Growing up in the neighboring county, I have heard stories about Cinder Bottom my whole life. I actually travel this section of rail regularly because I'm a Locomtive Engineer for NS, and one thing I've learned is that the road and Elkhorn Creek have been re-routed since Keystones " Hay Day". I love local history and something that may be of interest to you might be the Wagon Wheel. It was a getaway built by Coal Magnates for such things described here, but now is just a popular location for off roading. Good stuff, thanks.
I'm from Wheeling. In the Northern Panhandle of WV, we might as well be Ohio or PA. My grandfather was a policeman in Wheeling who was suspended twice because he arrested a local mobster. I was a bartender in a local bar that all the cops in Wheeling went to. I have many many stories.
@@MountainRoots brother I've been on RUclips for 14 + years.... I only sub to 28 channels... Congratulations on being number 29! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! My mountain Roots Marathon awaits... Okay I'm going to need another cup of coffee 😌☕
*addendum to my orig. comment here; "Taken at Birth" a documentary shown on TLC (channel) about Thomas J. Hicks during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1997, the story was revealed that Hicks spearheaded a black market baby ring out of his clinic - there are survivors who were found thru DNA as well, pretty heartbreaking. So there is so much more to all this, not just here though, the "doctors" who performed "certain operations" and sometimes killed, sometimes maimed, threw away in the river back of the "doctor's office" but everyone in towns knew who to "go to" if you got in "trouble" and some were given away to families as tiny infants brought on early thru induction and sold out the back door. there was a whole documentary on this and several towns were connected, all politicians and those running things were involved, to cover up the hidden affairs and the results of those affairs to protect their dirty deeds. horrible things people, not just small towns of course but it's all the same and it affects generations, look at America and what we've allowed into our country...........we started serving the dark side whether we like to admit it or not. time is short..........wakey, wakey. it starts with each one of us, not some politician to "save us" from ourselves. only God can do this.
It’s like that everywhere in the United States. The American people refuse to oversee their government. Until the people change, everything gets worse. Look to the people for recovery.
Fascinating. I was a bartender in Virginia in the early 90s. One of my regulars, an older fella who had a thick country accent, told me a few pretty wild stories from his younger days, several of which centered around a place called “Cinder Bottom.” Looks like he was telling the truth
If he was from West Virginia I’d guarantee you it was true. I drive through here once a week or so and I can tell you West Virginia is and was a wild place. But I love my home (Logan county, West Virginia).
@@patricksmith5282 So in you fantasy Keystone is the Democrat stronghold.... Simply no one dumber or more gullible than a Poor Conservative Republican....Send your last dollar to the Begging Billionaire!
I've lived in eastern West Virginia for 75 of my 85 years and I never heard of Keystone, let alone its history. This is one very interesting presentation.
Things sure were different when the mines were open. This area is my home. My family has had a business here since the 1860's and its still going on now. I am always shocked when I come across these RUclips channels about where I live. My dad really protected us back in the day and I see why now. I am old and it was different back then. I can remember there were certain people and places that were forbidden. Some of us are good folks, back then and now. Its a shame no one ever talks about the good things, like we have a lot of good musicians and Artists and quilters. I saw one video where a RUclipsr stood right in front of the Bluefield Arts and Crafts museum and did not show it and acted like nothing good was in the town. It kinda bothers me. I guess the Vice stories are more interesting.😔
Hey, I get it! My ancestors are from these hollers & hills. If you'll take some time to go through the body of my work, you'll see I do not make it a point to focus on what I call "trauma tourism" or the negative- from Welch to Iaeger and so many other places I think you'll find I showcase them with the utmost respect. However, I also don't shy away from showing some of the aspects with historical significance, such as these stories of Keystone. Even the title of this video was taken from a book written over 100 years ago that called Keystone Sodom & Gomorrah. So, it's simply a historical reference. I know there are good, honest, hard working folks in these places. Some may even be my kinfolk. I would love to talk more with you, perhaps even sit down and chat on camera about your business and how things have changed over the years- a true local perspective. If you're interested please let me know!
@@MountainRoots I would have to think long and hard on that, we have owned the same business which is still going on today and my dad is still alive at 85 yrs old, he is very strict because it's a funeral home, and let me tell you we also had the only ambulance back in the day and the stories are many, some very funny I might add. I just wouldn't want to be disrespectful to anyone.
@@MountainRoots I’m from a holler too. I’m 71 years old, had the best childhood as everyone looked out for us kids. Church was the center of the community. I don’t remember anyone cussing or drinking alcohol. I had lots of cousins to play with. West Virginia still gets a bad rap. Few know it’s a state as they’ll say yeah I’ve been to Norfolk. After 20 years of living in Florida I’m back in Charleston. We have more mountains than any state, people are so friendly here and very few homeless, Crime is low. I’m glad life took me back to my country roads.
@Mithras444 understood, I never knowingly try to disrespect anyone, regardless of my personal opinions. If you ever find you're interested reach out to me either here or through my contact page of my website: www.mountainrootspro.com
@@dianakidd4219 Funny, same move is going on for me except I'm going to be on the other side of the Ohio River in Ohio. Parents, sister and niece were all born in Ohio and grand parents worked in WV at one time. Charleston is closer driving than Columbus is.
@@danielkoher1944 I realize it's based on the silent slapstick films. The joke was that the cops in this mountain town of Keystone were also inept, and unethical. Sorry I didn't tell it well enough .
@@jadefire2817 You told it, although this wasn’t/isn’t the only literal 😳 hotbed. Vice and corruption has and always will run the world. Just the natural order of life...Yin Yang ☯️
Thank you for using your own voice. Really cool piece. I live in VA and spend a lot of time in WV. I love the state of WV, its roads, mountains, valleys, small towns, and best of all, it's people.
My father was station manager for a major airline in Charleston, WV, the stories he told me about the corruption and incompetence of the airport political authority still haunts me to this day!
I’d say it STILL goes on… we’ve just RECENTLY expanded the runway here and can now go as far as ORLANDO!!! 😂😂🤦🏽♂️ imagine that - like 4 whole entire states away, I mean it got built ON TOP of a mountain.. what’s wrong with that… certainly ZERO weather conditions.. and in 2024 you can’t make it but 5 hours away by plane flight… nahh No corruption here, we’re just old school… that way with this ENTIRE place
I believe that God is cracking down on the corruption. Lot of the corrupt are meeting justice and lots of good things ARE happening. We, the USA, do have a long way to go, still. Above all we need justice for crime, whatever it may be...especially against children and other innocents.
@@spangdeez498 So ignorance rules then and ego is ignorance, "what is yours is mine and what's mine is mine", "none for thee, all for me" like the George Soros and "ruling elites" (evil) of the world, pray people, bring God back and He promised He would heal our land if we repented and turned away from evil. In the Bible God tells us; 2 Chronicles 7:14 King James Version 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
I'm from Welch WV not far from Keystone. This town and surrounding towns was devastated by floods back in the early 2000's... I left after the second one hit. I was a EMT for McDowell Ambulance Service at the time and I seen things in the second flood that to this day bothers me. I miss my home and it was the place to live before the floods and all the drugs came in.
No thanks to a previous WV Chief of Staff who was with helms & ran healthcare & more. The wife’s best friend is Andy McDowell. Ever been lured in politics? They are all over the law lot in their personal endeavors.
At least the mafia hoods actually work! Albeit immorally.. Politicians just outright steal and lie! Pretending to be servants and obeying the constitution...
My grandfather owned a lot of the municipal the property in Northfork, property in Bramwell and Keystone. I used to go there when I was a kid. My grandmother told me about the brothels in Keystone and how wild the town was. I always thought “That podunk place?”
Your grandfather didn’t own all the property in Northfork. He may have owned some. But multiple coal companies owned most of the property everywhere. If not them, the railroad.
