Tennessee Coal Mining, Railroading & Logging in Cumberland, Fentress, Overton & Putnam is a fascinating look back at life in the early 1900s in four counties of the northern Cumberland Plateau area of Tennessee. Featured inside is a wealth of old photographs--more than 200 in the book's 120 oversize glossy pages--maps, and descriptions. Emphasis is placed primarily on the coal camps such as Wilder in Fentress County, with great detail concerning the railroads that served the coal mining communities.

"Do coal mine operators use many mine timbers? What are the specifications for mine timbers? Does producing mine timbers differ from producing other sawmill products? These are typical of the questions that sawmill operators in the Appalachians ask about the mine-timber market. At first glance it seems strange that they would ask such questions. After all, the mine-timber market is a traditional outlet for wood products in the Appalachians, and it would seem that all sawmill operators in the region would be familiar with the market. But this is not the case. Sawmill operators, unless they sell mine timbers, know little about the market. Even those who sell mine timbers know little about the coal industry's current and potential need for mine timbers, because they generally supply only one or two mines. This report was prepared to answer some of the questions that sawmill operators have about the rnine-timber business in the Appalachian coal region. S3