Prison Labor at Tracy City

Prison Labor at Tracy City. Grundy Lakes Historic Area. , Post-Civil War slavery, in the name of coal , It's hard to imagine that this tranquil landscape once resembled a scene out of Dante's Inferno. In the 1870s, 1880s and part of the 1890s, these coke ovens belched out dense clouds of smoke as convict laborers stoked, tended and cleaned them, or toiled in adjacent mines., The Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company (TCR) built hundreds of these "coke ovens", starting in the early 1870s and into the 1880s Processed coal coke, useful in the production of iron and steel, was made in the ovens on this site., Beginning in 1871, TCR leased convicts from the State of Tennessee. The stockade in which these prisoners - mostly male and of African descent were housed was the same structure used during the Civil War by the 20th Connecticut Volunteers., For a quarter century, convicts were part of life in Tracy City. Miners interviewed years ago told of prisoners being whipped for not meeting their weekly mining quota, what was called their "task." The rate of mortality among convicts was said to be high. Those who perished were buried on a ridge above the coke ovens., To the free miners and workmen of Tracy City, the use of convict labor by TCR (and later, "Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad", or TCI) was a festering sore. In August 1892, Tracy City free miners, who opposed the use of prison labor because they wanted the jobs being done by the convicts, burned the stockade and sent the convicts back to Nashville on a train. , The Tennessee Legislature ultimately abandoned the practice of convict leasing in 1896, but the final departure of convict laborers after 25 years did not end the trouble between TCI and the miners. If anything, it intensified., Strikes by the free miners who replaced the convicts were frequent. Then, in June, 1904, TCI closed its Tracy City mines altogether and began moving administrators and mining equipment to Birmingham. Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company (TCC) was formed to take over operations in Tracy City, with free miners, but limited success; coke production here ceased altogether by the early 1920s., An ode to Lone Rock, by Uncle Dave Macon: "Buddy, Won't You Roll Down the Line" , Many believe the origins of this song go back to the actual event it describes. Macon's 1928 recording appears to have been a rewrite of "Chain Gang Special," with the "leased the convicts out" verse tacked onto the original lament of a Black convict. In the lyrics, "darling" refers to a coal car, into which miners loaded their coal., Way back yonder in Tennessee they leased the convicts out, They worked them in the coal mine, against free labor stout. Free labor rebelled against it, to win it took some time, But while the lease was in effect, they made 'em rise and shine. Warden went down to Nashville, stepped up to the pen, Said to the Nashville warden, "I want fifty of your best men, Want to take them to Tracy, to work in the Lone Rock Mines.", Chorus: On, buddy, won't you roll down the line, buddy, won't you roll down the line, yonder comes my darling, coming down the line.
, Every Monday morning, they've got 'em out on time, March them down to Lone Rock, just look into that mine. March them down to Lone Rock, just look into that hole Very next words the captain says, "You better get your coal The beans they are half-done, the bread is not so well, The meat it is burnt up and the coffee black as hell. But when you get your task done, you'll gladly come to the call, For anything you get to eat would taste good, done or raw. The bank boss is a hard man, a man you all know well, And if you don't get your task done, he's gonna give you hell. Carry you to the stockade, as on the floor you'll fall, Very next time they call on you, you bet you'll have your coal., [Captions:] , Above, two rare photos of convict laborers working at the mines. Convicts wore the characteristic striped clothing of a prisoner Above left, possibly around 1873, convicts working on the coke ovens 120 of these ovens are still visible here at Grundy Lakes Above right, convicts waiting to unload coal cars, aided by mule power., The upper photo shows a broad view of the Lone Rock site, looking across what is today the main lake toward the Rattlesnake Mine. The Stockade would have been off to the right. The lower photo shows the coke ovens from above, rail cars delivered coal directly above each oven, and convict laborers shoveled the coal into the ovens through the circular holes in each oven's roof. Once heated, the processed coal was removed from the ovens by way of other openings on each oven's side.