By William “Skip” Deegans
New Year’s Day in 1925 found over 200 families living in tents, make-shift barracks, and other accommodations after being evicted from their homes in the Fayette County, WV towns of Longacre, Harewood, and Carbondale. The eviction proceedings began in August of the preceding year when coal miners working for the Kanawha and Hocking Coal & Coke Company, a J.P. Morgans & Co., investment, went on strike to protest a drop in wages and other issues. Common miners were paid $4.44 a day. The mine’s motorman, the highest paid miner, made $5 a day.
The United Mine Workers’ lawyers forestalled eviction until right after Christmas when the Fayette County Sheriff began evicting miners and their families from company-owned homes. The sheriff was assisted by 20 armed detectives from Charleston. Some families had lived in the same homes for over 25 years. The families left peacefully, and food and clothing for the strikers were supplied by the union. Shown in the photo is a company-owned home in Longacre.
Sources: The West Virginia News, The independent Herald, Hinton Daily News.
Photo by the West Virginia Farm Security Administration courtesy of the Penn State University Library.