@@DreneeBolden No he didn’t own all the property that was a gross overstatement. He owned land where post office multiple municipal buildings. He was also the major share owner in the bank to me as a little kid seemed like all the property. I still own some worthless coal mines in surrounding counties. I still pay taxes in McDowell and Mingo Counties to this day. North Fork was a very small town and I fondly remember visiting. My mother lived there until college. We traveled frequently from Huntington. I spent most of my adult life in New England but my trips to the coalfields
@@jebbiekanfer8843 One of our current candidates for Governor's mother was raised in Bramwell. It was an interesting place. Sold more Chanel No. 5'than any town in the world at one time.
@@ValRapt121 Bramwell had the most millionaires per capita at one point. My boyfriend and I drove down there our senior year in high school almost 50 years ago. I remember some beautiful homes there.
I was in Keystone in the early 90s for a construction job. It was a really small, nearly dried up town in 1993. There was a tastee freeze there i think i recall. You're in another world when youre up there.
As always, the story, video, and narration are exceptional, Josh. Volumes and volumes could no doubt be written about fortunes lost and families wrecked by this malignancy in the mountains. I have no doubt that other communities throughout the United States have had similar, if less notorious, manifestations of human evil undermine their present and future hopes. Simply superbly delivered.
As a former employee of Keystone bank, accounts were insured up to $100,000. However, many ignored that and had accounts well in excess of it and therefore lost it.
I have lived just outside a military base in Oklahoma all my life. For decades until urban renewal came to the community. In a 12 square block area, over 100 bars and pool halls, pawn shops, cheap jewelry store, anda numerous hotels that rent rooms by the hour. I remember asking my father who owned all the buildings. He stated you can find the owners in three huge churches every Sunday morning sitting on the front rows of the church pews in front of the preachers.
Myself and a friend of mine spent one night in jail in Keystone. We hitchhiked down there from Princeton to see what we could get into. We couldn't get a ride out of there and it was very cold, a cop took us to the jail and let us spend the night. Next morning when we were hitching out of there, two deputies pull over and ask us about a robbery that had taken place that night in Cinder Bottom. We were glad for two reasons that we were in jail that night, one it was very cold, and that jail felt good, two we had a good alibi. That was in 1962! I've done some work down in that country since then.
I'm a direct descendant of a blood line that has inhabited Appalachia since the mid 1700s. Love the content! Definitely helps shed a light on a way of life and population typically not given much thought by history. Keep it up, and I'll keep watching and waiting for you to make it to my ancestral neck of the woods!
I'm so, so sorry.....anyways most families deep in the wash dc area, that have been there for generations, are direct descendants too. It was the closest big city to leave to for many young Appalachian kids. Lots of Scotts Irish that were just one generation away from their true coalminer hillbillisms
I’m half Appalachian this way of life was in my moms family for generations from brothels to corrupt cops coil mining boot legging cans who knows what else my dads family was totally different from Massachusetts my mom left Virginia at 16 ran off with my dad who came from money and I was raised in north shore Massachusetts and visited my moms family later in life in Pennington gap Va . The family I met were all nice people all the women were RN nurses and the men worked for CSX or local government none of them were hillbilly’s that you see on tv but they were definitely country folk and a lot of the men died of black lung and were treated by their own family members who worked in the black lung clinics which are still there in 2024 Amazingly
Half Appalachian? There's no such thing! You're either Appalachian, or you're not. You were either born and raised there, or you weren't. Appalachian isn't a race of people. It's a way of life. Therefore, Appalachian is not passed on through DNA. Your mother may have been Appalachian, but you are not. Signed, A true Appalachian
Sounds like the coal towns in northern Pennsylvania. I pass through on my motorcycle, and I know that I can't really imagine their lives. The evidence of money lingers in grand old buildings, but they're all run down now. The miners made their livings but never were rich. I pass by the one hospital in the area and see the men with walkers and oxygen tanks sitting out in the sun, black lung for many of them I guess.
This was such a good episode! I had no idea about what all went on down there, other than the bank. I’m so glad you talked about that!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything made about the Keystone Bank, so this was really cool to see. Phenomenal work, Josh👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Im from Huntington, West Virginia. Born in Charleston. I found your channel, and I love it. In kenova cops are so crooked that it's not funny . Thank you ❤
@@PurpleStarseed444 Big towns must be worse. NYC head of police just had his house raided along with two of the mayors aids because if ties to China and Turkey. People are people wherever you go, some honor God and live accordingly, some honor their God, $$$$. I do remember in Charleston when Randy Moss beat his GF up, I think he had a baby with her, the police and preachers in Charleston bailed him out wanting him to succeed. Which he did.
We’re headed for more if trump wins and gives cops complete immunity as he has 100% stated. I heard him and saw him say it so not made up. Truly scary.
Since there are no dishonest cops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. journalists have to come to West Virginia to report on crooked cops. Either that, or, reporting on crooked cops in West Virginia is safer.
Just subscribed and greatly enjoyed the video. I was born in Mingo county and grew up across the river, so I love to see such well done pieces on local history. I’ll be watching going forward and catching up on previous videos.
When I was growing up, my grandparents lived in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, but sometime around 1912-15 (when my father was around 6-9 yrs. old), they moved to Keystone. My grandfather was working as a deputy sheriff, when a person attempted a robbery. The would-be robber shot my grandfather in the stomach, but my grandfather shot him dead. Luckily, there was a doctor close by who saved his life! My grandmother said to my grandfather:"This is no place to raise children!" They then moved to Wilkes County, which was known as the "Moonshine Capitol!" My brother is 10 years older than I, and he told me that our grandfather would say to him when he was a kid:"Do you want to see my 2 navels?" He would pull up his shirt , displaying his real navel, and would then point to his faux navel, the scar from the shooting. On another note, not related to keystone, my late mother would always remind me to keep my tetanus shot up to date, and would tell me that back in North Wilkesboro in the 1920s,my father's cousin was chopping wood and cut his foot with the rusty axe. My mother said "He got lockjaw and died!" Not having a picture of him from life, they took one of him in death, but not at the funeral home. In the old family album is a picture of my father's cousin's wife standing in their front yard, with her late husband "standing" beside her, in the coffin and propped up (kind of like Morgan Freeman at the end of "Unforgiven"(1992). I wrote about both of these happenings some years ago in a column in the Salisbury Post (my old home town is Salisbury). In the case of the article about my father's unfortunate cousin, "standing" next to his wife in the front yard, I gave it the title "American Macabre"(take-off on the painting, "American Gothic").There's just something different about us folks who come from the mountains and the foothills.
My mom's side of the family is from Meybeury, Anawalt, Keystone, & Gary. There are also kin over toward Pie in Mingo County. There is a lot of history, but a lot of seedy stories that were never meant to see the light of day.
I used to work around Kimball, Keystone, Welsh and War. You can't tell the abandoned houses from those occupied. I'm surprised businessmen haven't parlayed the low cost of living and the scenery of WV into the new retirement destination. Maybe the nation could house all our homeless there since it's so cheap. There you go! Make WV the rehab/mental institution/homeless authority of The US. Wouldn't you like to have the money per person CA spends to NOT address the homeless? We just laid out $20 billion and can't account for any of it.
@williamanderson6006 I think it's more of an idea meant to consolidate the liberal viewpoint I stead of them spreading it through the country as they have been for years
My sister works on the homeless problem. They have building in downtown LosAngeles on Alameda st where they spent millons of tax payers $ Those places are still vacant today . Makes me wonder if they where set up for the illegal coming over. I need to go check on this. The corruption in Los Angeles is so out of control. My Dad was an LAPD officer the pay off's alone and the stories of the drug market in the hoods and we wonder WHY???? The rich will be buying in to those HELENE areas , they already have.along with tax payers $$ to fund the new infrustucture.
I was 18 maybe when I started seeing these poker machines in the local gas stations. It was in Harrison County WV. I didn’t pay them much thought and just thought of them like a video game. I learned that places started paying the winners out. Some it was a gift card for the store and cold hard cash. Even when they tried to crack down on them, they succeeded. To the point that some of these places removed products and built rooms to house even more machines. My dad loved them. He won a good bit, but I’m sure he spent more than he won. He accepted that and it had a relaxing quality for him. Years later he bought his own and would sit and play it all the time. It’s crazy how big those machines got. Little gambling stores popped up all over the place. I looked in a couple and it was just rows of these machines. Between the machines, drugs, and out of state fracking companies WV isn’t the same place. While I never saw a brothel, I did see workers earning money to support habits.
