Can you help me identify any aspect of these photos?
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I believe that these four photos are a series, which were among the photos in my great uncle George Lineberry‘s photo album. Unfortunately, they have no information on them to help identify the who, where or what. However, here are a few facts & items that I have that may help solve this mystery.
According to my Grandmother Virginia by November 1929 her brothers George and Joe worked for their brother-in-law, Edson Curtess, on a casing crew in Oklahoma City. I have a few family photos showing a Jennings Casing Crew sign.
In November (1929) we moved to the City. Edson bought a big house (it had 9 rooms, 5 bedrooms). It was at 202 SE 23 Oklahoma City. Edson had casing crews, so Joe and George worked with him. (The men 4 to 5 roomed with us.) Bernita and I did the washing and house cleaning. The men ate out always.
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Items dated October 1936 show that George worked for Carter Coal Company in Caretta, West Virginia and that he went to a doctor and used the bath house, which were deducted from his earnings. By January 1937 he paid $2.00 for the State Road Tax in Caretta, West Virginia.
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Also among George’s things is an “Attendance Card U.M.W. of A. Local Union No. 5996 Amonate, Va”. He was a member of the United Mine Workers and the card has two punches denoting that he paid his dues during the month of July, no year is noted. Amonate is not very far from Caretta, WV so I imagine he was a member of this union before or after his employment at Carter Coal Company.
Then several months during 1940 George was unemployed based on George’s identification card from the Oklahoma State Employment Service. At that time he was living in Oklahoma City and listed his occupation as puller casing. Perhaps he had again been working for his brother -in-law. A casing puller controls power hoisting equipment to pull casing, tubing, and pumping rods from oil and gas wells for repair and to lower repaired equipment, testing devices, and servicing tools into well: Attaches cable clamp to top of pump rod or casing and starts winch or hydraulic jack that raises rod or casing. (Webster’s Online Dictionary).
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It is plausible that the four unknown photos are from a place where George worked. The photos are clearly in an area with mountains and trees and while Oklahoma is known for its flat lands it does have some mountains and trees in the eastern portion of the state. My first inclination, however, is to think that the photos are from about 1937 when George was in Virginia, which has lots of mountains and trees. I’m interested in hearing from others who can provide information to help determine what type of operation is depicted in the photos.
Further readings:
Appalachian History discusses metal scrips
Coalwood, where Carter Coal Company was located
Relative Storyboards 
Excellent work again. I would suspect those are photos from a West Virginia mine rather than one of Edson’s crews; however, it’s certainly not an area of knowledge for me.
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I’m currently working on writing about my visit to Eckley Miner’s Village over the summer and I’ve been looking at lots of pictures on coal mining at the Library of Congress digital images. I’m stumped as to what the large structure is. It does not look like an oil derrick because it doesn’t get narrower at the top but I suppose there could be different types. In the 1st picture I’d swear the workers are covered with oil. A search at LOC for Casing puller only brought up 2 choices. The bars shown in the first one look like the bars the men are holding in your 1st pic. If you search for Seminole oil field you see lots of flat land. There is oil in West Virginia, perhaps he first learned the trade there?
I think the 3rd picture offers the best clues. If you blow it up and follow the tracks over to the side of the hill it looks like a mine entrance. The cart on the tracks looks similar but not exactly like some pictures of coal mine carts. At right-center may be a slag pile. Your picture #4 also makes me think strongly coal mining. I’d be more confident if there was a coal tipple in one of the pictures!
I did not get many hits for Carter Coal Company but there are lots of images of coal mining in general. I would also look closely at the Seminole oil field pics. Be sure to click on “Display images with neighboring call numbers” Many of the pics at the LOC are not indexed and therefore do not come up in a search. A shame because there are so many wonderful images of people and places with little clue as to where or who they are!
I hope my thoughts help rather than just sending you on a wild goose chase.
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Wow! Thank you for the insight. I agree that the workers look wet or shiny like you’d expect from oil. I just don’t know anything about the different processes and work to make an educated guess. I’ll be sure to look around the LOC images. Thank you very much for your help.
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You must have a treasure trove of documents. I agree with Donna . Looks like coal mining stuff.
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I do have some interesting documents when you start really looking into them. At first glance some things don’t seem like much.
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Hello, I am Shirley Jean Curtess, my grandfather was Ross Lee Curtess and he was Edson Curtess brother. I have a lot of info on that side.
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Hello Shirley. While I am not researching the Curtess line, I am contacted occasionally by those who are and I will retain your information for referrals.
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