Inside Deep Mine 26

Inside Deep Mine 26On a sunny March morning I drove north on Route 19 toward Deep Mine 26, Lick Fork, Lower Banner seam, in Dickenson County, at the extreme southwest corner of Virginia in the heart of Appalachia. There were coal-miner songs on the radio: "And when I die, dear Lord in heaven,/Please take my soul from the cold, dark mine." I passed through the tiny coal-camp town of Coeburn, where a sign read home of friendly people, and turned right onto a corkscrewing two-lane blackto...