In Illinois: The Ghost of John L. Lewis

Galatia (pop. 1,023) sits alongside the two-lane tarmac of Highway 34 in Southern Illinois like hips on a snake. Barely. There is a cluster of neat single-story frame houses, a couple of eating places, a bank, a gas station and small supermarket. A lone yellow blinker slows traffic a little. But few outsiders ever stop, and that is fine with Galatians, who have better things to do than chat. They raise corn, graze cattle and dig coal for a living. "Until lately," drawls one miner, "two dogs crossing the road at the same time...

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