MaryJackHargis.txt

-n -n -n >> Very Jack Hargis. [BLANK_AUDIO] It's two o'clock Eastern Standard Time, May the 28th, Saturday, 1994. This tape's being done for the Kentucky Historical Society. Now I'll just set it over here. [BLANK_AUDIO] >> You go by Mary. >> No, I'll go by Mary Jack. >> Mary Jack. Mary Jack, if the three broad questions, of course, that would, before we get into those, if you could tell us who your grandparents, your great grandparents were, and their names and where they were from and all that for biographical information. Okay, on my mother's side, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hutton, they lived in Washington County around Abington, they were farmers. And on my father's side, it was Kate and W.L. Hargis. My grandfather was juvenile judge, my grandmother, and a local hotel in Lebanon. And my father is Jack L. Hargis, and he was an electrician. And my mother, with many of us, she was a housewife. >> Okay, brothers and sisters. >> I have one sister, Betty Jean, and she is, was a chef, and she lives in Lebanon too now. >> Okay, and what, let's see, when did your grandparents and parents and everybody move into the region of the country? >> On my mother's side, the Hutton's, I do not know when they moved into the Washington County area, but on the Hargis' side, they moved, they came down to Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1800s. So Hargis' is basically an original family of Russell County. >> At what county did you grow up in? >> I grew up in Russell County in Lebanon. >> Okay, and education, did you go to high school? >> I graduated in Lebanon High School, I attended University of East Tennessee State, and attended classes in University of Delaware. I was a school teacher for 24 years. >> What year did you graduate from high school? >> In 1950, 1950. >> And you taught school for 24 years? What grade? >> I taught elementary and second and junior high, physical education and health. >> Okay, and what did you, what made you decide to get into? >> I decided I wanted to come back to home instead of a COVID in Delaware for 19 years. >> In the state of Delaware? >> Uh-huh, in the state of Delaware. >> And you decided you wanted to come back home. >> Uh-huh. >> Now, when you left, you graduated from East Tennessee State what year? >> Uh, 1957, I believe it was. >> Okay, and were you married? >> Oh, I'm single, still single. >> Okay, and so you moved to, to uh-- >> Delaware. >> Why did you, why did you just, why did you pick Delaware? >> Well, I want my sister with the boys to shed two girls, and they got to the point where they me and my daddy and Sarah got mother, and so I decided I had to get far away as I could, I'd become a homeless weekend. So I got a job in a school system in Newcastle County in Delaware. >> And, and you were, um, that was in the '50s, that was when everybody was leaving the region. >> Mm-hmm. >> Was, was that, uh, but the fact that you left was more of a personal reason than an economic reason. You didn't have to go. >> No, I didn't have to. >> You could have gotten a job. Were you teaching here? >> I taught one year in Holneaker and two years in the trans. >> So you had a job here and could have-- >> Yeah, I was, I stayed here for three years and finished up my education. >> Uh-huh. >> And then I got my degree, I went north. >> Uh-huh. Well, when you moved back, uh, you, what year did you, uh, did you, did you, uh, work out a pension up there in the, in the school system? Did they have a 20-year deal? >> Uh, no, it was 30 years still. >> Uh, I got, I get, I will get a partial pension. >> Whenever you were-- >> To the general. >> Uh, what, what year then did you decide to, that you wanted to work and come back? >> 1977, I came back. I, I was teaching when they called me to, I was called me to come work in October. >> Mm-hmm. >> I took a year's leave of absent, came home to try it, and I stayed. >> And you liked it, and so you, so that worked out. Well, that was a good plan. [laughs] >> It worked. >> Yeah. >> And you went to work for Island Creek. >> Mm-hmm. >> What was it, what was the first day you worked, and the first month you worked in? >> Uh, October the 30th, I started my one week training period, and, uh, five days like that, they put us on the ground, and I would start at VP2. >> Mm-hmm. >> And my first job was sweeping with a broom that she used in the house, sweeping out A-shap. >> [laughs] >> Just this. >> That's why anybody else sweeping the house, you couldn't work in coal mine, you end up with a hand in your broom sweeping out A-shap. >> How'd that make you feel? >> Kind of stupid. >> Did they, did they, uh, did