MNN - Mother Nature Network

A worker operates an old coal rail car on April 18 through the exit of the Portal 31 coal mine — now a tourist attraction in Lynch, Ky.

 

The historic Appalachian coal mining town of Lynch, founded in 1917 by the U.S. Coal and Coke Company, is just a shadow of its former self. The town's decline began when the underground coal mines that provided the livelihoods of its residents were phased out in the 1960s and '70s.

 

An explosive is detonated on April 16 on an Appalachian mountain peak, home of an A & G Coal Corporation mountaintop removal operation in Virginia's Wise County.

 

This strip mine is one of two that threaten the water supply of nearby towns — including Lynch, which lies less than 30 miles away. Mountaintop removal mining has destroyed hundreds of mountain peaks and at least 1,200 miles of streams in the Appalachians, and remains a hotly contested issue between environmentalists and coal companies.

 

A group of teenage boys jump for a basketball on April 16, playing on a small court in Lynch that is surrounded by mountains.

 

In the 1940s, this Kentucky town boasted a population of more than 10,000 people, but following the increased mechanization of the coal mining process, the town’s population has dwindled in recent years to less than 900 people.