For additional stories at this website on the history of coal and coal mining, see for example, the following: Paradise: 1971 (about a John Prine song, strip mining in Muhlenberg County, KY, and the demise of a small town); Mountain Warrior (profile of Kentucky author and coal-field activist, Harry Caudill, noted for his famous book, Night Comes to The Cumberlands and his life-long critique of Appalachian strip mining); Giant Shovel on I-70 (about strip mining in southeastern Ohio during the 1960s and `70s and the use of giant strip-mining shovels there); Coal & The Kennedys, (featuring Kennedy family involvement with Appalachian coal communities, deep mine safety, environmental protection, and related political issues, 1960s-2010s); Sixteen Tons, 1950s (the famous Tennessee Ernie Ford song and some coal mining history, 1940s-1960s); and, G.E.s Hot Coal Ad, 2005 (a General Electric TV ad that features a new breed of coal miner). After then-president of the United Mine Workers Union, Arnold Miller and others were rebuffed by Gov. WVPB News. [I]n true Appalachian fashion, few people are ready to accept the responsibility of leadership is another. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; In 1977, Governor Moore, with three days left in office, accepted a settlement offer of $1 million for a suit in which the state sought $100 million from the coal company. The result of the dam bursting was 132 million gallons of black wastewater being unleashed onto the 16 communities that encompass Buffalo Creek. We won't share it with anyone else. West Virginia has the most with 108. Davitt McAteer's book on the 1907 Monongah mine disaster. Scholarship on the disaster also helps us get to know the peoplethe victims, the survivorsinvolved. UPI, Buffalo Creek Flood Inquiry [i.e., special grand jury] Is Off Until After Election, New York Times, September 13, 1972. And for the survivors of the Buffalo Creek Disaster, there was little real recovery. For the individuals being stereotyped, it can lead to internalization. A motion to make the resolution binding on Pittston management was defeated by Brittany Patterson, The Cautionary Tale of the Largest Coal Ash Waste Site in the U.S., AlleghenyFront.org, June 22, 2018. 141-144, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Association for American Studies, Asian Journal of Social Science, Vol. I wouldve took a gunshot or anything. Although the Governors Commission had referred the case to the Logan County, West Virginia prosecutor for possible legal action against Pittston Coal Company and its subsidiary, nothing came of it. A German immigrant from Munich, John Popp (1832-1922) arrived in the U.S. in 1851 and settled in Wheeling. Its not even past.. A close look at Buffalo Creek illuminates the regions ties to coal. to a federal court which would require the court to allow a piercing of the Buffalo Mining Company's corporate vail Needed a way to circumvent the $110,000 max wrongful death settlement in West Virginia -$110,000 is the cap for compensatory damages -if it could be proven that Pittston's conduct was "willful, or reckless or wanton then the Coal waste dumping had gone on there for decades, up in the hills, at the headwaters of the Buffalo Creek. with little windows and doors and a small latch on With little warning to residents, more than 130 million gallons of dark floodwaters tore through more than a dozen communities in the hollow. . A few weeks later, on February 22nd, a federal mine inspector and the company safety engineer observed the dams and found conditions satisfactory. [W]e decided we would band together and hope it would relieve our tensions and fears, stated one member of the group. injury claims of 33 plaintiffs, published 63 F.R.D. Vicki Smith, Feds OK Coal Slurry Dam Expansion, GazetteMail.com, March 25, 2013. July 3, 1974Plaintiffs/Pittston $13.5 million settlement agreement filed with Gertie Moore, a former Logan County Schools bus driver, tearfully recalls two children who perished in the Buffalo Creek Flood during a memorial service at the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library on Friday, Feb. 24. Craig Ammerman, Eight More Bodies Found; Logan Flood Toll Climbs to 84, Charleston Gazette, March 3, 1972. As I rode that house down the creek I could see that the bottom of it was above those telephone poles in the holler.. recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report. (ABA Required Disclosures). Hall. Subsequent Among officials and Senators shown are, from left: Dennis Gibson, Buffalo Mining Co.(22) Garth Fuguay (21, with pointer), Army Corps of Engineers; Sen. Harold Hughes (18); Sen. Jennings Randolph (17); Sen. Jacob Javits (16); Sen. Harrison Williams (15); Sen. Richard Scheiker (19), and Sen. Robert Stafford (20). Teaching with Reveal Digitals American Prison Newspapers Collection, a finalist for the National Book Award the year of its release, Buffalo Creek Revisited: Deconstructing Kai Eriksons Stereotypes,, The Rumble and the Dark: Regional Newspaper Framing of the Buffalo Creek Mine Disaster of 1972, Resilience in Post Disaster Societies: From Crisis to Development, Buffalo Creek Revisited: Deconstructing Kai Erikson's Stereotypes, "Do We Really Want to Go Down That Path? According to the U.S. EPA, there are over 1,000 operating coal ash waste ponds and landfills, plus many hundreds of retired coal ash disposal sites. The huge wall of coal wastewater was 30 feet high and 550 feet wide as it gouged its way down the hollow, first smashing through Saunders and then, successively through Pardee, Lorado, Londale, and a dozen other small villages in the narrow creek valley. In March 1967, a partial collapse at one of the dams caused some flooding in the hollow, alarming residents already concerned about the structures. December 2008. After the Dam Broke, Cries for Control, Business Week, March 11, 1972. We publish articles grounded in peer-reviewed research and provide free access to that research for all of our readers. I was so scared. 