you, did you think they were, did they do it as a joke or what? >> No, I was a red hat, and they sent us to A-shap to rock dust, and the first job the boss handed here, you sweep out the control room, here's the broom. >> Right. >> So after you did your red hat work, and you started full-time, what was your first job that you -- >> I say, I want to stay on the hood out from 12 to 8, and because it worked out better with, uh, going back and forth at home, and, uh, it was all general and side work, and it worked out better. >> I went to the other one, and I said, "Oh, I like the way that you work with a red hat. " >> I don't know what to do with it, but I was like, "Oh, I like it." >> And you got a red hat, and you got a red hat, and you're like, "Oh, I like it." >> So, you got a power box in. >> That's what they charge. >> Yeah, see, the power comes in down to one big power box, and then it goes from power box to power box, and they use 7,200 cables to the section, which they put in a DC box, which reduces it down for the shuttle cars that matter and can. >> So it's got -- so the mine then, down at some place in every one of the mines where they use the shuttle cars and the front, uh, uh, long walls and all that, there's a place where there's a power station where they go take them every evening and charge them up. >> No, that power station, they just move stuff up. It's continually hooked up. >> It stays hooked up to it. >> Uh-huh. >> Okay, I see. So it's never -- it never sits there for a while and charges up and you charge up. >> No, the battery -- the goop does because that battery charge. >> Uh-huh. >> But other than minor, pinner, and shuttle cars are continually on power, run by electric. >> And so to a large extent then, you -- after you started working there, you got into work and doing a lot of electrical work. >> No, just pulling old cables. >> Oh, you were just pulling cables. >> I didn't see you at all. We were just moving it up there to them and they were like, "No, come back." You had to be a certified electrician to hook them up. >> Uh-huh. And so, um, what other jobs did you have in there? >> Well, we was laid off in August of '79 and I went to work for Seaboard One, which is a French-filled coal company mine up here in Richland, which I was doing inside on a coal crew. I got to learn how to run a buggy, run a skood, mine are help and pinner help. And I stayed there for 14 months and then I was recalled to VP6, the new mine, so they opened it in January of '81 and I've been there ever since. >> And you're working now? >> Yeah, I am a working coal miner now. >> And have been ever since? So how many years have you gotten the mines? >> I have 17 years. And in August -- in the August, I'll be retiring. >> Oh, you will be. >> Uh-huh. I'm 62 and time's up. >> What are you going to do when you retire? >> I'm going to help my niece and her husband race -- race to quarter horses, which we do a lot of it now. >> You've had an interesting career, one from the school kitchen coal mines to registered quarter horses. And so you said that's your niece. >> Uh-huh. What are their names? >> Huh. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Leanna and Greg Price, the lead man. >> And your sister's name was? >> Katie Jean. >> Okay. Uh-huh. How did you -- it's hard to formulate my question because you've had such a different kind of career. >> And the only coal miner in my whole family. Matter of fact, my grandmother, her husband, probably turned over her grave. She knew I was a coal miner. So not -- and you're probably the only one down there with a degree in teaching, too. Are you? >> Yeah. I tell very few people I'm a graduate. When I started it, too, they gave me a rough time over it. I've been a teacher, they let me say. >> Well, you're going to tell them you're a teacher. >> No, they said you're going to be a teacher or a coal miner. And I said, well, physically, I've been a teacher. Mentally, I've been a coal miner. >> Well, let me ask you this. Since you -- I'm sure it has been different. Or don't let me presuppose that. What were the differences between working in a professional college -- or, you know, college-educated environment with all these teachers in Delaware and then going to work with blue collar workers underground? What were the differences? >> Basically, I didn't sign that much different, just like I say. When you were teaching, you took a work home with you and you worked at home. I worked in coal miner, I worked eight hours, I came home, that was it. That's what I want. >> Then you liked the idea of leaving the work home. >> Yeah, I liked the idea of leaving it