VanCleve, 21, of Madisonville, Ky., is a coal miner by trade and tradition. "Just about every man in my family has worked in the mines," he said. He is a fifth-generation coal miner, including his grandfathers, Thomas VanCleve and Durwood Proffitt.
"Almost everything has to do with that black rock," Jarrett said. People in Hopkins County care about coal, "that black rock," which supplies jobs to about 2,250 people in Western Kentucky and supplies America with more than half of its energy.
He is headed to Elk Creek Mine, owned by Hopkins County Coal, to spend
the next nine hours underground.
Jarrett is one of the youngest miners at Elk Creek.