| Summary: | Folder contains 22 pages of two drafts of a life history written for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s.Helena, Alabama
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Helena,
w......
J,ying l7~ miles south o~
I
Bil'lll1ngbam on the main line o~ the & Railway, is the
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central point of what a great coal mining locality.
Main street, or the business
section, bas on one side two stores and a shoeshop. On the
other side is a store and the Post Office. The Post Office
is alone in its assurance of continued operation.
The streets of Helena are rough
and dusty; or lIIUddy, depending upon the whim of the weather",
oX .-ae:rr. They ... pasS rambling house5that sag~ the roofs
~ WV1-U.1..t 1'1.... and on the cornersl~ shot-gun houses that are"a elam on
their alreadY questionable name. Helena, with one
fits aqy of numerous ghost town descriptions. The
People live there.
exception, ,
exception"( ~,-z;J:.•.
They are a nondescript group - living
examples of what Helena bas been and hopes to be again.
On a bill overlooking Helena lives
served for a questioning child. "Why should I leave?
Dr. Lubrigb'7
~~
"Leave Helena?- His fat;tSel J rr face
surprise; then indulgence, such as that re-
I Its
first registers
my home; I've made a fortune here. Those people down there
I\. sti•ll have the tooth ache - Blch oftener than they can afford
to pay for relief."
Other illnesses fall upon the Irish
shoulders of Dr. Ryane
•
his eyes.)
WhY, I've
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"I wouldn't leave this place," he
says, "because there's plenty of good fishing around here."
1"lJ'.L%$.... ( •
Then).!' twinkle ""emes in
"And you know how people will keep having babies.
got siX kids myself. Believe you me, people will have babies
and get sick regardless. Besides, I've been doctoring these
people for twenty years) I know their troubles.
"Pay? Pshaw' These people can't
pay! But they used to. The
....offices of six
mines used to cut their men a buck out of every payday. I
~
haven't spent all of that yet.
Luther lIIullins, seemingly the busiest
storekeeper in Helena, was next.
"Business is bad," he says, "but
we'll make it. I let out a lot of credit, but most of the
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bills are paid sometime or other.
Suddenly Luther laughed and pointed
across the railroad tracks.
"There comes Johrife Gates with a case
of snuff from the Paramount commissary. He brings it in as
fast as I can sell it. You see, the cOlllllissary charges so
high that the miners trade with me when ey draw a payday;
but their paydays don't come very re The miners have
to trade checks. But Jo~e - he trades his check for snuff
"isn't above the popular price. Then he swape the snuff
to me for groceries. Pretty SlIl/Irt that.'
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• Alabama Helena
roome. One hae a cracked-rock front. Tnie is Johnnie's
nome.
He explains:
"A twister cleaned out wnat we owned three.years
ago, and the relief people helped us build back. I
bought my place twenty yeare ago when things were
hUIDm1n' ...
Flowers of varied hue~the front yard. To the side
is a s.all vegetable garden. A chicken yard and a
halt acre of corn tak;( up the rear of the lot.
From the porch, the front door opene into the living
roo.. Left is an open fireplace built of small white
. rocks. On each side of the fireplace are built-in
bookcases _ bare of books. The room is neither painted
nor papered, but ths floor is covered with a soft rug
rl/N- that matches~mohair furniture. In the corner is a
radio of 1925 Vintage.
Johnnie says, "It don't play ~o good, but I like
to tinker with it."
Through an arch fro. the living room is the dinin
room furnished with a second-hand suite of mapls. Iso
in this room is a circulator heater that is expecteQ
to heat the entire house.
Moving on toward the rear is the kitchen, which
•
ie as large a any of t~ther roo (approximately
~.... V.k" 'tj.,; ~ ~ "'"
14' X 16'). A large ~II raaefved for a closet in
which groceries and utenaile are kept.
table and kitchen ca;inet do.inate the rest of the
space. Most of the eating i8 done in the kitchen.
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five rooms.
~
o The houses",weI e bungalows of. four and
~l'I~ .....
One hl!ltt a cracked-rock front.. This W ill Johnnie's
~ A
home.
S
He explained:
"A t.wist.er cleaned out. what we owned
of corn takes up t.he rear of t.he l.t..
yard. To the side
yard and ':t half acre
.
three years ago~and the relief people helped us build back.
I bought. my place twent.y years ago when things were hummin'."
Flowers of varied hue do~ t.he front.
I
is a small veget.able garden. A chicken
From t.he , t.he front.
an open
door opens int.o the living room. Left. is f.... fireplace built.
of small white rocka. On each side of t.he fireplace are
built.-in bookcases bare of books. The room is neither
paint.ed nor papere , but t.he floor is covered wit.h a s.ft.
rug that mat.ehes;m0hair furnit.ure. In t.he c.rner is a radi.
of 1925 vintage.