there. >> Uh-huh. And it was harder physically than teaching is. >> It's harder physically. Well, what I'm getting at, I guess, is that did you find any difference in the types of people that you were dealing with in the sense that were teachers -- were coal miners funnier? Did they tell better jokes? >> No, I can find them. I see there's no difference in them. They're all there. They're doing the job. They were training far and that was it. >> So it was no -- okay. And that's one thing we've not talked much about, is humor. Humor in the minds. Do coal miners tell a lot of jokes? >> Well, a few jokes. But then I think they had this sexual harassment stuff. They don't tell us many. >> Did they used to tell a lot of dirty jokes and stuff? And I mean, was it bothersome? >> Well, I went in there with the attitude. I had always heard coal miners survive. I just went in with the attitude. That's what they say, "Doctor, don't bother me." That was it. That's how I believe that if you go -- I feel like if you make a big deal of it, it gets worse. If you ignore something, it probably will get better to a certain degree, especially something like dirty jokes and stuff like that. >> Well, I know one thing. I know that we've -- I've worked with people who were very religious and who didn't appreciate dirty jokes. And I know after people found out that they didn't appreciate them, they didn't force them on it, you know? So I guess it's like it is anywhere else. If you want to hear it, you can hear it and participate. And if you don't, you don't have to. I imagine that's -- >> That's pretty much the same thing. >> -- what that was your experience. And okay. What are you -- what do you see in terms of the -- you've got so much seniority, I guess, that you weren't worried about getting laid off less than -- >> Oh, yes, I was. >> Were you? >> Yeah, because we never need to know what numbers they're going to lay off when they cut. >> How high did they go? What was the highest they got up to? >> Well, they cut -- they kept 200. All out of our minds. They only took 87 of us, but we didn't know where they were going to keep 100. They were -- the possibility that they laid us all off kept all five people. They're keeping six people. So they just didn't toss up until they came out here lately with keeping 200s in each mind. >> So now you know that -- and then everybody just counts up their seniority and whoever the -- and you're in the top 200, huh? >> Yeah, I'm -- I'm like 105, I think. >> So you -- as long as they kept the top -- the 105, you've been okay. >> I've been okay. >> So what do you see happening out there in the -- well, before I ask you that question, when you came home, you said you wanted to come home. Was this the only job that paid comparable to what you've been making in Delaware? >> Yes. >> And so you saw this as it will give me an opportunity to come home, and yet I won't have to decrease my standard in living. I can still maintain -- >> Well, I would either come home and teach school or go in the coal mines. >> Uh-huh. >> And I decided to go in the coal mines. >> And because it paid better than school -- >> Paid better than teaching. >> If teaching had paid better, would you have done it here? >> No, I don't think so. >> You were just ready to go back in mine. Did -- let's see. Have you saved any money? Have you put anything back? >> No, not really. I have helped my niece and nephew a whole lot, but mostly no. >> Mm-hmm. So -- so you've not -- it's been a payday-to-payday job for you, just like everybody else. >> Uh-huh. >> And it's amazing how none of us managed to put anything back in it. >> It's hard now, thank you. >> They paid us $1,000 a hour. I'd spend it, you know. >> No, they paid me that kind of money. I could save some. >> You could save some, man. >> I know. >> That's it. >> I know. It's in -- and it seems like every time you get a little bit more money, you get a little bit more bills. Okay. Mary Jack, when you look down the road for what's going to happen in the future and what do you see happening? >> This area becoming a ghost town. >> Uh-huh. >> Very -- I have -- now, unless they bring in a lot of industries that will pay up a minimum wage, this area is going way, way down. >> Mm-hmm. So you see the standard of living in it down. Do you see a lot of people leaving the region like they did back in the 50s? >> They'll have to leave. The young people will have to leave if they want to survive. >> Well, when we say that, they'll, "Well, they'll have to leave. Where will -- you know, if they're -- if the good jobs aren't in Cleveland and Detroit and Chicago, and if they're not there, where will