Robyn W. Dunn

Collection Title

Jackson Purchase Oral History Project - Duvin Mine Explosion

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Series Number

OH184

Interviewee

Cates, Douglas Hayes

Interviewer

Robyn W. Dunn

Date Interviewed

1995-11-22

Processed by

Benjamin J. Drake in September of 2012

Date Processed

2012-10-01

Description

2 sound discs (77 minutes)

Abstract

Douglas H. Cates provides a firsthand account of the Duvin Mine explosion that occurred on July 14, 1939 in Providence, Kentucky. The disaster killed twenty eight miners and left ten wounded. He describes the conditions faced by coal miners in central Kentucky in the first half of the twentieth century. Cates details various aspects of coal mining life, including the company stores, “flickers”, accident compensation, wages and comradely among miners. He concludes by describing various events related to the unionization of the coal miners in the 1930s.

Biographical/Historical Note

Douglas Hayes Cates was born at Providence Kentucky on September 4, 1921. He was raised in a coal mining family and was seventeen at the time of the Duvin Mine Explosion on July 14, 1939. He was one of the last miners to escape the mine after the explosion. After the accident, he returned to coal mining and retired as a miner on September 10, 1988.

General Information

No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.

Subject Headings/Descriptors

Cates, Douglas Hayes, 1921-

Ruckman Coal Company

Duvin Coal Mines (Providence, Ky.)

Coal miners - Kentucky - Webster County.

Coal mines and mining - Kentucky - Webster County.

Mine explosions - Kentucky

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