effort.  Among those rights which coal miners and the UMWA have helped win for American workers are the forty hour work week, company paid health insurance, minimum wage, paid vacations and holidays, sick pay, the entire body of work place safety laws and regulations, collective bargaining, the right to strike, and numerous others including major environmental laws and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.  These rights were gained by the joint activities of many unions both within and outside the coal mining industry and numerous unions played a part in the effort including the Industrial Workers of The World (Wobblies), the National Miners Union, the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, and the entire AFL-CIO.  

I have already listed a couple of the best union organizing songs in all of American labor and coal mining history: "Which Side Are You On?" by Florence Reece and "Joe Hill" by Joan Baez.  But there are several other very important union organizing songs which arose from the effort to organize the American coal mines, especially the Appalachian coal fields.  Among my favorites of these songs is "The Harlan County Boys" by Merle Travis which is another of the songs on his wonderful album "Coal" and which immortalizes those early union organizing efforts in Harlan County Kentucky in the early twentieth century.  We can always use one more good Harlan County song and one more good coal mining singer.  So I am adding to this list "Harlan County Blues" by George Davis, The Singing Miner, who was not only an Eastern Kentucky coal miner but also a performer, recording artist, and disc jockey at WSGS, 101.1FM, the best radio station in all of the Appalachian coal fields.  Another of the songs of George Davis belongs on this list, "When Kentucky  Had No Union Men", which is a fine example of union organizing music.  Billy Bragg's song, "There Is Power In A Union", also deserves to be on nearly any list of union organizing music.  Woody Guthrie's "Union Burying Ground" also is a fine example of union organizing music and far less well known than it deserves to be.  From the mines of Nova Scotia, we must also include Greg MacPherson's "Company Store" which commemorates the occasion on which union miners burned a company store to the ground in protest.  The lyrics are powerful, unflinching, and brave: "I haven't worked in 40 days  For 23 I've had no pay  In a week I'll have no place to stay  In an hour they'll have to kill me.  Half the town'll die from the mining of the coal  The other half'll leave when the mine decides to close  The people who are left will starve to death at the hands of the company store."  While this listing of coal mine union organizing songs is incomplete, it is a start for any of you readers who are interested in learning about trade unionism in the coal fields and how coal miner's unions have often led the union organizing movement in America.  

Environmental Protest Songs Of Coal

"Black Waters" performed by Kathy Mattea and written by Jean Ritchie is the only environmental protest song of the coal business I included on my personal top ten.  But there are numerous others I love including "Paradise" by John Prine.  "Paradise" is one of the few coal mining environmental protest songs to become widely popular and few people even stop to realize that it is such a song.  But the lyric lines from the chorus leave no doubt about it: "And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County  Down by the green river where Paradise lay?  Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking  Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away."  If the town has been hauled away and it is too late to go back to Muhlenberg County, the song can only fall into one sub-category, coal mining environmental protest songs.  Mike Morningstar's "The Buffalo Creek Disaster" is a fine example of a coal mining environmental protest song about one of the worst manmade disasters in the nation. These lines from the song cover two different aspects of that disaster which killed more than 130 people.  They confront both strip mining and the disastrous flood which was caused by a combination of factors, all rooted in corporate greed including mismanagement, denial of the damage caused by coal mining, and the avoidance of regulatory intervention.   They strip off all the topsoil and uproot all those trees, They killed those folks in Buffalo Creek, and then shrug the blame with ease.  Don't give a damn for life or land, just roll on like they please." If you are interested in written documentation of the Buffalo Creek Disaster and other negative outcomes of the coal industry, I would suggest that you read this book edited by Wess Harris, "Written In Blood". 

THIS IS A BLOG POST IN PROGRESS! IF YOU LIKE THIS INCOMPLETE VERSION, PLEASE COME BACK IN A FEW DAYS AND I WILL TRY TO HAVE IT COMPLETED. IT IS A LARGE SUBJECT AND JUST KEEPS GETTING LARGER EVERY DAY WITH NEW SONGS APPEARING FROM THE COALFIELDS ALL THE TIME!

