The Red Flannel Rag

Part Three

MAKING A LIVING

Humble living does not diminish. It fills. Going back to the simpler self, gives wisdom. Rumi (4)

* * * * *

My childhood bridged the transition from hunting, gathering and living off the

land to moon shining as a major way of survival for the people of Hopkins Gap. The

moonshine industry was replaced by the poultry industry. The men raised poultry at

home, and the women worked in the poultry processing plants or sewing factories in

Harrisonburg. Each major method of survival blended into the next method so that

until the moonshine industry became the dominant way of making a living, Gap folks

continued to hunt and gather. After the poultry industry and factory work became

available, some folks continued to hunt and gather and some made moonshine.

One major industry for early Hopkins Gappers was logging. Groups of men

would go into the mountains with a steam engine. They cut logs on private land and by

contract on the government owned reserves.

140