ENPages
John H. Gates Truck Miner Helena, Alabama
Helena, Alabama
AL 30
JOHNNIE GATES-TRUCK MINER (By Woodrow Hand)
Helena, lying 17 1/2 miles south of Birmingham on the main line of the Louisville and Nashville Railway, is the central point of what once was a great coal mining locality.
Main Street, [[or the business section,]] has on one side two stores and a shoeshop. On the other side is a store and the Post Office. The Post Office is alone in its assurance of continued operation.
The streets of Helena are rough and dusty; or muddy, depending upon [[the whim of]] the weather. They [[pass]] run by rambling houses that sag at the roofs and on the corners; shot-gun houses that are even worse than their already questionabl[[y]]e name. Helena, with one exception, fits any of numerous ghost town descriptions. The exception is that people live there.
They are a varied group - living examples of what Helena has been and hopes to be again.
On a hill overlooking Helena lives Dr. Lubright, Dentist.
"Leave Helena?" His fat Teutonic face first registers surprise; then indulgence, such as that reserved for a questioning child. "Why should I leave? Its my home; I've made a fortune here. Those people
218
[Left margin]
Better cut and substitute more detailed description–
Good
[Right margin]
why do you say the name is questionable?
Alabama Helena
*2*
down there need me. They still have the tooth ache - much oftener than they can afford to pay for relief."
Other illnesses fall upon the Irish shoulder of Dr. Ryan.
"I wouldn't leave this place," he says, "because there's plenty of good fishing around here."
Then with a twinkle in his eyes, "And you know how people will keep having babies. Why, I've got six kids myself. Believe you me, people will have babies and get sick regardless. Besides, I've been doctoring these people for twenty years; I know their troubles.
[left margin, handwritten note] Why do Irish eyes always twinkle in stories? Let them do something else.
[right margin, note] Did he say this?]
"Pay? Pshaw! These people can't pay! But they used to. The offices of six mines used to cut their men a buck out of every payday. I haven't spent all of that yet."
Luther Mullins, seemingly the busiest storekeeper in Helena, was next.
"Business is bad," he says, "but we'll make out. I let out a lot of credit, but most of the bills are paid sometime or other."
Suddenly Luther laughed and pointed across the railroad tracks.
"There come Johnnie Gates with a case of snuff from the Paramount commissary. He brings it in as fast as I can sell it. You see, the commissary charges so high that the miners trade with me when they draw a payday; but their paydays don't come very regular.
219
Alabama Helena
* 3 *
The miners have to trade checks. But Johnnie - he trades his check for snuff and it isn't above the popular price. Then he swaps the snuff to me for groceries. Pretty smart that."
Johnnie's face bears the unmistakable mark of years underground. It is pockmarked and lined with blue scars; wounds that healed over coal dust. His hands are gnarled, with stubby fingers. Over all are the identifying blue marks. The introductory handshake was like rubbing a piece of oak bark.
"Shucks," Johnnie grinned, "I can tell you plenty 'bout minin' 'round here, and show you plenty, too. Only I'd better go home to do it. Hattie don't like to keep supper waitin'. I gotta get home with the baby's candy too."
Helena's main street becomes an ordinary road a few hundred feet west of Luther Mullins' store. Johnnie led the way past houses in every known state of disrepair, all facing the road.
"See how the porches are slap up a'gin' the road? I leave for work about five o'clock to walk the three miles to Paramount by work time. In hot weather, a lotta folks sleep on them porches in practically nothin'. Some of them oversleep. Some mornin's I'm late for work. Do you blame me?"
After nearly half-a-mile, the road suddenly tops a small rise. In a little valley below is a cluster of fairly new, unpainted houses, slightly weather-worn.
The houses are bungalows of four and five
220
Alabama Helena
* 4 *
rooms. One has a cracked-rock front. This is Johnnie's home.
He explains:
"A twister cleaned out what we owned three years ago, and the relief people helped us build back. I bought my place twenty years ago when things were hummin'."
Flowers of varied hue dot the front yard. To the side is a small vegetable garden. A chicken yard and a half acre of corn take up the rear of the lot.
From the porch, the front door opens into the living room. Left is an open fireplace built of small white rocks. On each side of the fireplace are built-in bookcases - bare of books. The room is neither painted nor papered, but the floor is covered with a soft rug that matches the mohair furniture. In the corner is a radio of 1925 vintage.
Johnnie says, "It don't play so good, but I like to tinker with it."
Through an arch from the living room is the dining room furnished with a second-hand suite of maple. Alsp in this room is a circulator heater that is expected to heat the entire house.
Moving on toward the rear is the kitchen, which is as large as any of the other rooms of the (approximately 14' X 16'). A large coal stove takes up an entire side, with space reserved for a closet in which groceries and cooking utensils are kept. A table and kitchen cabinet dominate the rest of the space. Most of the eating is done in the kitchen.
221
Alabama Helena
* 5 *
Hattie sees to that. Two bedrooms and a sleeping porch comprise the rest of the house.
Hattie has brown hair and eyes and a healthy, buxom figure. Her forty years are hidden by lines of laughter around her eyes.
Hattie's yell , "come to supper," is immediately drowned out by a rush of feet, and out of nowhere appear a four-year-old girl and a twenty-year-old boy.
"John Robert beats me to the table ev'y time," the little girl complains. "I wish he'd go back to college."
"Joan means Howard College," Johnnie explains, "but I doubt if she gets her wish. You see, I saved what I could while I was makin' it so's John Robert could be educated right, but you see (Johnnie waves his hand over the table, the gesture covering a bowl of lima beans, fresh garden lettuce, homemade jelly, fried white meat, and buttermilk) what we nave to eat. Ain't no money in truck minin', and buildin' back the house, sending John Robert to Howard one year, and Joan - who we hadn't even figured on - just about took all I had and all I can make.
"We been tryin' to get it fixed so John Robert can work his way through college. That'll help a lot. A feller's got to have a good education these days.
"Take me for instance. I know as much about minin' as anybody and I ain't braggin'. Its all I ever done.
222