Tom Cooper and most likely his sons, John (17) and Clad (15), were union miners working at Boomer during this time.  Fred was 11, so probably still in sixth grade.

The now reasonably well known Battle of Blair Mountain was part of nearly twenty years of intermittent guerrilla warfare between miners fighting for basic rights and operators attempting to maintain the status quo. The Italian miners of Boomer were some of the earliest to rebel and would go on to provide material support and men to militant striking miners in Paint Creek and Cabin Creek a few years later.

This image of the mine is likely from a decade or more later.

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