3 failed. Roland Staten, a coal miner who had managed to jump off of his house as it was being carried away by the rushing waters, held on to his son as he jumped. We saw the water lift up our house, said Enda Baisden Short, recalling for. As I rode that house down the creek I could see that the bottom of it was above those telephone poles in the holler.. 1955(March) Pittston coal refuse dam broke at Lick Fork, Virginia. September 2, 1972West Virginia Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry into the BMCfilled the hole with more coal refuse. One resident at the scene, later quoted in in Kai T. Eriksons book. Buffalo Creek Mine Disaster: Feb. 26, 1972. Additionally, on one side of the valley below Dam #1, there was a huge smoldering coal refuse pile. At approximately 8 a.m. on Feb. 26, 1972, a man-made coal slurry impoundment dam, which was operated by the Pittston Coal Company, burst following a prolonged period of heavy rainfall. 1. the increased regulation cost might bankrupt it and became open to buyout. I love it, said Jacob Turkale, 25, who caught a rainbow trout Tuesday. Three coal waste dams in West Virginia failed, killing 125 people and injuring 1,100 more in communities downstream of the dams. The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster: Official Report from the Governors Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry, 1973 (PDF of actual report at Marshall University). A Buffalo Creek native, Victor M. Depta, gets at this idea of recurring tragedy in a 1973 poem, written not long after the flood. Comments to: jdoyle@pophistorydig.com. In addition to coal waste dams used in mining and coal washing operations, there are also more than 1,400 coal ash impoundments used mostly at or near coal-fired powerplants in the U.S. A wave from the waste dam flooded and destroyed the Buffalo Creek community [2]. Still other operations use injection techniques to pump various coal wastes underground. Three coal waste dams in West Virginia failed, killing 125 people and injuring 1,100 more in communities downstream of the dams. Its nine members, however, were either sympathetic to the coal industry, or government officials whose departments might have been complicit in the dams failures. In 2012, a section of embankment being worked on collapsed at a coal slurry pond in northern West Virginia. One of the photos used in Disaster on Buffalo Creek: A Citizens' Report on Criminal Negligence in a West Virginia Mining Community, 1972. The survivors of the Buffalo Creek disaster suffered both individual and collective trauma, the latter being reflected in their loss of communality. 1. Uploaded by api-369440949. Dam No. February 28Pittston employee distributes warning memorandum previously document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Children walk along the tracks in what remains of their community along Buffalo Creek on Feb. 27, 1972, The people are prisoners of the coal industry.. Destroyed homes and businesses are piled up against each other in the Dingess Hollow area of Lorado, W.Va., after the Buffalo Creek Dam broke on Feb. 26, 1972. The New York Times ran an Associated Press wire story on the front page of its Sunday, February 27th, 1972 edition, above the fold, bearing the headline, 37 Killed as Flood Sweeps A Valley in West Virginia. The opening sentence of that story read: A huge, coal-slag heap serving as a dam burst under the pressure of three days of torrential rains early this morning, sending a wall of water through a narrow valley dotted with small impoverished mining towns. The Times own reporter, George Vecsey, based in Kentucky, managed to reach Man, West Virginia on February 27th, filing his story (above) which appeared in the next days edition. Survivor Tim Hall, a Lundale native who now lives at Mud Fork near Logan, said the flood was worse than any other disaster because of the destruction it caused. Creek dams. One resident had even written to the governor a few years earlier saying if something wasnt done about the dams, were all going to be washed away.We saw the water lift up our house. Chronology of a Disaster, BuffaloCreek Flood.org. He relied on depositions and additional interviews he conducted to write Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood. HD Media news reporter Dylan Vidovich can be contacted via email at dvidovich@hdmediallc.com. 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. The state had initially sued for $100 million, half of which was slated to cover cleanup and restoration expenses. EPA has made hazard ratings for hundreds of coal combustion waste ponds and impoundments in the U.S., ranking them for the public safety dangers and environmental risks they would pose in the event of failure. 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. Buffalo Creek Flood, 1972, Online Exhibit /Special Collections, Marshall University, 2002. Jacob Turkale holds a rainbow trout he caught Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, along Buffalo Creek in his hometown of Man, W.Va. Fifty years ago in West Virginia, the collapse of an coal-waste impoundment unleashed a torrent of black water into a narrow valley. The state Legislature had sued Pittston for $100 million. Feb 28, 1972, The Logan Banner of Logan, WV reports on the search for victims, relief effort, and first-hand accounts. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; plaintiffs. By March 2, Republican Governor Arch Moore announced the formation of an Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry to investigate the flood. The Buffalo Creek Flood was a disaster that occurred in 1972 in West Virginia. In eastern Kentucky in 2000, the bottom of a coal impoundment ruptured into an abandoned underground mine, flooding two streams and poisoning a water supply. