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THE SMALL TOWN OF Madison, West Virginia, used to be a tale of the coal miner's dream. High schoolers could collect their diplomas and head straight to the mines to make $70,000 a year with no higher education, as their parents and grandparents had done for years.

Now, with many mines shut down, the town's main street is lined with shuttered shops, their insides falling apart with nothing to replace them. The county pool, which used to be spilling over with kids and teenagers, and a hot-spot for live bands on hot summer days, sits drained and forgotten all year long.