Amazing! Thank you for sharing this video & the history of Cinda Bottom in Keystone, West Virginia, USA. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Madang, Papua New Guinea!
I've rode through Keystone many times on my bike, I knew it had once been a thriving coal town but did not know this, the poverty is heart breaking to see, mind blowing it was once that rich. Great Job !
Man, another ruined town in "Coal Appalachia" (I hail from the part of Appalachia that has no coal - thank you, God, or geology or whomever!). Driving through West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky just tears at you heart, when you see these towns built/torn apart by coal mining and the coal companies, and so many people there struggling just to make ends meet. America's Third World - and not that far from Washington, in miles. Shame on us. Prosperity comes for a while, a decade or two, then they're left to fend for themselves. It's a bit astonishing to think that a town's biggest claim to fame came as a center of vice and brothels almost a century ago. Wikipedia notes that 65% of Keystone today is African-American... possibly a link to its history and its role in those gritty years? Was there a racist taint to "Cinder Bottom" as well? Police corruption? Sure... that often goes hand-in-hand with racial exploitation. Or exploitation of women in general. Worth considering. How much of this story told here is truth, how much fiction? Was it bravado, or despair all the way through? Keystone is in some ways an anomaly in WV, but also typical. Coal mining gone or going... the nearest source of good jobs far away. Not much hope. I don't view these kind of films as "vice" videos as some have commented. I see them more as an indictment of how some regions in America are being left behind, right there in plain sight. Thank you for the video, though it made me sad to watch.
and babies that were tossed away, thrown in the trash or however they disposed of them. think it wasn't also big business? another HUGE side effect of "doing business" "having fun" and "making money" and women died in the process of getting rid of the "side effects" of doing business this way (brothels, etc.). no one talks about this but it's a fact, many lives lost and families decimated.
@@JustMe-uu3bh A small piece of the mega puzzle that created.. ''The Greatest Country the World has ever known", where the entire third world (including some of the more prosperous) is gambling all, just to cross the borders, and get in today... ;]
@@blogengeezer4507 TPTB have another plan and if we talk about it much we get censored, so let's just say the W race is targeted (Ishraeeel does not consider it's people W but olive, remember that) because we are the biggest threat, we are most of the contributors of art, science and will fight for our freedoms, also we usually believe in God, so "they" hate us, they want our land, and because we are so infiltrated (several heroes tried to tell us and died for this act) they are swamping us with 3rd world to destroy, "diversify" and BREED US OUT, have you not seen the programming in commercials? blacks with white, or brown with white, NO WHITE MALES. there's a reason and it's brainwashing, repeat, rinse, repeat and then it becomes "normal", get it? wakey wakey America, our time is fast approaching at our door......choose God so He can destroy our enemies........He said He would heal our land if we repent and come back to Him. 2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
My grandfather was a mayor of Keystone....I spent many summers there before it flooded and was basically wiped out. We all heard stories of cinder bottom....my mom grew up in Eckman Hollow (er)....
Very informative & interesting video & I enjoyed reading all the comments from some of the descendants of early generational families, history is a wonderful thing and to carry on that all important history is so damn needed & so important too…way cool learning about small town life, keep up the great work man! 🤙🏼
Colorado and New Mexico had many wild towns where brothels and lawlessness reigned. Las Vegas, New Mexico, Animas Forks, and Brekenridge were some of the wildest of the wild west. I love tbese kind of stories.
'Phoenix' New Mexico. US Marshall/Sheriff Dee Harkey ran 'em all out. Carlsbad (Three blocks north of 'Phoenix,.. today Stevens Hotel) NM celebrates Dee Harkey day.. ref family of.. "Mean as Hell' published UNM 1960's?
I visited Las Vegas, NM. The streets were eerily quiet, complete with tumbleweeds, in the mid 1990's. We stayed in a old west hotel. Elegant. Historic. Now I wonder what went on there.
@mariebussinger6565 I haven't seen tumbleweed, but I do know it was once more dangerous than Dodge City and larger than Denver at the time. Wild doesn't begin to describe what went on in town. Brothels, saloons, and gambling were prevalent. Shootouts and duels in the streets were normal. The townspeople dragged a man out of the jail and hung him on scaffolding at the Plaza because they could not wait for him to be executed the next day. To achieve this,a man went up on one of the hills and fired rounds to get the police up there. A lone jailer was left in charge and was overrun. Doc Halliday was a dentist before opening a saloon and was run out of town because he shot a man. The townspeople were fed up with the lawlessness that had been going on for decades and started taking action. The Costeneda Hotel is the original Harvey House, which is considered to be the first hotel chain and is located next to the Amtrack station. It is grand and owned by the same man who owns the Historic Plaza Hotel. The significance is that President Teddy Roosevelt held a reunion of his Rough Rider regiment at the Hotel. The Rough Riders were his old calvary unit, and they fought in the Spanish American war. Lad Vegas is known as Hollywood of the West because of the many westerns that have been filmed there. It was called Calumet in Red Dawn, and one building was painted with a big mural and a cowgirl saying Howdy. Welcome to Calumet. I love everything about Las Vegas.
My father and his family were from Oceana, WV; there since the 1600's. I am a direct descendant of the towns founder John Cooke. My father's family name is Christian. I've never been to WV but I feel a connection. Sad to hear of the sin and corruption.
Oceana is one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen. I was there one time in the 1970s just before Christmas making a service call on the Island Creek Coal Company Store.
Top-notch presentation about the history of Keystone. One word I would use to describe the landscape of WV would be the word, "Beautiful". A place worth visiting.
It is a shame but sin and corruption are found everywhere, yes even in my home state of West Virginia! We have a lot of beauty and good in our state as well as dark and evil. If we do not accurately state history and learn from it, we are then doomed to repeat it. Just some thoughts from this girl who lives in the mountains of West Virginia. Blessings to all.😁
It might be a good place to live now. I’m Scots - Irish. My ancestors lived in Wheeling, VA. (now WV). My 5x grandfather, William McWilliams, fought in the Revolutionary War.
My family came to the Charleston area in West Virginia in 1640. Called Virginia back then. The court records from back then are amazingly accurate. They were taxed in a spoon, fork, table, etc. fined fir not attending church.
Shouldn't be too shocked that a town like this existed in WV; they existed all over the US into the late 1960s, when there was a simultaneous crackdown across the country, and new flourishing vice cities in Las Vegas and Reno. Many were connected to mining and railroads, and when those sectors crashed in the 1960s, these little freewheeling towns died with them. Train companies ran specials to Keystone just like every airline flies to Vegas.
I was just there a few weeks ago and seen that abandoned/ non functional cop car that town would have been neat to see 100 years ago. Its pretty sad looking now.
We have a McDowall co here in N.C. its right beside the county I live in. And the joke name is Methdowell co. It even looks like the county here. Like its stuck in time and will let a building fall in before clearing it off the property. I'm amazed at how they look so similar.
I have read that in some coal mining towns the miners were not paid in U S funds, only in company coupons where the wives could shop and pay for groceries in these so called company dollars. That way , the miners were held hostage to stay where they were , and the company basically had the workers work for free since they too owned the town stores. Talk about modern slavery.
Tennessee Williams sang about it, probably before you were born.. "I owe my soul to the Company Store". Textile mills did the same thing, too. Check out the movie "Norma Rae"..
My late MIL talked about her husband being paid in store credits. Some at least until the 1950's. Sorry, I didn't ask al of the details. But it was in this area.
Fascinating! I feel sorry for those left who would just like to have a town of some kind. I noticed that there isn't even a grocery store there. It's a beautiful setting...Thanks for the video and story.