Search For Relatives of William Howard Cohen

 Dr. William Howard Cohen, Ph. D. 

Because of two previous blog posts (first post) I had published about Dr. William Howard Cohen, a former professor at Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Kentucky, I was recently contacted by a cousin of his, Dr. Paul Newman, Ph.D. chair emeritus of the Linguistics Department at Indiana University.  Dr. Newman would very much like to make contact with a niece and nephew of Dr. Cohen who had previously commented on the two earlier blog posts (second post) I had published about him and his influence on me.  If these relatives of Dr. Newman see this post and contact me at rchicks@mrtc.com and I will give them Dr. Newman's contact information.  Thanks!

Roger D. Hicks

"Yondering", A Short Story Collection By Louis L'Amour-Some Thoughts On How My Reading Has Changed...and changed my life

   

In my teenage years, I read a lot of Louis L'Amour westerns along with some by writers like Zane Grey and Luke Short among others.  I was also reading a lot of science fiction at the time.  About the time I got into high school at 13, I had begun a lifelong shift to primarily what we sometimes pompously call "GREAT Literature", the masters of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.  Between the time I was 14 and 18 or so, I met Albert Stewart, William Howard Cohen, Harry Caudill, and others in the field of Appalachian Literature and Appalachian Studies and made a deep commitment to work for the rest of my life to improve the lives of Appalachian people while also studiously preserving Appalachian Culture.  At that time, I began a lifelong dive into Appalachian Literature, primarily non-fiction but also a lot of fiction and poetry which has also been coupled with full fledged efforts to improve Appalachian life.  But still, once in a while, I will briefly revert to some of the older styles I was reading including science fiction and a rare western. 

Long ago, I also developed the habit of frequenting used stores like Salvation Army, Goodwill, and others, both privately and corporately owned, to buy used books, and I have found a bunch of authors and books I never would have read otherwise.  I also have found some relatively rare and collectable books that way.  But on a recent trip to a Goodwill store in my area, I found that some recent contributions must have come from a devoted reader of westerns.  The shelves were stocked with a wide variety of western paperbacks from numerous authors and the pile included at least 20 or 30 by Louis L'Amour.  I really had no intentions of buying and reading any of them until I saw this collection of his short stories and a couple of others of his books which I had never seen.  One of those was a novel called "Last Of The Breed" which appears to have been prompted by the story of Francis Gary Powers, the US spy pilot who was captured by Russia in the 1950's, and I bought it but haven't started it yet.  It is set in Siberia where the protagonist is imprisoned in the Russian Gulag and eventually escapes. That character is of Native American heritage and, after escaping, he is chased by a Russian who is of Native Siberian heritage as the American pilot attempts to make it across Siberia to Alaska which is the fastest, but most dangerous route to safety.  I ca't wait to read it.  The other L'Amour book I bought was an epic western called "The Lonesome Gods" which I had never seen.  It is almost 450 pages and much longer than the standard, well formatted, medium sized western novel that made L'Amour's reputation and fortune.  I will eventually read it but not anytime soon.  

The book we are actually discussing here is the collection of short stories called "Yondering" as I said in the title of this blog post.  I had never read any of L'Amour's short stories and definitely wanted to try it.  I was surprised to find that, just like the "Last Of The Breed", it is about subjects which were not standard subject matter in his novels.  As a native of Appalachia who had several relatives who worked in coal mines, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it contains a short story which is one of the best I have ever read about men trapped in a mine by a roof fall.  The story is not set in a coal mine but, rather, some form of hard rock mine, maybe a gold, silver, or copper mine, and L'Amour actually had worked in such mines for a short time in his early years.  It is a fabulous story of men trapped underground who know they have long odds of ever seeing the light of day again.  The ending is maybe a bit impractical but it is a story well worth reading.  There are also stories about sailors, which L'Amour was also employed as for a short time,  and a couple of good to better stories about life in Asia, in particular, Asian seaports.  One of those is an excellent, well written story about a sailor and his crew mates who befriend a poor local family who are among those who live on small boats in the harbor and make a living by both salvaging and begging. 