,?,o..-v~
Johnnie!' ... "It. d.n't. p~ s. g..d,
.ut I like t.. tinker with it. ...
Thr.ugh an arch fr.m the living room is
the dining room furnished with a second-hand suite
Also in this room is a circulator
to heat. the entire house.
Moving on toward the rear is the kitchen,
which is as large as arJ'f of the ot.her roolll8 (approximately
14' x 16'). A large coal st.ove takes up an ent.ire side, with
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space reserved for a closet in which groceries and cooking
utensils are kept. A table and kitchen cabinst dominate
the rest of the space. ~Iost of the eating is done in the
kitchen. Hattie sees to that. Two bedrooms and a sleeping
porch comprise the rest
a healthy, buXOll figure.
of the house.
Hattie has brown hair and eyes and
Her forty years are hidden by ~ ~
laughte; ~ &'round her eyes.
Hattie's yell, "come to supper!" :>
out by a rush of feet, and out of
•
-08 immediately drowned
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nowhere appe~ a four_year-old girl and
old boy.
a twenty- year-ev'y
time," the 11ttle
to college."
"John Robert beats me to the table
~~~".~~~(,)
girl "I wish he'd go back
1\
"do _aRB Howard College," Johnnie
5, expla~ "but I doubt if' s e gets her wiah. You see, I
saved what I could while I was makin' it so'. John Robert
could be educated right, but you sse (Johnnie wavefi his hand
over the table, the gesture covering a bowl of lima beans,
fresh garden lettuce, homemade jelly, :fkoied white meat, and
buttermilk) what we have to eat. Ain't no money in truck
minin', and buildin' back the house, sending John Robert to
Howard one year, and Joan - who we hadn't even figured onjust
about" took all I had and all I can make.
"We been tryin' to get it fixed so
John Robert can work his wa;J through college. That'll help
a lot. A feller's got to have a good education these days.
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John bas worked the Cahaba Valley
coal. seam since he was ol.d enough to swing a pick. He bas
seen coal. mining communities trow from a shack at the prospecto1'
s hol.e to thriving col.onies with up_to-date facilities;
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then with the fading of demsnd, sink into obacuf.ity among
impenetrabl.e, bl.ackberry briar entwined undergrowth.
This was the fate of Roebuck, NUlllbers One,
Two, Three and Four; Coal.montj Mossboroj Red Ash; and Fal.liston.
Once, these names stood for prosperous towns, with el.ectric l.igh'
running water, recreation centers, school.s, and fine peopl.e.
Today, the concrete IIIOUthS of the lII1nes have
fallen into the dark sl.opes. TODaRof dirt have cl.osed the
entrances. Water, once pressed from the mines with high powered
pumps, has crept upward to meet the dirt and shal.e of the sl.opes.
The rail.road l.ine from Birmingham to Cent'rvil.l.e
rushed hordes of sweating l.aborers to buil.d 'spurs to these mines
e coal. woul.d l.ast forever.
when they
for permanency. A
• Grades and trestl.es were buil.t
The coal. is stil.l. there; bu e minesAare
~><,.t..o
/I . AM.. Labor rOUb~l.~i~h CUl.m~t~,in e strike of
I ~f)~ M ' cJ.. S~ 19:2. '"
.lltarled the industry in this l.ocal.1ty on a jerky sl.eigb
ride that was sometimes fast, sometimes momentarily hal.ted; but
al.ways downhil.l.. The sl.eigb eventual.ly smasheq.. ~t of the
pieces there arose the truck mining industry.
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~ been about ten years ago.
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--- -" ~tt
"Ita hard to say exactly,. but it mustQ,.'
six or eight years
It k about~for the
J
operators to decide that they'd never do aQ.}'thing else big with
all the coal in thla
to try truck
part of the country.
"'\l.Hl ' -r
"Oscar Harrieo ?BUS....,••8 .en the first
He 'd ma~e a pile and held on to it.
mining uound He took hi_ two boy_
and .,.... cleaned out the entrance Number One Roebuck down
to the first headinA. They cut pine poles and built a tipple
and coal chute. From the chute to the firat room of the headinr,
they laid a track that threatened to fall apart every time it
Instead of the usual boiler engine, they rigged u.
old auto engine with a contraption that looked like the roller
on homemade well pulleys. It worked, pUllwl,
or more.
up two cars of coal at the time. The daily output depended upon
the trouble they had gettinl to the coal. Sometimes, they'd
spend two or three days cleanin/; out rock falla that, for the lack
of workers, couldn't be ...-. propped4Jt;t· ,
"From that" truck min1n/.
spread all the way from the highway at
Cahaba
and Shelby County line down the~iver for
"Usually they didn't and don't laat
long, either foldinl up because all the available coal is taken
or the operator goes broke. TrUck mines are more or less like
l1ehte~ bug~ They flash up and then fade out.)7
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