Unseen Found Footage From Early Days Of Coal Mining

So many memories. Thanks y’all ☮️

Folks who say history is boring have never taken a look at this kind of history. Just great.
This is terrific footage. I'm so glad you found it.
It definitely was a film made with an agenda in mind. "The miners' and their families' needs were carefully considered" when the idea of a company store was introduced. (Profiting from the store itself as a business? Why heaven forbid! It never crossed our corporate minds!) Using drills "made the work accurate and easy." Hmmmm... If someone had taken a vote on that among the miners I wonder what the outcome would have been. And the company housing was "cosy." Is that another word for "cramped"?
I realize that Pocahontas was considered one of the better companies to work for, but the script that implies that the workers would gladly have paid Pocahontas for the privilege of working there seems like a little bit of a stretch.
Still and all it's a gem of a piece of history and I really enjoyed watching it. And it seems that long distance sass works at least as well as the kind that comes from the passenger seat! Congratulations on breaking through that 40K milestone, Shane and Melody. The best is yet to come! (Later edit: Oops... Just noticed that this included footage from Itmann too, so I have to acknowledge that not all the "agenda" came from the Pocahontas company.)

Russell County native. My father mined coal for over 20 yrs much of it was for Pittston Coal/Clinch Field Coal he finished mining coal in Kentucky. He went on to teach Miner health and safety among various other industrial trades. I'm proud to be the son of a Coal Miner!

Wow. What a great video. The best I've seen in awhile. Thanks to you both

Thanks guys , appreciate this! God bless y'all...🙏❤

Sad to see this American culture going away. Probably a stupid question but how did it get the name? Also you ever work in a coal mine Shane?

That's really cool.
Up here there are open pit sand and gravel mines all over the southern counties of NJ. Back in the late 1700s and early 1800s glass and bog iron were big deals here. Most of our old ghost town sites were company towns, built by the iron and glass companies.
But yeah, that footage was awesome. Very interesting.

Good job guys

That was real Nice, Love the music! Thanks!

What an amazing piece of coal company propaganda!!

I am WV born, family here since it was part of VA. I love the history of WV, warts and all. Lots of bad things happened, people treated poorly etc. But all that made us who we are today. Thanks

I wish my father, George H. Short, had been able to see this when he was alive. We could have talked for hours reliving his experiences in the mines.

coal miners are very lucky...they actually have two families... wish I could of experienced it myself

Thanks for sharing poor people scraping a living as many of us are today .🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃🥃🇺🇸.

Absolutely awesome video y’all. Y’all absolutely rock. Thanks for sharing ❤

Another great video! Very interesting watch for "us" who know nothing about the process of coal mining.

WOW

Awsome footage ..love old coal history so much. Miss you guys being together tho.

I’m from south western WV. Lots of coal mines! My Papaw went into the mines ( Logan county WV) at 13, working for scrip! Nobody knows what these men lived through. All of my Uncles, my in-laws worked like this! Would love to see you all do a video on “ coal camps” and how the companies literally owned you. It was as close to slavery as you could get. Love you channel!

Thanks for sharing.

Very nice

Love this video, I had 2 uncles who were coal miners... you guys dica great job on tour videos... keep it up..

Awesome 👏 I’ll always be proud of my heritage. Almost all the men where miners here in southern WV until the last few years.

I love all your videos. Hope you do alot more. I'm here waiting.

The Itmann Company Store was built in 1923 and closed in 1928 . It was reopened in 1948. In 1990, it was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Today it is in an extreme state of disrepair.

Many relatives on my the Turner family side worked very hard in the coal mining industry. The lived simply, grew there food, loved each other and honored elders. Oh I wish I had known them. Grandma my week with you in 85 is true treasured memories Stacy, Virginia

Excellent film footage! What a gem!! The most surprising thing that I caught were the “cozy cottages with all the conveniences”. I bet most were not nearly as nice as pictured by the coal company film. Thanks for sharing 🙂

Wow! That was amazing archival footage. What an industry! Interesting how the small wagon loads were moved around by switchback and cogs in the middle of the track. I see a lot of miners smoking. As if they didn't get enough fumes down there!

The closest I ever came to this industry was running the charge car over the coke ovens at Allied Chemical's Ashland, KY plant in 1972. It was hot, dirty business, but fascinating at the same time. We worked 12 hour shifts. The fumes were incredible. Still, I'm glad I got to do it.

My grandfather and other relatives worked in the mines of eastern PA--a little town called Jeansville. I imagine the mine was similar to this. Thank you.

Being from Clarksburg, WV, my family didn’t go into the mines. My precious Uncle Beryl was a steam shovel operator for the strip mines. My Grandpa was a steeple Jack. He kept all the coal burning smoke stacks painted and repaired. I love these old videos. Thanks for showing these❤

Be great to know what the various machines were called.

Shared with loads of family. Amazing footage. Gives real context to those coal camps that are empty or nearly so today, as we see them in your videos. Thank you!

You guys do a great job sure do appreciate all of your videos! Thank you for what you do.

Very interesting.

Wow, what a great find. I remember my grandpa Clyde and Uncle Jim coming home black as the coal dust and worn out. May they rest in peace, both succumbing to the dreaded black lung. Thanks as always.

My grandfather and great-grandfather worked in the mines east of Charleston, WV 100+ years ago. My other grandfather worked in a mine farther north, and was killed in an explosion.

That was some awesome footage!!! Wow . I am obsessed with coal mining for a reason I’m not even sure of . Nice to see the real deal and try to imagine the way it was back then . Tough guys and real danger ✌🏼

I really enjoyed this video👍👍👍

I always enjoy seeing what the coal company stores looked like.

Awesome! Very much history there! Machines used in the mines have been scrapped to the point that there aren't many left for future generations to see. Thanks!

Lived this in Caretta, WVa Was a coal miner’s daughter ❤️❤️

My son is a coalminer started at age 18 & now he is 33 .He loves working in the mines .

I still burn coal in 2023, my liberal neighbors stay far away.

We want to see the basement of the Itman company store…

I started in the coal mines in 1971. This was all before modern mining started taking over, but I can remember jumping on a motor headed to the bottom, so we didn’t have to walk out. One time a fellow miner fell off the motor and was run over by that motor. We were sent home, because they thought he was dead, but to our surprise he survived, but was permanently injured for the rest of his life. The miners usually all took a shift off when someone was killed in the mine, but you wer’ent paid for that day.

My Dad worked in that mine in the 1970’s thanks for the memories . He worked hard for us all his life.

Propaganda, my grandfather was paid a pickle a car to load coal with a shovel and his back and arms. You didn't dare break up the big lumps and he better heap the coal in the car and somehow it still only managed to weigh 2000,lbs and the weigh master pay came out of your pay not the company.
Cozy cottage huh l never heard anyone call a company house cozy.

Breaker boys would pick out the bad coal and their mom would go on the boney dump with gunney sacks and bring it home for heat