Another good film Josh. I lived through some of what you talked about. I remember when and Keystone policeman was murdered in the courthouse by a man he had just brought in. Officer Manored or however it is spelled was killed in the interagation room. It was said that someone on the inside gave the man a gun. Manored had a daughter I won't say her name but she and I were in the same grade. I also remember when billy cherry got caught. I grew up hearing about the brothels and the moonshiners my grandpa used to run shine. Many famous people came through mcdowel and visited there because of its vice.
Looks like a Beautiful place with a Bad Past i hope they straighten it up and use the place for historical teachings and decent folks to continue to live ❤
Very well done and fascinating! Lived in Prestonsburg Kentucky for many years before retiring in Florida. Thanks for taking me back to Appalachia for a bit. Color me subscribed.
When you started out talking about this place, it started to remind me of an infamous town of my youth. It was Hurley, Michigan. There were a lot of stories about that place.
Talking about prostitution and using the line, "there was always a way to make a buck, you just had to be willing to get your hands dirty ", is priceless. I hate to tellyou honey , but it wasn't their hands they were getting dirty. 😂😂😂
1:30 holy smokes, that's a concept I've only seen explored in fiction. sending workers via direct trainline to a brothel to immediately spend their earnings was part of the dystopian setting of 'Mother 3'. wild.
I go right through there every time I go to berwind which is once a week or so. It’s amazing because even driving through there you can feel so much history and so many stories there. I love living in West Virginia.
The spring of 1998 I was working in South Charleston WV & stopped @ the McDonald's every morning on my way to work Mon-Fri. There was a sociable older retired regular customer who told me he had just sold all his stocks which had done very well & found a safe place to park his money & it would gain interest at well above all other money market rates. He had grown nervous about the stock markets huge gains Yep, that safe place was the First National Bank of Keystone.
My ancestors settled in what is now central WV before 1700s. They actually founded a small town which is close to Charleston, the capital of WV. WV has a wild history why do you think the logo is "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.'
@@dianakidd4219 My ancestors initially settled in Goochland, VA and later moved to what is now Dunbar. The only land we have left is a family cemetery.
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Thanks for watching! Love hearing from y'all in the comments, what'd you think of Keystone?
Poor Keystone! Madams, thieves, Hookers, horrid cops and theft!! What a History in such a small town in such a beautiful place. Thanks again Josh
Growing up in the neighboring county, I have heard stories about Cinder Bottom my whole life. I actually travel this section of rail regularly because I'm a Locomtive Engineer for NS, and one thing I've learned is that the road and Elkhorn Creek have been re-routed since Keystones " Hay Day". I love local history and something that may be of interest to you might be the Wagon Wheel. It was a getaway built by Coal Magnates for such things described here, but now is just a popular location for off roading. Good stuff, thanks.
@@wbrianna27 All cities and towns have seedy sides. Evil hides its dirty deeds.
Going to move there soon. Housing is very affordable.
I'm from Wheeling. In the Northern Panhandle of WV, we might as well be Ohio or PA. My grandfather was a policeman in Wheeling who was suspended twice because he arrested a local mobster. I was a bartender in a local bar that all the cops in Wheeling went to. I have many many stories.
Wow it’s really refreshing to hear a video being narrated by a real voice. I am very tired of these fake robotic voice Narrators.
@@FatGuyTries I even make appearances in some of them 🤣😉 Thanks for watching!
@@MountainRoots brother I've been on RUclips for 14 + years.... I only sub to 28 channels... Congratulations on being number 29! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! My mountain Roots Marathon awaits... Okay I'm going to need another cup of coffee 😌☕
@@FatGuyTries make it a double, cheers!
Not only a real voice, but a script that is not a robotic disaster
@@kevinrogan9871 you got that right!
Don't freak out. This is nothing compared to what happens where the filthy rich live ....... except their debauchery is kept secret.
*addendum to my orig. comment here; "Taken at Birth" a documentary shown on TLC (channel) about Thomas J. Hicks during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1997, the story was revealed that Hicks spearheaded a black market baby ring out of his clinic - there are survivors who were found thru DNA as well, pretty heartbreaking. So there is so much more to all this, not just here though, the "doctors" who performed "certain operations" and
sometimes killed, sometimes maimed, threw away in the river back of the "doctor's office" but everyone
in towns knew who to "go to" if you got in "trouble" and some were given away to families as tiny infants
brought on early thru induction and sold out the back door. there was a whole documentary on this and
several towns were connected, all politicians and those running things were involved, to cover up the
hidden affairs and the results of those affairs to protect their dirty deeds. horrible things people, not
just small towns of course but it's all the same and it affects generations, look at America and what we've
allowed into our country...........we started serving the dark side whether we like to admit it or not. time
is short..........wakey, wakey. it starts with each one of us, not some politician to "save us" from ourselves.
only God can do this.
Like Pedo Island. Where's the black book and whose in it? I'm sure it would rock Hollywood and DC! 💀
@@JustMe-uu3bh Facts. Well said.
@@twiceland4everThe BOOK'S BEEN OUT.
All in there are protected or have called in requesting PROTECTION with who knows what can of FAVORS in RETURN.
Diddy's STUFF was BLATANTLY Flaunted, until for some reason the PARTY was shut down.
Some TOP PLAYER must've gone there.
My dad always said if not for the crooked politicians West Virginia would be one the richest states.
That’s a fact!
My family said the same!
If not for the crooked politicians, the U.S. would be the richest nation.
It’s like that everywhere in the United States. The American people refuse to oversee their government. Until the people change, everything gets worse. Look to the people for recovery.
... and it continues today.
Fascinating.
I was a bartender in Virginia in the early 90s. One of my regulars, an older fella who had a thick country accent, told me a few pretty wild stories from his younger days, several of which centered around a place called “Cinder Bottom.” Looks like he was telling the truth
If he was from West Virginia I’d guarantee you it was true. I drive through here once a week or so and I can tell you West Virginia is and was a wild place. But I love my home (Logan county, West Virginia).
*Hmmm... Those hillbillies were scandalous...!!! (lol)* 🤣 😂 🤣
@@helloxonsfangiggity
My dad was from McDowell County. My grandfather ran a company store. I've heard stories of keystone most of my life.
Please, do tell.
Really? Where did he meet your mom?
@lordalmighty322 she's from McDowell also. Lolol alot of my family is still living in the county.
TELL US ONE.
So crooked cops and corrupted government has always been the genesis a city's demise.
You bet the universal recipe. Chicago, New York, etc.
@@belamoureThe Democrat recipe!
@@patricksmith5282 So in you fantasy Keystone is the Democrat stronghold....
Simply no one dumber or more gullible than a Poor Conservative Republican....Send your last dollar to the Begging Billionaire!
@@patricksmith5282 Oakland Dallas
SAN FRANCISCO……ALL CALIFORNIA…HEADBOARD HARRIS COUNTRY
I've lived in eastern West Virginia for 75 of my 85 years and I never heard of Keystone, let alone its history. This is one very interesting presentation.
Where u been ? Under a rock
Well I must have been under that same rock, I was born in Logan county in 77, and lived there til 98. This one is new to me, glad it posted
@@jamesharley9679 Worse than that. I've traveled all over the state too.
I'm in the eastern panhandle, lived here all my 40 years and I haven't heard of it either?!
@@booneminshall2598 You must be under the same rock I'm under. LOL
"They that sow to the flesh, shall reap corruption." Galatians 6:8
The Democrat party
Your guy slept with a porn star while his wife was pregnant. What’s your point? 😂
Religious cultist and political cultist. Two weak-minded peas in an ignorant pod.
@@shannonhawkins3296 I think the Bible's referring to similar, but different type of corruption: ghonnorea.
