I have not progressed any further in finding the song, except to learn that the melody has been used in a classical suite.

However, I have found Mingo Mountain, Kentucky. (I knew it was there somewhere.) If I read the topo map correctly --

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=36.588&lon=-83.7958&size=l&symshow=n&datum=nad83

-- it is a steep face rising at the back of Mingo Hollow, a long valley running west-southwest out of Middlesboro, Kentucky -- the extreme southeastern nub of the state near Cumberland Gap. The hollow begins near the western boundary of the city, starting in Bell County and ending in Claiborne County.

It is indeed the victim of coal mining. This remote site is above the community of Mauring. A Charleston WV Gazette headline in 1998 read "Clear Landings Mean Mingo Mountain Goes." I take it that implies strip mining, though I haven't been able to find the article yet.

I am still working my way through a fascinating site that gives some local history: "Three Tragic Events in Mingo Hollow" --

http://smithdray.angeltowns.net/h/mh.htm

It tells of the Hollow's involvement in:
1. The Cherokee Wars around 1700.
2. The Quarterhouse Battle (1902) during which at least 7 people lost their lives in a gun battle between the staff of the Quarterhouse ("a one-stop den of iniquity to entice the coal miners" with gambling, meals, homebrew and prostitution as well as staged animal fights) and a posse of over 50 men under Bell County Dep. Sheriffs Thompson and Ball.
3. The Fork Ridge Coal Minte War, 1941.

Piquant detail: the state line sign in the neighborhood is riddled with bullet holes. But the hollow is said to be quiet and largely inactive today.

Fascinating bit of Kentucky history! All this by way of trying to find more verses to the song. On that, no luck yet.

Can anyone recall or point the way to more of the song????

Bob