A Brief History of The Devil's Spine (standard:adventure, 1093 words)
Author: G.H. Hadden	Added: Jan 26 2008	Views/Reads: 3515/2228	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Folks local to Berkshire Lick call it the Devil’s Spine. And history tells us everything was proceeding well until the Covington and Ohio railroad blasted its way through the Cumberland Gap, and the mountain gave up its secret stash.

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thunderheads of poison smoke that coated everything with a black 
residue of soot.   The coal dust is ever present, even today. 

All of Green Valley flourished with some degree of prosperity, with an
honest day's work for an honest day's pay for anyone willing to work—as 
long as they were willing to work hard—in an age when it seemed all of 
America ran on black carbon clinker.  The region's mines were the fuel 
that ran the engine of American industry, fueling Uncle Sam to victory 
in times of war and bringing light and warmth to millions in times of 
peace.  In its prime, a 1940 census put the human population living in 
he shadow of the Devil's Spine at just over seven thousand, in three 
incorporated towns and several scattered villages.  And for a time, the 
Green Valley prospered: known throughout the state for its good 
God-fearing, hard-working folks, who take pride in their towns and in 
themselves.  Hard working men, women and children who sacrificed much 
to make Berkshire Lick what it is today; who will never forget those 
native sons who sometimes paid the ultimate price to fight the Company 
for a fair wage or the Mountain for a share of its black riches buried 
within.  “Success never comes without the price of admission.” Burke's' 
dad says.  He's probably right. 

But as always, flow must ebb again: steam gave way to diesel on the
mighty C&O, which itself was merged in 1972 with rival B&O to form the 
Chessie System—later to become a part of present day CSX.  One by one, 
the textile mills closed as the Asians and Indians slowly took over the 
needle trade, and by late August of 1985, when young Burke finds 
himself running into the railway tunnel with the big kids hot on his 
tail, only the V&A No. 3 (Constance) No. 9 (Isabelle), and No. 10 
(Jezebel) mines remain viable and worthy of rail traffic. There's a 
longtime Green Valley tradition of giving all the mines feminine names, 
with the first letter corresponding to their designated mine number; 
all except for the bootlegger mines, which, of course, don't exist.  As 
for the town of Berkshire Lick, it's shrunk over the lean years to a 
not-so-company town of just under two thousand souls.  Lord knows, 
Green Valley sees a lot less of the green these days, and poverty and 
unemployment are always lurking around the corner, waiting to pounce on 
even the most industrious worker...but the mountain—the Devil's Spine: 
that petrified dragon's skeleton of rock lives on—as eternal as the 
earth itself.  And it always demands a price. 

THE END  Copyright 2008, G.H.Hadden 


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