AMEN ✝️🙏🏽❤️
Things sure were different when the mines were open. This area is my home. My family has had a business here since the 1860's and its still going on now. I am always shocked when I come across these RUclips channels about where I live. My dad really protected us back in the day and I see why now. I am old and it was different back then. I can remember there were certain people and places that were forbidden. Some of us are good folks, back then and now. Its a shame no one ever talks about the good things, like we have a lot of good musicians and Artists and quilters. I saw one video where a RUclipsr stood right in front of the Bluefield Arts and Crafts museum and did not show it and acted like nothing good was in the town. It kinda bothers me. I guess the Vice stories are more interesting.😔
Hey, I get it! My ancestors are from these hollers & hills. If you'll take some time to go through the body of my work, you'll see I do not make it a point to focus on what I call "trauma tourism" or the negative- from Welch to Iaeger and so many other places I think you'll find I showcase them with the utmost respect. However, I also don't shy away from showing some of the aspects with historical significance, such as these stories of Keystone. Even the title of this video was taken from a book written over 100 years ago that called Keystone Sodom & Gomorrah. So, it's simply a historical reference. I know there are good, honest, hard working folks in these places. Some may even be my kinfolk. I would love to talk more with you, perhaps even sit down and chat on camera about your business and how things have changed over the years- a true local perspective. If you're interested please let me know!
@@MountainRoots I would have to think long and hard on that, we have owned the same business which is still going on today and my dad is still alive at 85 yrs old, he is very strict because it's a funeral home, and let me tell you we also had the only ambulance back in the day and the stories are many, some very funny I might add. I just wouldn't want to be disrespectful to anyone.
@@MountainRoots
I’m from a holler too. I’m 71 years old, had the best childhood as everyone looked out for us kids. Church was the center of the community. I don’t remember anyone cussing or drinking alcohol. I had lots of cousins to play with. West Virginia still gets a bad rap. Few know it’s a state as they’ll say yeah I’ve been to Norfolk. After 20 years of living in Florida I’m back in Charleston. We have more mountains than any state, people are so friendly here and very few homeless, Crime is low. I’m glad life took me back to my country roads.
@Mithras444 understood, I never knowingly try to disrespect anyone, regardless of my personal opinions. If you ever find you're interested reach out to me either here or through my contact page of my website: www.mountainrootspro.com
@@dianakidd4219 Funny, same move is going on for me except I'm going to be on the other side of the Ohio River in Ohio. Parents, sister and niece were all born in Ohio and grand parents worked in WV at one time. Charleston is closer driving than Columbus is.
I loved Wv!! The people are so kind & welcoming! The landscapes are beautiful especially in the fall!❤🇱🇷❤
That was not my experience in WV.
@drbuckley1 Well, every state, especially now, has their areas where it's crime-ridden, poor, drug infested, or just obnoxious people!
Bullshit!.
@@drbuckley1 there are some areas of WV where the people are very kind.
@@lianalonge1984I'm from here and half of everyone is on opiates
So they're *literal* Keystone Kops? 😂
The irony is too much!
You beat me to it😊
Actually, refers to the state of Pennsylvania which was a slapstick comedy, >100 years ago.
@@danielkoher1944 I realize it's based on the silent slapstick films. The joke was that the cops in this mountain town of Keystone were also inept, and unethical. Sorry I didn't tell it well enough .
@@jadefire2817
You told it, although this wasn’t/isn’t the only literal 😳 hotbed.
Vice and corruption has and always will run the world.
Just the natural order of life...Yin Yang ☯️
@@danielkoher1944
"AKTCHUALY..."
It was a joke, shut up Karen.
Thank you for using your own voice. Really cool piece. I live in VA and spend a lot of time in WV. I love the state of WV, its roads, mountains, valleys, small towns, and best of all, it's people.
My father was station manager for a major airline in Charleston, WV, the stories he told me about the corruption and incompetence of the airport political authority still haunts me to this day!
I’d say it STILL goes on… we’ve just RECENTLY expanded the runway here and can now go as far as ORLANDO!!! 😂😂🤦🏽♂️ imagine that - like 4 whole entire states away, I mean it got built ON TOP of a mountain.. what’s wrong with that… certainly ZERO weather conditions.. and in 2024 you can’t make it but 5 hours away by plane flight… nahh No corruption here, we’re just old school… that way with this ENTIRE place
I believe that God is cracking down on the corruption. Lot of the corrupt are meeting justice and lots of good things ARE happening. We, the USA, do have a long way to go, still. Above all we need justice for crime, whatever it may be...especially against children and other innocents.
I used to love flying into Yeager airport. You kept altitude, and the runway comes up to meet YOU. 😅
@@spangdeez498 So ignorance rules then and ego is ignorance, "what is yours is mine and what's mine is mine", "none for thee, all for me" like the George Soros and "ruling elites" (evil) of the world, pray people, bring God back and He promised
He would heal our land if we repented and turned away from evil. In the Bible God tells us;
2 Chronicles 7:14
King James Version
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Major airline ??
I'm from Welch WV not far from Keystone. This town and surrounding towns was devastated by floods back in the early 2000's... I left after the second one hit. I was a EMT for McDowell Ambulance Service at the time and I seen things in the second flood that to this day bothers me. I miss my home and it was the place to live before the floods and all the drugs came in.
I’m sorry😢.. I hope the ghosts haunting you find peace and give you peace 😢
@@jetv1471 Victim Support.- Sean O'Dwyer- number 136- 140 Hobson Street.- Auckland City. 1010.- new Zealand.- South pacific.'''
No thanks to a previous WV Chief of Staff who was with helms & ran healthcare & more. The wife’s best friend is Andy McDowell. Ever been lured in politics? They are all over the law lot in their personal endeavors.
Man what a good video. It's rare to find someone with lots of knowledge in the history of areas like this. Subscribed 👍
@tallyforeman3145 really glad you found me! Also check out my new national show on PBS called Hometowns. Season 2 starts next week!
@@MountainRoots groovy. Will do!
I’ve always said the only difference between the government and the mafia is that one is legal and the other one isn’t.
So true
At least the mafia hoods actually work! Albeit immorally.. Politicians just outright steal and lie! Pretending to be servants and obeying the constitution...
FBI CIA DOJ
Inbred.
That’s a tautology because by definition, the government IS the law.
My grandfather owned a lot of the municipal the property in Northfork, property in Bramwell and Keystone. I used to go there when I was a kid. My grandmother told me about the brothels in Keystone and how wild the town was. I always thought “That podunk place?”
Your grandfather didn’t own all the property in Northfork. He may have owned some. But multiple coal companies owned most of the property everywhere. If not them, the railroad.
@@DreneeBolden No he didn’t own all the property that was a gross overstatement. He owned land where post office multiple municipal buildings. He was also the major share owner in the bank to me as a little kid seemed like all the property. I still own some worthless coal mines in surrounding counties. I still pay taxes in McDowell and Mingo Counties to this day. North Fork was a very small town and I fondly remember visiting. My mother lived there until college. We traveled frequently from Huntington. I spent most of my adult life in New England but my trips to the coalfields
I look back on trips from Huntington to the WV coalfields as a magical adventure.
@@jebbiekanfer8843 One of our current candidates for Governor's mother was raised in Bramwell. It was an interesting place. Sold more Chanel No. 5'than any town in the world at one time.
@@ValRapt121 Bramwell had the most millionaires per capita at one point. My boyfriend and I drove down there our senior year in high school almost 50 years ago. I remember some beautiful homes there.
I was in Keystone in the early 90s for a construction job. It was a really small, nearly dried up town in 1993. There was a tastee freeze there i think i recall. You're in another world when youre up there.
As always, the story, video, and narration are exceptional, Josh. Volumes and volumes could no doubt be written about fortunes lost and families wrecked by this malignancy in the mountains. I have no doubt that other communities throughout the United States have had similar, if less notorious, manifestations of human evil undermine their present and future hopes. Simply superbly delivered.
Glad you found this one friend! Really appreciate you watching.
As a former employee of Keystone bank, accounts were insured up to $100,000. However, many ignored that and had accounts well in excess of it and therefore lost it.
@@DreneeBolden my dad had a cd in that bank. He finally got his money back. They were advertising better interest on cds than any other bank was.
@@DreneeBolden wow must be rough to have such monies.
I’ve known the insured limit. So how do millionaires protect their cash? Lots of different accounts insured to $100k?
Possibly put it $ in Baltimore banks with Biden.
Thanks for protecting and sharing American history! Awesome production as always.