they go to go to these jobs?" I mean -- >> Well, if they do not have high school education or some technical training after high school, they're going to find it very rough. >> Mm-hmm. So they may just find a job period. >> Uh-huh. >> The days of going to Cleveland or somewhere and having a strong back and a weak mind and getting a good -- that's not going to be there. >> That's not going to be there. They're going to have the technical knowledge that's going to be there. >> Okay. What areas do you see people going to get that technical? I mean, you know, what areas -- electronics or -- >> They're going to have the electronic computers, definite computers, be above the nursing, public service jobs, where you're serving the public and that's it. >> As the population gets older, nurses and things. Okay. You can sum it up all into one. >> You never did get what I did. >> You never did get what? >> I'm sorry. Okay. Yeah. It just so blew me away that you'd gone from teaching to -- I just messed up my whole interview technique. Tell me what you do in the mind. >> I'm a belt examiner and I've been a belt examiner for 12 years. In order to be a belt examiner, you had to have your first class papers and you had to wait five years to get them. I got mine almost to the date I was hired in and I got the job the same day. >> As a belt examiner. Now, what does a belt examiner do? >> A belt examiner strictly walks the belt and examines them for bad lowers, hot lowers, a cold accumulation and the drives. I walked the belt and examines the drives. I walked -- right now I'm walking about five miles. I had walked at height 18 miles and eight airs. >> Do you have the authority to stop the line and say there's something wrong here? When you shut it down, then that closes the whole thing down, right? >> Yeah, I can't but I had never had that -- >> Never had to. >> No, because if I found a hot lower or something like that, I called and they'd come and they would have to bring somebody in there to do it right there most of the time. >> So they didn't want the line slowing down? >> They would end up having to shut it down like me. You take a lot of responsibility for that and I always tried to avoid that. >> Yeah, because when you close that line down, they come working for what's happening. >> I had shut it down for one time because there was about eight bad splices that was wide open that was spilling coal all over the place. And I shut it down one time because I found a nest of hot coals in which they had to get out immediately. >> I found a coal mine. >> So they're going to let it shoot upstairs or downstairs or? >> Not in the mines. >> In the fun of it. >> Okay, that's great. Oh, you've been over there, huh? >> Yeah. >> It's been before like it's full cut. >> Okay, we've got -- >> We got to be done before. >> That'll work. >> We've got one more interview. >> We've got one more interview to do and then -- [ Laughter ] And okay, let's see. And you told us what you did. And you've done that for a long time now. >> I've done that for 12 years. >> Okay, and so you're not going to do anything else? >> I hope I don't have to do anything else between here and now and end of August. >> And then you'll be retiring. >> Mm-hmm. >> And you're excited about getting into the court as you look into -- now, you're the first retiring coal miner level. What do you see -- how are you looking at retirement as -- are you excited? Are you disappointed that you're working years or -- >> No, I'm very happy that I'm going to get up and do what I want to. I can go out like I say. I love horses and I can go out and -- we've got one mare that's in North Carolina being bred right now and I feel everybody work that's -- what you're going to do? I say, "I'm going to haul and hold that horse's hoof when she has that baby next year." [ Laughter ] >> So take care of that horse. >> Mm-hmm. >> And -- >> Guy raised her from a coat up. >> Uh-huh. And what kind of horse is it again? >> American Quarter Horse. >> American Quarter Horse. >> Uh, if you could sum it all up in one statement about -- you have an interesting life. What would you say in terms of it's good, bad, like to do it again, would you do it differently? What would you say about the whole -- >> I don't think I would change a thing because I -- when I was teaching I enjoyed that up towards the end for the reason I can't quit and so far I have enjoyed being a minor. I had met a lot of nice people. I might not have had a lot of fancy education but they've been nice, good people and that was it. >> Uh-huh. [ Background Sounds ] >> That's it. That's good. That's a good one to stop on. [BLANK_AUDIO]