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. (2) Stern, G.M. February 25Because of heavy rains, dam #3 was rising 1-2 inches per hour. Is the unique Appalachian dialect the preserved language of Elizabethan England? Consumer Information Associated Press, Pittstons Federal Flood Suit Settled Out of Court, Bluefield Daily Telegraph (Bluefield, WV), July 6, 1974, p. 1. The sociologist Kai Erikson was brought in for the latter suit as an expert witness on behalf of the survivors. But the dam pools, and the dumping of the solid slag wastes on the dam structures, were both essentially cost-saving, cheapest-way-to-do-it coal industry practices. As the skies cleared on Sunday, February 27, West Virginias Governor, Arch Moore toured the area by helicopter, describing the awesome destruction he viewed from above. February 26, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most devastating mine disasters in U.S. history. Pittston had made only one payment for $4,000. motions due. Click for copy. Kai T. Erikson, Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976. Survivor Fred Pierson, who lived at Saunders, never shared his story beyond his close family members or attended a memorial service until last year on the 50th anniversary. In fact, the company was cited for over 5,000 safety violations at its mines nationally in 1971. 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 Buffalo Creek flood was a disaster that occurred in Logan County, West Virginia on February 26, 1972 when a coal slurry impoundment dam burst, causing significant loss of life and property damage. It wasnt if Buffalo Creek would ever happen again, but when. Youve still got but it was gone, just like being somewhere and a volcano went off and wiped out your entire village, and even after it was all over with, they went through there and tore out our little road and destroyed all of our little communities, and the people that wanted to couldnt even move back to where they used to live at., It hurts, Hall said. The Subsequent According to one assessment at the time: These impromptu structures were hardly dams in any technical sense They were simply piles of coal waste, clay, shale, red dog, and other by-products of the coal preparation process, dumped off the back of trucks and bulldozed to an even height. Judge Christie, the federal district judge originally assigned to the case, removes As a way to remember and memorialize the devastating flood, a small gathering of survivors congregated at the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library at South Man Friday afternoon. .In 1971, Pittston was cited for over 5,000 safety violations at its mines nationally. Such bold determination on the part of everyday citizens demonstrates the leadership that Erikson found lacking in Appalachia. 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. 2023 West Virginia University. Published: Feb. 27, 2022 at 12:17 PM PST. there wasnt any flood. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. Note mud lines on the building at left, marking flood level. Mary Walton, State Warned in 1967 of Larado Dam Danger, Charleston Gazette, March 1, 1972. The community continues to honor and remember those lost during the Buffalo Creek mining disaster. Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. Richard Carelli, Mining Official Blames Explosions on Flood Water Hitting Hot Slag Pile, Charleston Gazette, March 9, 1972. November 20, 1968: Farmington coal mine disaster Public Service Commission and Water Me driving a bus, I knew about 80% of these people, and every name that went by, I can visualize them at that time, Moore said. Kanawha County Bar Association voted to investigate Arnold & Porters alleged Volunteers picked up trash around the creek. In 1973, the West Virginia Legislature passed the Dam Control Act, regulating all dams in the state. Survivors of 1972 Dam Disaster Accept $13.5-Million Settlement, New York Times, July 6, 1974. Julie Robinson, Buffalo Creek Miracle Baby Tells Story to Readers Digest, Charleston Gazette, January 26, 2013. MSHA recognizes those who were impacted in the 1972 flood that killed 125 and injured over 1100 people. 1 & 2. Congressman Ken Hechler (D-WV)), who also came to the area on Sunday, February 27th, told reporters that the U.S. Bureau of Mines and state agencies had failed to demonstrate sufficient concern for the protection of the safety of the people who work in the mines and live in the mining communities. Hechler also pointed to what he believed was a contributing cause of the flooding: As I looked through Buffalo Creek valley yesterday, it struck me again that the entire valley is honeycombed with strip mines and the waste from deep mines so that the soil can no longer hold the [rain] water. Hechler also slammed the coal industrys power in the area, saying, the people are prisoners of the coal industry And with some irony, he added, the only building left intact in one Buffalo community was the company store., On Monday, February 28th, U.S. Mimi Pickering, my wife, made two documentary films about the disaster. I dont know where. Pierson said the flood had a rather unique impact on him it caused him to conquer his fear of water. No silver spoon, no silver cup., While visiting Buffalo Creek, Breiding stood at the very spot where the dams had once been. Gertie Moore was a bus driver when the flood happened and over a half-century later, she still grows emotional when hearing the names of the deceased and recalling the events of that fateful day. Thanks for visiting and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research and writing at this website. We do not see this as a disaster in a vacuum, he said, but a series of events of coal dominating the lives of West Virginians.. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. That summer, Brunty cried in fear with every storm and strong wind gust that shook her temporary trailer. Film Clip, The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act Of Man, YouTube.com (8:22), February 20, 2012. And for the survivors of the Buffalo Creek Disaster, there was little real recovery. #3 in his inspection report. A separate settlement for survivors amounted to about $13,000 per plaintiff. At 8 a.m. on Feb. 26, 1972, 130 million gallons of water and coal sludge burst through a dam, poured into Buffalo Creek, and violently surged through 16 . amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; The Buffalo Creek Disaster of 1972. But following a bitter labor strike in 1989, and the declining profitability of its minerals division throughout the 1990s, Pittston began to wind down its coal operations. water. The first is Buffalo Creek Flood: Act of Man. Jack Doyle, Buffalo Creek Disaster: 1972, Ben A. Franklin, Coal Dam Curbs Urged by Nader, New York Times, March 5, 1972. 