@@ADHski I appreciate you watching!
Here here!
I have lived just outside a military base in Oklahoma all my life. For decades until urban renewal came to the community. In a 12 square block area, over 100 bars and pool halls, pawn shops, cheap jewelry store, anda numerous hotels that rent rooms by the hour. I remember asking my father who owned all the buildings. He stated you can find the owners in three huge churches every Sunday morning sitting on the front rows of the church pews in front of the preachers.
Sad but true many places.
Too much Money corrupts.
Cinder Bottom was rough back in the day, my dad used to talk about it. Mining was a hard life.
About when did it stop? If your dad spoke about it you would have a general time frame?
I remember my dad and his friend talking about it if they raided and you got caught you had to pay your fine and hers
Can you share at least one story? This is so intriguing......
Myself and a friend of mine spent one night in jail in Keystone. We hitchhiked down there from Princeton to see what we could get into. We couldn't get a ride out of there and it was very cold, a cop took us to the jail and let us spend the night. Next morning when we were hitching out of there, two deputies pull over and ask us about a robbery that had taken place that night in Cinder Bottom. We were glad for two reasons that we were in jail that night, one it was very cold, and that jail felt good, two we had a good alibi. That was in 1962! I've done some work down in that country since then.
I'm a direct descendant of a blood line that has inhabited Appalachia since the mid 1700s. Love the content! Definitely helps shed a light on a way of life and population typically not given much thought by history. Keep it up, and I'll keep watching and waiting for you to make it to my ancestral neck of the woods!
@@stevenrogers1087 where would that be? And thanks for watching!
@@MountainRoots Powell County, KY.
I'm so, so sorry.....anyways most families deep in the wash dc area, that have been there for generations, are direct descendants too. It was the closest big city to leave to for many young Appalachian kids. Lots of Scotts Irish that were just one generation away from their true coalminer hillbillisms
same here!
Eww gross
I’m half Appalachian this way of life was in my moms family for generations from brothels to corrupt cops coil mining boot legging cans who knows what else my dads family was totally different from Massachusetts my mom left Virginia at 16 ran off with my dad who came from money and I was raised in north shore Massachusetts and visited my moms family later in life in Pennington gap Va . The family I met were all nice people all the women were RN nurses and the men worked for CSX or local government none of them were hillbilly’s that you see on tv but they were definitely country folk and a lot of the men died of black lung and were treated by their own family members who worked in the black lung clinics which are still there in 2024
Amazingly
Half Appalachian? There's no such thing! You're either Appalachian, or you're not. You were either born and raised there, or you weren't. Appalachian isn't a race of people. It's a way of life. Therefore, Appalachian is not passed on through DNA. Your mother may have been Appalachian, but you are not.
Signed,
A true Appalachian
Sounds like the coal towns in northern Pennsylvania. I pass through on my motorcycle, and I know that I can't really imagine their lives. The evidence of money lingers in grand old buildings, but they're all run down now. The miners made their livings but never were rich. I pass by the one hospital in the area and see the men with walkers and oxygen tanks sitting out in the sun, black lung for many of them I guess.
Makes one question how your dad Met Your Mother 🤔
@@shane8915how is you mum and wife same person maybe. Squeal like a pig for me boy wwweeeee wwweeeeee
@@shane8915 I liked it better when they just called us "hillbillies".
This was such a good episode! I had no idea about what all went on down there, other than the bank. I’m so glad you talked about that!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything made about the Keystone Bank, so this was really cool to see. Phenomenal work, Josh👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
@@alysonrdiaz it's quite a big story for a little town. Thx for watching!
It is a good video. The music makes it impossible to hear what is being said for people with hearing difficulty .
Definitely a crazy video 😮
@@alysonrdiaz Definitely a crazy video 😳
Im from Huntington, West Virginia. Born in Charleston. I found your channel, and I love it. In kenova cops are so crooked that it's not funny . Thank you ❤
I had to move to a small town to understand that. They are often the biggest criminals
@@PurpleStarseed444
Big towns must be worse. NYC head of police just had his house raided along with two of the mayors aids because if ties to China and Turkey. People are people wherever you go, some honor God and live accordingly, some honor their God, $$$$.
I do remember in Charleston when Randy Moss beat his GF up, I think he had a baby with her, the police and preachers in Charleston bailed him out wanting him to succeed.
Which he did.
Sounds like all government is corrupt
I’m from Huntington, and my family moved move to Kenova sometime like 14 years ago, and I hate Kenova, my whole family does.
Tell Mike Spurlock one of his ole Army buddies from Fort Eustis Va. said Hey!👋🏾😁
I've seen a podcast about this place, but you fill in the blanks. Thanks. Good show.
Glad you enjoyed it!
U hit the nail on the head when u said... "the cops guard the system", I have yet to meet an honest cop! Gr8 content.
We’re headed for more if trump wins and gives cops complete immunity as he has 100% stated. I heard him and saw him say it so not made up. Truly scary.
Since there are no dishonest cops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. journalists have to come to West Virginia to report on crooked cops. Either that, or, reporting on crooked cops in West Virginia is safer.
The boys in blue work for whoever pays them the green...lol.
Just subscribed and greatly enjoyed the video. I was born in Mingo county and grew up across the river, so I love to see such well done pieces on local history. I’ll be watching going forward and catching up on previous videos.
When I was growing up, my grandparents lived in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, but sometime around 1912-15 (when my father was around 6-9 yrs. old), they moved to Keystone. My grandfather was working as a deputy sheriff, when a person attempted a robbery. The would-be robber shot my grandfather in the stomach, but my grandfather shot him dead. Luckily, there was a doctor close by who saved his life! My grandmother said to my grandfather:"This is no place to raise children!" They then moved to Wilkes County, which was known as the "Moonshine Capitol!" My brother is 10 years older than I, and he told me that our grandfather would say to him when he was a kid:"Do you want to see my 2 navels?" He would pull up his shirt , displaying his real navel, and would then point to his faux navel, the scar from the shooting. On another note, not related to keystone, my late mother would always remind me to keep my tetanus shot up to date, and would tell me that back in North Wilkesboro in the 1920s,my father's cousin was chopping wood and cut his foot with the rusty axe. My mother said "He got lockjaw and died!" Not having a picture of him from life, they took one of him in death, but not at the funeral home. In the old family album is a picture of my father's cousin's wife standing in their front yard, with her late husband "standing" beside her, in the coffin and propped up (kind of like Morgan Freeman at the end of "Unforgiven"(1992). I wrote about both of these happenings some years ago in a column in the Salisbury Post (my old home town is Salisbury). In the case of the article about my father's unfortunate cousin, "standing" next to his wife in the front yard, I gave it the title "American Macabre"(take-off on the painting, "American Gothic").There's just something different about us folks who come from the mountains and the foothills.
Coal Kings have run WV. For many years now. Their governor now was and is one of them.
My mom's side of the family is from Meybeury, Anawalt, Keystone, & Gary. There are also kin over toward Pie in Mingo County. There is a lot of history, but a lot of seedy stories that were never meant to see the light of day.
@Mr._Anderpson totally understand, but there's a systemic issue here that does deserve some sunlight. Thanks for watching!
My mom would pronounce it annie walt
I used to work around Kimball, Keystone, Welsh and War. You can't tell the abandoned houses from those occupied. I'm surprised businessmen haven't parlayed the low cost of living and the scenery of WV into the new retirement destination. Maybe the nation could house all our homeless there since it's so cheap. There you go! Make WV the rehab/mental institution/homeless authority of The US. Wouldn't you like to have the money per person CA spends to NOT address the homeless? We just laid out $20 billion and can't account for any of it.
Nope keep your liberal ideas there
@williamanderson6006 I think it's more of an idea meant to consolidate the liberal viewpoint I stead of them spreading it through the country as they have been for years
If you audited Newsome's bank account you would probably find the majority of the missing funds . Also maybe in overseas she'll companies.
We have Fentynal Ferrets living under every bridge and abandoned house now. On Creekbanks. They would just go missing here.