This is a book which many people who would not bother to read one of L'Amour's westerns will enjoy.  And, I believe most of you will be pleasantly surprised, as I was, to learn that Louis L'Amour was a better than average author of short stories in several genres he was not well known for.  Years ago, I had read his autobiography and was still surprised by this collection. 

The Big Sandy River Influence On American Culture

 

The Big Sandy River Influence on American Culture

The Big Sandy River has had an amazing amount of influence on American Culture over the last 100 years with a number of musicians, educators, writers, folklorists, and politicians coming out of the region which is in great contrast with the total population of the area drained by the river.  Formed by the Tug River and the Levisa Fork along the Kentucky, West Virginia border it drains Boyd, Lawrence, Johnson, Floyd, Pike, and part of Knott counties in Kentucky and Wayne, Mingo, and McDowell counties in West Virginia.  The region in both states contains only about 300,000 people and the population has been in flux at various times as outmigration has often taken place in conjunction with ebbs in the coal business which has been the primary economic driver in the region.

Yet, this region has produced an astounding number of important figures in American history including many of the country’s most popular musicians, a significant number of educators with national reputations, and several significant politicians.  The list from Boyd County includes The Judds including the actress and social activist Ashley Judd, Billy Ray Cyrus, and the Goins Brothers who were not natives but spent most of their lives in the region.

 Lawrence County has produced Ricky Skaggs and the multi-media artist Nyoka Baker Chapman who is also an official of the Huntington League of Women Voters.  The great Appalachian educator and writer Cratis Williams for whom the graduate school at Appalachian State University is named was also from Lawrence County. The former Chief Justice of the United States Fred Vinson was born in the Lawrence County Jail while his father was jailer there.  He also was a major economic officer in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the recovery from the Great Depression prior to his appointment to the court.  Former Kentucky Governor Paul Patton was also born in Lawrence County and was county judge executive in Pike County. He also served a term as lieutenant governor and was a major driver of the expansion of the University of Pikeville as both president and board member.

Johnson County has produced, and continues to produce an astounding number of important musicians including the Webb sisters, Loretta Lynn, Peggy Sue, and Crystal Gayle; Hylo Brown; Chris Stapleton;  and the minor Bluegrass band Five Miles From Nowhere.  Few Americans realize that the actor Richard Thomas of The Waltons is the son of a New York ballet dancer who grew up in Johnson County and Thomas often spent his summers with his grandparents in Paintsville.  The country singer Tyler Childers was born in Lawrence County and grew up in Johnson County.  Brett Ratliff, an old time musician and singer, also grew up in Johnson County. John Pelphrey who is a well known basketball coach and a member of the University of Kentucky team referred to as The Unforgetables also grew up in Paintsville, Kentucky, and has since been a head coach at the University of Arkansas, South Alabama University, and Tennessee Tech University where he still coaches today.  

Floyd County produced one of the greatest collectors and publishers of folk songs and folk tales, Leonard Roberts, who produced a half dozen books of his collected songs and stories from Appalachia and was a professor at Pikeville College until his death before it achieved university status.  Dwight Yoakam was born near his grandparents’ home in Betsy Layne in Floyd County and often refers to his Eastern Kentucky history despite having spent most of his childhood in Ohio.  Floyd County also produced the founder of the band Goose Creek Symphony, Charlie Gearheart.  The famous Bluegrass singer Tommy Webb is also a native and resident of Floyd County. McDowell in Floyd County produced the significant Appalachian painter and art professor Tim Sizemore who taught for many years at Prestonsburg Community College. The well known artist Russell May lived his entire life Floyd County.  In Wheelwright, Kentucky, Carol Stumbo and her English students produced the significant literary journal “Mantrip” for ten years along with the assistance of Albert Stewart, a highly admired poet and editor from Knott County. Floyd County also produced the man who is generally conceded to have been the best high school basketball player of all time, Kelly Coleman.   

