People stand at the entrance to a drift mine in Belmont County in this undated photo. Area historian David Adair will be at the Belmont County Heritage Museum in St. Clairsville this evening to deliver a presentation on the history of coal mining in eastern Ohio. (Photo Provided)

Coal mining has been at the foundation of the local economy for decades, drawing those seeking employment and serving as the engine for larger industry.

At 6 p.m. today, area historian David Adair will be unearthing the details of the lives and work of the miners who built the area.

Cathryn Stanley, curator of the Belmont County Heritage Museum, is pleased to welcome Adair and his presentation. She added that Adair, a resident of Guernsey County, has presented in Belmont County before.

The presentation complements the museum’s current display, tracing an Italian-American family coming from Italy to Belmont County to seek a better life by working in the coal mines. The display will be up through Sept. 30.

Adair said his presentation is common to the experiences of Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison and Guernsey county coal miners.

“I’ll be portraying a coal miner between 1890 and 1910,” he said. “I’ll be a foreigner, come to America for a better life and to get away from bad times. What I’ll do is tell the people things that aren’t found in history books. I’ll talk a little about how they were paid, the conditions underground in the coal mine, how they were treated. A coal miner was considered the bottom rung in the ladder to success. Even though he may have been white, he was a minority, because frankly those that live in a community, when a new nationality moves in or a new person, they’re looked down upon.”

He said his presentation covers a particularly dangerous time period in which to mine coal.

“Generally it’ll be a sad story,” he said. “I’ll demonstrate what it was like to actually mine the coal, by going through the motions. I’ll show how they had to lay on their side, and the conditions underground.”

Adair, 76, has been doing such presentations for about 50 years.

“Since I was a child, I’ve talked to coal miners. My grandmother on my mother’s side was married three times. Her first two husbands were crushed to death in the mines, crushed beyond recognition,” he said. “The third husband, which was my grandfather, when he was 58 years of age I saw him die with black lung disease. He couldn’t even lay down, he had to sit up in a chair to sleep.”

In his research, he came across more than a few “horror stories,” and though some might have been exaggerated, he spoke about the circumstances miners worked in.

“If you’re hurt in a coal mine, you can’t dial 911 for a nurse or a doctor. There wasn’t any doctor or nurse. You were on your own. Things like that nobody ever wrote about.”

He added that many residents of the local area have a coal mining heritage and some personal connection to the stories he shares.

The Belmont County Heritage Museum is located at 101 E. Main St. in St. Clairsville. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and can be reached at 740-298-7020.