My sister works on the homeless problem. They have building in downtown LosAngeles on Alameda st where they spent millons of tax payers $ Those places are still vacant today . Makes me wonder if they where set up for the illegal coming over. I need to go check on this. The corruption in Los Angeles is so out of control. My Dad was an LAPD officer the pay off's alone and the stories of the drug market in the hoods and we wonder WHY???? The rich will be buying in to those HELENE areas , they already have.along with tax payers $$ to fund the new infrustucture.
I was 18 maybe when I started seeing these poker machines in the local gas stations. It was in Harrison County WV. I didn’t pay them much thought and just thought of them like a video game. I learned that places started paying the winners out. Some it was a gift card for the store and cold hard cash. Even when they tried to crack down on them, they succeeded. To the point that some of these places removed products and built rooms to house even more machines. My dad loved them. He won a good bit, but I’m sure he spent more than he won. He accepted that and it had a relaxing quality for him. Years later he bought his own and would sit and play it all the time. It’s crazy how big those machines got. Little gambling stores popped up all over the place. I looked in a couple and it was just rows of these machines. Between the machines, drugs, and out of state fracking companies WV isn’t the same place. While I never saw a brothel, I did see workers earning money to support habits.
Very nice video! Everything was first-rate: your narration; the drone shots; the music (and its level); the story; the whole thing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Peaked my interest. I just moved to a small town in WV. It’s cool to see the history of other small towns. I will subscribe. Thanks!
Please, look through my episodes or watch my show on PBS called Hometowns. Thanks for following along and good luck with the new move!
How are you enjoying the move?
Definitely great history, West Virginia is such a wonderful place to live 👍
@@Dana-jr4ep Definitely great history and a great place to live!!!! 👍
Amazing! Thank you for sharing this video & the history of Cinda Bottom in Keystone, West Virginia, USA. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Madang, Papua New Guinea!
I've rode through Keystone many times on my bike, I knew it had once been a thriving coal town but did not know this, the poverty is heart breaking to see, mind blowing it was once that rich. Great Job !
I love your episodes and I look forward to them.
You tell history very well and make it very interesting !
Instant fan!!
Great video, now I'm going to watch more of your videos.
Awesome, glad you enjoyed it!
Man, another ruined town in "Coal Appalachia" (I hail from the part of Appalachia that has no coal - thank you, God, or geology or whomever!). Driving through West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky just tears at you heart, when you see these towns built/torn apart by coal mining and the coal companies, and so many people there struggling just to make ends meet. America's Third World - and not that far from Washington, in miles. Shame on us. Prosperity comes for a while, a decade or two, then they're left to fend for themselves. It's a bit astonishing to think that a town's biggest claim to fame came as a center of vice and brothels almost a century ago. Wikipedia notes that 65% of Keystone today is African-American... possibly a link to its history and its role in those gritty years? Was there a racist taint to "Cinder Bottom" as well? Police corruption? Sure... that often goes hand-in-hand with racial exploitation. Or exploitation of women in general. Worth considering. How much of this story told here is truth, how much fiction? Was it bravado, or despair all the way through? Keystone is in some ways an anomaly in WV, but also typical. Coal mining gone or going... the nearest source of good jobs far away. Not much hope. I don't view these kind of films as "vice" videos as some have commented. I see them more as an indictment of how some regions in America are being left behind, right there in plain sight. Thank you for the video, though it made me sad to watch.
I think this is perhaps one of the most thoughtful comments I have ever received. Thank you.
Very Interesting Josh as always so much history good or bad we should know and learn from. Thanks so much my favorite channel!
@dalegooch4616 wow, thank you! I am very humbled by your kind words.
Very nice production. Great story! Thank you!
Think about the diseases that flowed through that town 🤢🤢🤢🤮
Just like every city in the U.S.
and babies that were tossed away, thrown in the trash or however they disposed of them. think it
wasn't also big business? another HUGE side effect of "doing business" "having fun" and "making money"
and women died in the process of getting rid of the "side effects" of doing business this way (brothels, etc.).
no one talks about this but it's a fact, many lives lost and families decimated.
Not half as bad as San Francisco
@@JustMe-uu3bh A small piece of the mega puzzle that created.. ''The Greatest Country the World has ever known", where the entire third world (including some of the more prosperous) is gambling all, just to cross the borders, and get in today... ;]
@@blogengeezer4507 TPTB have another plan and if we talk about it much we get censored, so let's just say the W race is targeted (Ishraeeel does not consider it's people W but olive, remember that) because we are the biggest threat, we are most of the contributors of art, science and will fight for our freedoms, also we usually believe in God, so "they" hate us, they want our land, and because we are so infiltrated (several heroes tried to tell us and died for this act) they are swamping us with 3rd world to destroy, "diversify" and BREED US OUT, have you not seen the programming in commercials? blacks with white, or brown with white, NO WHITE MALES. there's a reason and it's brainwashing, repeat, rinse, repeat and then it becomes "normal", get it?
wakey wakey America, our time is fast approaching at our door......choose God so He can destroy our enemies........He said He would heal our land if we repent and come back to Him.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
My grandfather was a mayor of Keystone....I spent many summers there before it flooded and was basically wiped out. We all heard stories of cinder bottom....my mom grew up in Eckman Hollow (er)....
Hmmm- what year was the flood??
@uplift56 It was 2001. My grandfather died that summer July 11th and the funeral home was flooded and his service was in a local church.
Very informative & interesting video & I enjoyed reading all the comments from some of the descendants of early generational families, history is a wonderful thing and to carry on that all important history is so damn needed & so important too…way cool learning about small town life, keep up the great work man! 🤙🏼
An excellent mini-doc, good job.
Colorado and New Mexico had many wild towns where brothels and lawlessness reigned. Las Vegas, New Mexico, Animas Forks, and Brekenridge were some of the wildest of the wild west. I love tbese kind of stories.
Petersburg which was memory holed and changed to Englewood.
'Phoenix' New Mexico. US Marshall/Sheriff Dee Harkey ran 'em all out. Carlsbad (Three blocks north of 'Phoenix,.. today Stevens Hotel) NM celebrates Dee Harkey day.. ref family of.. "Mean as Hell' published UNM 1960's?
@blogengeezer4507 There is a book I am getting called Las Vegas, New Mexico, the wildest of the Wild West.
I visited Las Vegas, NM. The streets were eerily quiet, complete with tumbleweeds, in the mid 1990's. We stayed in a old west hotel. Elegant. Historic. Now I wonder what went on there.
@mariebussinger6565 I haven't seen tumbleweed, but I do know it was once more dangerous than Dodge City and larger than Denver at the time. Wild doesn't begin to describe what went on in town. Brothels, saloons, and gambling were prevalent. Shootouts and duels in the streets were normal. The townspeople dragged a man out of the jail and hung him on scaffolding at the Plaza because they could not wait for him to be executed the next day. To achieve this,a man went up on one of the hills and fired rounds to get the police up there. A lone jailer was left in charge and was overrun.
Doc Halliday was a dentist before opening a saloon and was run out of town because he shot a man. The townspeople were fed up with the lawlessness that had been going on for decades and started taking action.
The Costeneda Hotel is the original Harvey House, which is considered to be the first hotel chain and is located next to the Amtrack station. It is grand and owned by the same man who owns the Historic Plaza Hotel. The significance is that President Teddy Roosevelt held a reunion of his Rough Rider regiment at the Hotel. The Rough Riders were his old calvary unit, and they fought in the Spanish American war.
Lad Vegas is known as Hollywood of the West because of the many westerns that have been filmed there. It was called Calumet in Red Dawn, and one building was painted with a big mural and a cowgirl saying Howdy. Welcome to Calumet. I love everything about Las Vegas.
My father and his family were from Oceana, WV; there since the 1600's. I am a direct descendant of the towns founder John Cooke. My father's family name is Christian. I've never been to WV but I feel a connection. Sad to hear of the sin and corruption.
Oceana is one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen. I was there one time in the 1970s just before Christmas making a service call on the Island Creek Coal Company Store.
