JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

This fine image comes from a small and scarce publication called The Kentucky Mountain Echo, a True Story of the Mountains, by Floyd D. Baker of Hazard, Kentucky, and printed in 1929.  Hazard–a town of about 5,000 in Appalachians in the far eastern part of the state–was evidently fairly secluded given its position in the hills and relative inaccessibility. That changed when the railroad was introduced in 1912 and which introduced the town to the rest of the region, establishing a short-lived “boom” period which soon went ‘bust” in the Depression.  

This fine picture of Americana comes from the neighboring Perry county (“Hazard” and “Perry” both being named so for Commodore Matthew Hazard Perry) and shows a victory of the local constabulary over a pair of Moonshiners–two Mountain Men trying to make ends meet, no doubt. It seems as though the area has some history in this department, a piece of it surfacing in very popular culture in a television show called The Dukes of Hazzard, supposedly loosely based on this area (though the producers added an extra “z” and placing it in Georgia to avoid any legal issues with the town).  

Another interesting story from this publication appears here in this blog, from the Alpha and Omega Department.