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Wilberg Mine

from Creekbed by S.D. Williams

/

lyrics

Wilberg Mine
S.D. Williams

It was December nineteenth, ‘eighty-four.
Twenty-eight, working late, Wilberg Mine
A gang of men and one woman all pushin’ for more
Coal than had ever been long-walled before.

The boys in the office came down for the fun.
All getting’ anxious over what’s just about to be done,
Toppin’ any other crew for a one-day production.

Night shift, top speed, no one on the belt,
So the coal backs up and the bearings start to melt
Throwin’ sparks into black dust, then somebody yelled,

Chorus:
“Fire in the intake, smoke in the hole!”
Christmas lights above and the headlamps below.
Escape tunnel caved in six months ago.
Meant to get it cleared but there never was time
And now there’s twenty-seven trapped in the Wilberg Mine.

In a flash the mine’s a smoky black hell.
When they ran to find an exit it was too dark to tell,
Might’ve run sooner but there wasn’t a warning bell.

Methane, monoxide, panic and despair,
Blake, the foreman, led some others to the smell of night air
But he knew he was alone when he finally crawled out of there.

Chorus

Leroy Hersh was in his sixtieth year,
Forty years of breathin’ coal dust, chokin’ on his fear
That the roof would cave in or the flames would appear.

John Waldock, was only twenty-two,
Just a kid from Carbon County with nothin’ to do
Found he could make a lot of money goin’ down with the crew.

Nan Wheeler, the only woman to go down.
The rescue team was asked how they felt when she was found.
They said a woman’s just a miner when she’s dead underground.

Chorus

Two dozen others whose names are unsung,
They played the miner’s roulette even though they were young,
It takes you quick by disaster or slowly from your black lung

Now there are three-hundred miners out of work up above,
From the Wilberg, the Deer Creek, and the Little Dove,
Trapped between a thirty-year mortgage and the echoes of

Chorus

So East Mountain smolders and a town is bereft.
And there are twenty-seven houses with families that are left
With a frozen white living and a burning black death and it’s

Chorus

credits

from Creekbed, track released November 4, 2012
S.D. Williams- guitar and lead vocal
Alice Williams- harmony
Simon Williams- percussion and harmony
Luke Williams- banjo and harmony
Clay Williams- harmonica and harmony
Luke and Simon Williams- recording, mixing, & mastering

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