28 (S.D. Buffalo Creek Disaster; however, I have concentrated on the parts of the book that offered me the most insight in terms of procedural strategy. Last Update:31 January2019 Erikson, a Yale professor when he arrived in Buffalo Creek, is one such outsider, having no connection to the region until he was brought in as an expert witness. Vintage. "one acre of area covered by water to a depth of 300 feet", OR spillway on Dam #3. BMCfilled the hole with more coal refuse. regulations forbid the closing off of any stream or the impoundment of water The Buffalo Creek disaster : how the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal company -- and won. Some residents in higher hilltop homes overlooking Buffalo Creek, watched as entire houses floated down the hollow, some later crashing into a small bridge downstream. Arch Moore accepted a settlement offer of $1 million from the Pittston Coal Company. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor had already begun an investigation, and by late May 1972 also began a series of public hearings on the Buffalo Creek disaster. list is late. By March 2, Republican Governor Arch Moore announced the formation of an Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry to investigate the flood. The historic Buffalo Creek flood tore through a region often exploited by industryand stereotyped by outsiders. M. S. TERN, T . He was heavily involved in writing federal regulations and beefed-up criteria for the construction of coal waste dams and their maintenance. Davis managed to rescue two of his sons, and his neighbors helped pull his 17-year-old daughter from the waters two miles down the hollow. The water was there, and then it was gone Edna Baisden And on the morning of February 26, 1972, just after 8:00 am, that worst fear was realized. Feb 28, 1972, The Logan Banner of Logan, WV reports on the search for victims, relief effort, and first-hand accounts. And I aint never seen God up there driving no bulldozer dumping slate on that dam. Her remarks won applause from most everyone in the room. March 2, 1973Judge Hall holds hearing on Pittstons motion to dismiss Homes were left in splinters Railroad tracks yanked up and twisted. .In 1971, Pittston was cited for over 5,000 safety violations at its mines nationally. Mine Safety and Health Administration One retired coal miner who survived the flood, but who lost his wife, daughter and granddaughter in the disaster, explained what he experienced in one Charleston Gazette account: How I got out of that water, I dont know I rode the house a long ways. West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. 344.754 S839. 0 ratings 0% found this document useful (0 votes) A Pittston Coal Group decal sticker listing some of the company's mining locations in the VA-WV area. Jack Doyle, Buffalo Creek Disaster: 1972, 2 was built on top of that waste. During the meeting, the When the water set it down again, it just flattened out on the ground. In the wake of this disaster, Congress asked the National Research Council to examine ways to reduce the potential for similar accidents in the future, and their report appeared in October 2001, recommending the federal government establish clear authority to review the stability of such impoundments, improve regulation, establish minimum distance rules, and undertake more complete mapping of existing and abandoned underground mines. Refuse Dumps at Coal Mines, discouraging the use of coal refuse dumps as dams. Pittston objected to Arnold & Porters more definite statement, asking the C.J. Robert Shy, among those in the West Virginia Army National Guard who helped during the crisis, flew helicopters up and down the valley delivering water and milk and picking up dazed and injured survivors. Hufford, M. (1997) The memorial marker at the mouth of Buffalo Creek naming those who died in the Buffalo Creek flood. MAN, W.Va. (AP) The day before the disaster hit, Perry Harvey went fishing on Buffalo Creek for one reason. And people died instantly when that tidal wave came through the valley.. Arnold & Porter amended their complaint to add almost 200 more plaintiffs, 2 gave way, quickly followed by Dam No. and submitted other discovery requests to Pittston. MSHA said 49 impoundments pose a significant hazard because of the potential damage from a failure. The United States declined to sue Pittston for cleanup costs. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines (W. A. Wahler & Associates), Analysis of Coal Refuse Dam Failure. A Buffalo Creek native, Victor M. Depta, gets at this idea of recurring tragedy in a 1973 poem, written not long after the flood. In fact, there is a very sizeable coal waste legacy that will continue to pose dangers for many rural American communities and the nations rivers and streams for decades to come, even as the coal industry as a whole winds down its role in the U.S. and global economies. In February 1968, Saunders resident Mrs. Pearl Woodrum wrote a letter of complaint to then Governor Hulett Smith saying in effect, the dams were unsafe. It wasnt long after the flood that lawsuits were brought against Pittston Coal, the company responsible for the slurry dams. The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster: Official Report From the Governors Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry, 1973 (as posted at: wvculture.org). Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. If you think you have been blocked in error, contact the owner of this site for assistance. Sources: The Herald Dispatch, newspaper of Huntington, WV, Thomas Marsh, and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. 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