Top-notch presentation about the history of Keystone. One word I would use to describe the landscape of WV would be the word, "Beautiful". A place worth visiting.
Fascinating! Your research is impressive and photography, superb!
First time visiting your channel. You did an excellent job! You kept my attention the whole time (which is quite a feat)!
Keystone taught me that if a bank offers savings interest rates too good to be true… that bank is probably starving for cash.
When it comes to natural beauty, few states can rival West Virgina. It's a shame when corruption pollutes such inspiring countryside.
Narrator: telling so many terrible things that happened in this town.
Me: just can't stop to admire the beautiful sites of this town.
Good narration and scripting. Interesting history.
The sound track is fabulous.
It is a shame but sin and corruption are found everywhere, yes even in my home state of West Virginia! We have a lot of beauty and good in our state as well as dark and evil. If we do not accurately state history and learn from it, we are then doomed to repeat it. Just some thoughts from this girl who lives in the mountains of West Virginia. Blessings to all.😁
You could tell the same tale about a lot of towns back in that time. Rough days.
@alvinmarcus5780 elements yes, but not exactly. This one had quite the distinctives!
This is a vile story about an area of the country that was supposed to be very religious then and now.
Outstanding video. You do a great job with the video and narrating - Thank you
It might be a good place to live now. I’m Scots - Irish. My ancestors lived in Wheeling, VA. (now WV). My 5x grandfather, William McWilliams, fought in the Revolutionary War.
My family came to the Charleston area in West Virginia in 1640. Called Virginia back then. The court records from back then are amazingly accurate. They were taxed in a spoon, fork, table, etc. fined fir not attending church.
why do you have to mention your, Scots - Irish, NO ONE CARES
What a terrific documentary.
Shouldn't be too shocked that a town like this existed in WV; they existed all over the US into the late 1960s, when there was a simultaneous crackdown across the country, and new flourishing vice cities in Las Vegas and Reno. Many were connected to mining and railroads, and when those sectors crashed in the 1960s, these little freewheeling towns died with them. Train companies ran specials to Keystone just like every airline flies to Vegas.
Watching from Kenya 🇰🇪
" For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.".
Prophet- Sean O'Dwyer- 136- 140 Hobson Street.- Auckland 1010.- new zealand.- South pacific.''
We choose to believe satan rather than God. The whole word is now falling apart because of sin
Excellent video; history portrayed succinctly and videography was wonderful. New subscriber.
I was just there a few weeks ago and seen that abandoned/ non functional cop car that town would have been neat to see 100 years ago. Its pretty sad looking now.
We have a McDowall co here in N.C. its right beside the county I live in. And the joke name is Methdowell co. It even looks like the county here. Like its stuck in time and will let a building fall in before clearing it off the property. I'm amazed at how they look so similar.
Asheville run by healthcare pimps.
I am so glad that I came across your channel! You have a new subscriber!
💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
@theresahs5956 glad you're here!
West Virginia is a great place to live!!! 👍
@@theresahs5956 West Virginia is a great place to live!!!
Loved this history lesson. Didn't know anything about Keystone, WV before. What an interesting history.
Thank you for pronouncing _"Appalachia"_ correctly.
Indeed !!! That drives me bonkers !!!
I have read that in some coal mining towns the miners were not paid in U S funds, only in company coupons where the wives could shop and pay for groceries in these so called company dollars. That way , the miners were held hostage to stay where they were , and the company basically had the workers work for free since they too owned the town stores. Talk about modern slavery.
Tennessee Williams sang about it, probably before you were born..
"I owe my soul to the Company Store".
Textile mills did the same thing, too.
Check out the movie "Norma Rae"..
My late MIL talked about her husband being paid in store credits. Some at least until the 1950's. Sorry, I didn't ask al of the details. But it was in this area.
Fascinating! I feel sorry for those left who would just like to have a town of some kind. I noticed that there isn't even a grocery store there. It's a beautiful setting...Thanks for the video and story.
Well done, it's a lot of work to make a video like this. Thanks for sharing it.
It truly is, thanks for the comment and for watching!
Once again this video is amazing and well done. Wow didn’t know about the bank issue. So cool.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow love the feel of this video. The music from fire down below. You have a great speaking voice. Awesome video.
Thank you so much!
Digging all your content, keep up the good work!!!
Another good film Josh. I lived through some of what you talked about. I remember when and Keystone policeman was murdered in the courthouse by a man he had just brought in. Officer Manored or however it is spelled was killed in the interagation room. It was said that someone on the inside gave the man a gun. Manored had a daughter I won't say her name but she and I were in the same grade. I also remember when billy cherry got caught. I grew up hearing about the brothels and the moonshiners my grandpa used to run shine. Many famous people came through mcdowel and visited there because of its vice.
Looks like a Beautiful place with a Bad Past i hope they straighten it up and use the place for historical teachings and decent folks to continue to live ❤
Great story telling! Could imagine whole R-Rated dramatic TV series based on that town's decadence and self demolition.
Great video and incredibly interesting story. Narration, scoring and videography superb!
Thank you! I also have a new national show on PBS now that I direct and host called Hometowns. Check it out, season 2 starts this coming week!
Very well done and fascinating! Lived in Prestonsburg Kentucky for many years before retiring in Florida. Thanks for taking me back to Appalachia for a bit.
Color me subscribed.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I lived in tram ky a few miles from.prestonburg
@ 2:38 explains our current system of government perfectly
You mean our current system of policing.
When you started out talking about this place, it started to remind me of an infamous town of my youth. It was Hurley, Michigan. There were a lot of stories about that place.
Hurley, Wisconsin
@@marci3667 oh, that's right. It was in Wisconsin, very close to the border.
Talking about prostitution and using the line, "there was always a way to make a buck, you just had to be willing to get your hands dirty ", is priceless. I hate to tellyou honey , but it wasn't their hands they were getting dirty. 😂😂😂
Oh, I know 😉
🤡
Hands get used too it appears hence the dirtyness but not for long.
They could've been captains of industry 😂😂😂
I like that documentary!👍🏼
Thanx!
I‘ll subscribe!
1:30 holy smokes, that's a concept I've only seen explored in fiction. sending workers via direct trainline to a brothel to immediately spend their earnings was part of the dystopian setting of 'Mother 3'. wild.
I was surprised to see so many abandoned churches when I visited weeks ago.
Alot of people were on the take before the bank went down-employees, sheriffs, you name it.
Great presentation. Enjoyed your story telling, nicely done.
Steven Segal did a few movies about corruption in West Virginia...
Now we know those movies came from
True stories...
Thanks 😊.
I go right through there every time I go to berwind which is once a week or so. It’s amazing because even driving through there you can feel so much history and so many stories there. I love living in West Virginia.
And to think they all went to church every Sunday! Time & mankind has never change. 💯
1 Peter 4:17, judgement must begin at the house of God. Further, the true sabbath is observed on Saturday
Man, your videos are so well done. Thanks for posting 😎
Glad you like them!
The spring of 1998 I was working in South Charleston WV & stopped @ the McDonald's every morning on my way to work Mon-Fri. There was a sociable older retired regular customer who told me he had just sold all his stocks which had done very well & found a safe place to park his money & it would gain interest at well above all other money market rates. He had grown nervous about the stock markets huge gains Yep, that safe place was the First National Bank of Keystone.
How sad 😔
Watching from Kenya
Southwest Germany is waving a Hand. 💯👍🙋♂
Guten Tag freunde
Hello, from Southwestern USA .🙋♂️
👍🏽
o/
You should do Asheville, NC next. Why is it known as the “cesspool of sin”?
Healthcare pimps for $ not life.
My ancestors settled in what is now central WV before 1700s. They actually founded a small town which is close to Charleston, the capital of WV. WV has a wild history why do you think the logo is "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.'
@@judypierce7028
what town did they plant? I’m in Charleston
@@dianakidd4219 Dunbar
@@dianakidd4219 My ancestors initially settled in Goochland, VA and later moved to what is now Dunbar. The only land we have left is a family cemetery.