Coal Days

This weekend a local town near us, one that many of you most likely have never heard of, Shawneetown Illinois is hosting their annual coal days. Coal in the day was the king and many in the area of Gallatin County Illinois worked or had a family member that worked in the mines. The area is starting to shrink as the coal jobs are now gone. 

Coal has been part of this part of the world for many years. The earliest records found were showed that coal mining was taking place even before the civil war. Before that time there were many salt mines present. 

While there is a lot of talk about coal being dirty I simply wonder what these men and women who work in those mines will do. Just my thoughts but wow where will the jobs come from and what will they do???