(This outhouse was originally built for daily use.  We now use it only when camping.)

When I was younger, my Great Aunt Arietta (pronounced Uh-ret-uh) who grew up in Bullpush, used to get after me about going barefoot:  “Put some shoes on!  You’re gonna get hookworm!  You don’t know how some people out in the country don’t take care of their poop.”

Ignoring Aunt Arietta was generally not something you wanted to try, and I listened to her about most things.  But she never succeeded in getting me to wear shoes when she wasn’t around.

I had no idea what she was talking about.  

Now I do.  And, like it or not, so do you.

The push toward modern waste disposal took longer than we might remember.  When I79 was being built in the 70s, Leroy Pullen’s The Interstate is Coming Through My Outhouse would play on the radio from time to time.  Growing up in a Lewis Co. WV hollow, some of our neighbors didn’t have indoor plumbing yet.  

And Webster Springs in Webster Co. didn’t have a sewage treatment plant until 1984.  We used to swim about a mile down river from where the town sewer dropped in. (Still do, but fortunately sans waste!)

You can go ahead and buckle your seatbelts.  The story’s shifting into a higher gear.  The coal wars are coming up next! Starting with the Boomer Rebellion of 1909.

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