page_title: Before the Mountain Was Moved
section_title: Part I
hierarchical_section_title: Before the Mountain Was Moved / Synopsis / Part I
caption_attribution_description: English: Ellis Bailey of Raleigh County, West Virginia speaks in the 1970 documentary film "Before the Mountain Was Moved".
context_page_description: Before the Mountain Was Moved is a 1970 American documentary film produced by Robert K. Sharpe. The film portrays the struggle by the inhabitants of Raleigh County, West Virginia, to preserve their land from the ravages of strip-mining, and their efforts to pass state legislation to this end. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
context_section_description: The film depicts mountaineers Ellis Bailey and Ellen Bailey of Clear Fork, West Virginia shoveling landslide debris off of their porch and car. Their house appears to have been covered in mud after rain, allegedly provoked by under-regulated mountaintop removal mining and deforestation. A member of the Raleigh County Community Action Association arrives at the Bailey's house to invite them to a community meeting about the strip-miners, or "strippers". Both of the Baileys express doubt that anything can be done for them. Ellen Bailey tells the associate that "most of the working men are working at the mines... they're afraid to do something that will interfere with their jobs." Ellis Bailey expresses that "I can't fight a big coal company, he's got too much money." However, they decide to attend the meeting. Resident Byrd Hendrix overlooks a stream and describes the collapse of minnow and Crayfish populations. Community members are upset when one "stripper" claims that the landslides were an Act of God. At the Clear Fork Community Action Center, West Virginian State Senator and former strip-miner Tracy Hilton (credited as Tracy Hylton) speaks about strip-miners. He claims that the current requirement for obtaining strip-mining license is a $10 fee, and includes little to no regulation. Some residents express their discontent at the current laws, and at Hilton's lack of guidance. A group of residents travels to Charleston, West Virginia to speak to state senators at the West Virginia State Capitol.
caption: Ellis Bailey of Raleigh County, West Virginia speaks in the 1970 documentary film "Before the Mountain Was Moved".
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