Fies is an unincorporated community located in Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States. The town of Fies took its name from the mine founded there in 1950, where most residents worked.[2]

Fies, Kentucky
Unincorporated community
Fies Show map of Kentucky Fies Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 37°19′20″N 87°22′26″W
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
County	Hopkins
Elevation	459 ft (140 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CST)
GNIS feature ID	492068[1]

Fies Mine

Fies was home to a coal mine operated by the Miners Coal Company, mining coal from the extension of the Illinois coal basin into Kentucky.[3] Work on opening the mine had already begun in 1949, with the mine scheduled to be served by the Illinois Central, and Louisville and Nashville railroads.[4] The mine was opened in a ceremony in 1950, and named after Milton Fies, a noted engineer and chemist, initially to mine coal from the Kentucky no. 11 coal seam.[5] In 1952 personnel from the mine won the Western Kentucky Mining Institute prize for mine rescue.[6]

The Fies Mine was started as a non-union mine, though the United Mine Workers union attempted to organise there. In 1950 a watchman was killed at the mine in a drive-by shooting during attempts by the UMW to organise at the mine.[7]

By 1972 coal from both the Kentucky no. 9 and Kentucky no. 11 seams were being mined at Fies. By the early 1980s one of the two mines at Fies was scheduled to close.[8] The Fies Mine was abandoned in November 1980.[9]

References

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