About the Author...
Jason Duke's family has hailed from Overton County since the 1840's or earlier. After years of hearing stories about coal mining, railroading and logging (the three always seemed to go together well), Jason decided to put together a brief history of coal mining in the area while studying Geography at Tennessee Technological University in the early 1990's. Articles were submitted to the Overton County News, the Fentress Courier and the Hilltop Express in Monterey that led to the demand for this book. Numerous interviews were conducted over an 11 year period and hundreds of original photos were collected and scanned for incorporation into the book. Jason is proud to make his home in Livingston and continues to study these important facets of our history and is working toward another book.