Jon Chase

COAL COUNTRY

  • Coalminer on graveyard shift, Twilight, W.Va.
  • Mine supervisor driving to check on mine during strike, Norton, Va. The pistol on the seat, as well as two rifles under the seat, were for protection in case anyone fired shots at his truck, thinking he was a scab going to work.
  • A woman handles a rattlesnake at a church service in Micco, West Virginia in 1979. The minister standing behind her with arms outstretched lost his 15-year-old son to a rattlesnake bite a month earlier. Snake handling is based on a verse from Acts 28:3-6 in the Bible saying, {quote}They will pick up serpents...”. Micco is named for the Main Island Creek Coal Company. Jon Chase photo
  • Harlan, Ky. drive-in surrounded by strip-mined hills.
  • One hundredth day of coal strike, Harlan, Ky.
  • Disabled coalminer and wife, Harlan, Ky. Shortly after this photo was taken, the man trained a rifle on his wife, threatened to kill her, and fired several shots into the wall of his one-room cabin.
  • Miners pass the time with a state trooper during coal strike.
  • Barmaid, W.Va.
  • Faith healing, Micco, W.Va. The 15-year-old son of this minister had been bitten and killed by a rattlesnake one month earlier.
  • Railroad worker, W.Va.
  • Two coalminer brothers, one union, one non-union, Norton, Va.
  • Father and daughter near Briarbranch, Ky.
  • Riverboat pilot in bar at ten in the morning, Charleston, W.Va.
  • Willy Turner, Briarbranch, Ky. {quote}I may be single, but I don't live alone. I live with Jesus.{quote}
  • Mother and daughter, Rowe's Restaurant, Kyle, W.Va.
  • Resting miners on graveyard shift, Twilight, W.Va.
  • Tent revival, Briarbranch, Ky.
  • Tobacco hired hand, Jackson, Ky.
  • Woman wearing a Cadillac hat in her yard in an all-Black, back hills hollow in West Virginia, 1978. Jon Chase photo
  • Jon Chase photo. Tarncy Mullins stands by his truck deep in the heart of coal country near the WV and KY borders in Wise County, VA, 1979. I recently was able to track Tarncy down through a funeral notice for his older brother, who died Jan. 6, the same day rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. I spoke with him on the phone; he is now 76 and lives with his wife of 55 years in nearby Clintwood, VA. He actually remembered our short roadside meeting some 42 years ago, and still has the photo I sent him way back then. Tarncy worked at the Elkin #6 mine in Norton with two brothers whose photo I posted earlier, Don and Doug Shelton. He gave up mining for the ministry, and officiated at the recent service for his brother. He lost another brother in a fatal mine accident decades ago. Mine accidents and black lung disease are both occupational hazards for coal miners. The disability rate in Wise County for the working population aged 15-64 is over 20%, meaning 1 in 5 workers have some sort of permanent disability.
  • Morrell Mullins. day shift section foreman at Elkin Mine #6, Norton, VA, 1979. Jon Chase photo
  • Intro
  • Feature Photo of the Month
  • PORTRAITS
  • EDITORIAL
  • SPORTS
  • HOSPICE
  • CHINA
    • CHINA ORPHANAGES
    • CHINA FLOOD
  • COAL COUNTRY
  • JAZZ GREATS
  • THE FIGHT for NEWTON CORNER
  • PRISON
  • GRAND CANYON HIKE, Oct. 2019
  • BROCKTON FAIR
  • PERU
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