Pike County is famous for having produced Patty Loveless but lesser known for having been the home of the early country singer Molly O’Day. The former Kentucky Poet Laureate Lillie D. Chaffin was also born in Pike County, spent most of her life there, and was a professor at Pikeville College.  The country musician, song writer, and night club owner Marlo Tackett grew up in Floyd County and ran a well known night club in Pike County for many years.

Although Knott County is not fully drained by the Big Sandy River, a significant portion of it is and the Floyd County Times in Prestonsburg was, for many years, the primary newspaper serving Knott County.  Due to the small size of Hindman, the county seat of Knott County, most people on the northern side of the county did their business for many years in Floyd County and students from that area were also bussed to Floyd County schools for many years due to the lack of paved roads in the county.  Knott County has produced Albert Stewart, the poet who founded “Appalachian Heritage” magazine and taught for many years at Alice Lloyd College.  Knott County also produced Verna Mae Slone who became a best selling author in her late 60’s. The most important writer of Wiccan books, Jessie Wicker Bell, was raised at Mousie in Knott County and produced her literature under the Wiccan name Lady Sheba.  Her ashes were scattered in the Wicker Family Cemetery at Mousie.  The county was also home for many years to James Still and Mae Stone, both connected to the Hindman Settlement School, both widely read authors, neither of whom grew up in the area.  Similarly, William Howard Cohen, a poet and professor at Alice Lloyd College came to the area and produced significant works while there. Cohen was also chosen as a Cultural Delegate to the 1968 Mexico City Olympics where he read his poetry and later produced a book of poems about the experience. 

I have not studied the important cultural figures from the West Virginia side of the Big Sandy River drainage as extensively as I have the Kentucky side but the Appalachian author Lee Maynard grew up in Crum, West Virginia in Wayne County and wrote extensively about the region.  In fact, his “Crum Trilogy” refers several times to the border conflicts which sometimes occurred between adolescent natives of the two states across the watery boundary.  Fannie Belle Fleming, known more widely as the burlesque star Blaze Star, was born in Wayne County. 

McDowell County West Virginia produced two very important Appalachian authors, Denise Giardina and Homer Hickam. Giardina is a liberal political activist in her spare time and made an unsuccessful run for governor. Hickam spent his career at NASA as a scientist after he and a group of other high school students won a national science competition.   

It is truly exceptional that such a small geographic area in what is sometimes disparaged as a struggling region could have produced so many influential and successful individuals.  There are also a large number of these people who grew up just outside the environs of the Big Sandy but were significantly influenced by the culture of the area.  Those include Keith Whitley, Don Rigsby, and his brother John Rigsby all of whom have been important musicians who grew up in Elliott County.  Don Rigsby also was Director of the Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University for a time.  Tom T. Hall, one of the greatest song writers in the country as well as an important novelist and short story author, grew up in Carter County and worked for a time as disc jockey in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, on the Big Sandy.  Magoffin County also produced the Bluegrass singer and attorney Charlie Sizemore who played with Ralph Stanley for several years before quitting to go to college at Prestonsburg Community College and on to law school.  Magoffin County also produced Tom Whitaker who was a significant Appalachian artist and art professor at Prestonsburg Community College.  Magoffin County also produced the minor country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard and two Lexington, Kentucky, television weather forecasters, Chris Bailey and Jim Caldwell. The country singer Gary Stewart grew up in Letcher County and often played in Pike County in his early career.  All of these people, while not directly growing up in the Big Sandy River area, grew up within a few miles of the river and were influenced by the culture of the river basin.