Local man's second book a ten-decade “biography of the mountains”

            Born in 1919, Wyoming County native Thurman Miller has seen a lot in his eighty-three years.  The decades in which he’s lived stretch from the boom years of the early coal and timber industries through the fast rise and long decline of the union, and into the state's present-day struggles to attract tourists and high-tech jobs.  Miller has a rare perspective on the rich but often-difficult heritage of his home state and its remarkable people. 

            Miller’s 2001 autobiography, War and Work, followed a restless young mountaineer across the rugged foothills he loved, and on to Marine Corps service on Guadalcanal and other South Pacific Islands before returning to his hometown and beginning a long career in the mines.

Equal parts oral history, personal narrative, and handbook of old-time mountain ways, reference book, Coal Bloom, the author's new book, is in many ways a biography as well—but this time, of the hills themselves, and the men and women they produced during America’s rise to power in the twentieth century. The title refers to an outcropping of coal on a mountainside from which “old timers” could deduce rich veins of coal beneath the surface. 

            Miller, who now lives in Helen in Raleigh County, grew up on a small farm near Otsego. The first part of Coal Bloom recalls a way of life that today's young people literally cannot comprehend--no electricity, no television or radio, almost no money, a huge and growing family, and nothing to eat except what you grew yourself or could barter for. Still, as bleak as life could be during the Depression, the pride, optimism and can-do spirit for which West Virginians are known flow through the book like clear streams from the hollow.

The author describes planting by the signs and other farming lore, the use of the maul, froe, and other old hand tools now relegated to museum pieces, and the many near-forgotten children's games he and his brothers and sisters played. The entire book is leavened with quotations from Goldenseal, the state's premier cultural magazine, and numerous other sources.  It also features dozens of rare photos, many published for the first time, as well as original illustrations by artist Mavadene Britain.

The second part of the book is dedicated to the West Virginians who gave their youths and often their very lives to America in World War II.  A gripping account of the author’s service on Guadalcanal and in other legendary battles is fleshed out with interviews with other surviving marines and much other historical material. The author and editor had several conference calls with old Marine buddies, many of whom provided background material such as a maps--now barely legible with age--given to Guadalcanal patrol leaders, and personal photos from their time in New Zealand and Australia.  Says Miller, "A big reason for writing this book was to give credit where credit is due--to the men of K Company and other Marines and soldiers and sailors and who gave everything for their country."

The last third of the book follows the intertwined fortunes of the mining industry and the United Mine Workers of America, and the fortunes of the many towns where the miners lived and spent their wages. Miller recalls the glory days of mining, when the work "got in your blood. Some miners would do no other kind of work, as hard, dirty and dangerous as it was.  Where else could a blast reveal a fossil a million years old, never seen by another living being?"  He mined coal for over three decades but can still recall his earliest days of blasting coal down with sticks of dynamite and loading tons of it by hand each day. 

The coal and timber industries fueled the state’s evolution from a quiet wilderness into an industrial giant. Coal fed the nation’s industrial expansion, helped achieve victory in World War II, and helped establish a rising standard of living afterward.  The UMWA at mid-century enjoyed more clout in Washington than any union before or since.  But with the coming of mechanization more coal could be mined with fewer men and jobs became scarce. Many of West Virginia's young people scattered north toward the automobile industry, or south to the Carolinas--ironically, the same regions many of their grandparents and great-grandparents abandoned in search of good wages in the coalfields. 

Miller takes the reader for a drive along the Coal Heritage Trail, pointing out vine-covered cement platforms and blocked-off mine entries—the only memorials to many of the small and not so small towns that thrived when coal was king and wages were good. 

The author’s son, David, a former book editor at the University of Kentucky, helped his father with both books. "David has edited both of my books and neither would exist without him. He not only helped shape my own writing but also conducted many interviews and spent many hours researching, revising and polishing everything, even designing the cover and handling the copyrights and other paperwork." 

The two worked together on the book for over a year. The elder Miller mastered e-mail a few years ago and they traded ideas and material by e-mail every few days.  His son also compiled an extensive bibliography and dozens of notes, setting the context for his father’s story. "We wanted to get this down so future readers would have a reasonably complete picture of West Virginia’s remarkable rise during my father's lifetime. He's lived in what may be the ten most turbulent decades in history, and has been an eyewitness to everything from the horse and buggy to the moon landing and now the Internet."

Miller's first book has been a popular seller at the Tamarack as well as online and drew praise from many readers, including the late historian Stephen Ambrose.  The author will sign copies of his newest book at the Tamarack on Saturday, November 8, from 10 am until 2 pm. 

Coal Bloom, 190 pages and $16.95, is available from iUniverse.com, Amazon, and many other bookstores, as well as directly from the author.