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). U.S. University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Appalachian Studies Association, Inc. Journal of American Studies, Vol. The Buffalo Creek (W.Va.) flood is one of the most extensively examined and longest followed disasters in the psychiatric study of trauma. A coal mine explodes - and a dam fails. MayA group of Buffalo Creek disaster survivors traveled to Pittstons Middle Fork Buffalo Creek, Saunders, West Virginia, Volume 1, February 1973. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Then in December 2008 a second major impoundment breach occurred this time, a failure of a giant 84-acre coal ash impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authoritys (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant in eastern Tennessee (photo above). Coal Co. v. De Wese, 30 344.754 S839. Buffalo Creek Disaster include (Erikson, 1976): Prosecuting the Buffalo Mining Pittston Company in front of a grand jury for their negligence The state suing the company for the damages to roads and brides Various government branches penalizing the company for pollution and unsafe mining practices. They pointed to a 1966 U.S. Geological Survey report of 1966 that had found 60 such coal mine waste piles in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, and that little had been done to correct or eliminate those hazards and additional ones since that report was made. Pittston settled all property damage claims. The Citizens Commission found Pittston Coal reckless and negligent and the state negligent in ensuring safety compliance. But those improved practices didnt last. 1942Buchanan County coal refuse pile explosion covered the railroad tracks 1:30 a.m., dam #3s water was only one foot below the dams crest. The physical conditions leading to the failure of the dam are complex and involve a weak foundation and saturated embankment giving rise to failure of the downstream portion of the dam and a sudden total collapse of the remainder of the dam due to liquefaction. On Saturday, the community showed they are still standing with a room full of survivors coming . The state of West Virginia also sued Pittston for $100 million for disaster and relief damages, but Governor Arch A. Moore settled that case for just $1 million three days before leaving office in 1977. The tragedy being spoken of is the Buffalo . March 5, 1972. "A Town Stood Here," Life Magazine, 10-10-1972. The failure of a giant 84-acre coal ash impoundment (upper right) at TVAs Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee, released 5.4 million cubic yards of ash slurry into the Emory & Clinch rivers and the downstream community of Harriman, TN. Gertie Moore recalls a personal story about the Buffalo Creekduring a memorial service at the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library on Friday, Feb. 24. Sources: The Herald Dispatch, newspaper of Huntington, WV, Thomas Marsh, and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. examining the plaintiffs. December 1970Pittston employee drafts memorandum warning that federal Kentucky has 102. Governor Moore, however, acting to protect the Pittston Coal Company, tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress his own commissions report. Army personnel, the Red Cross, state and county officials were all on the scene by then as well, trying to feed, clothe and comfort survivors. In the U.S. Congress at the time, federal legislation was being considered to regulate strip mining, and the Buffalo Creek disaster figured into the debate. February 1972. The Buffalo Creek disaster, however, did galvanize concern about strip mining and coal safety in Congress, and helped to spur passage of regulatory bills on the House side during Congressional debate in the early 1970s. Logan Flood Toll 66; 400 Missing, Hundreds Search Disaster Area; Cause of Break Gets Attention, Charleston Daily Mail, February 28, 1972. October 6, 1982: Buffalo Creek flood settlement. Somewhere down in this valley I was born, Breiding sings on the album, adopting the persona of a fourth-generation coal miner who never left home. U.S. General Accounting Office, Delayed Redevelopment was Reasonable after Flood Disaster in West Virginia, Report of the Comptroller of the United States, Washington, DC: 1976. Click for copy. By 1972, the third dam ranged from 45-to-60 feet in height, and the Middle Fork had become a series of black pools. 3 failed at 8 a.m., releasing millions of gallons of water into Dam No. 51 years later, memories still haunt survivors of Buffalo Creek flood. If your house burned down, youve still got your neighbors. The three dams also served as something of a crude pollution-prevention system: filtering, settling out, and retaining the dirty prep plant particles and toxins found in the coal wastewater, also enabling some reuse of the water in processing. Each failure added millions of gallons to the monstrous wave of water bearing down on the residents of the countryside and towns below. He said he feels his experience with the flood is what led him to lead that lifestyle. injury claims of 33 plaintiffs, published 63 F.R.D. And then you could hear the roar of it and you could see it. Total property damage was estimated at $50 million (about $340 million in 2022 dollars). Click for copy. One resident had even written to the governor a few years earlier saying if something wasnt done about the dams, were all going to be washed away., We saw the water lift up our house. 2 was built on top of that waste. By 2003, Pittston had moved into one of its more profitable businesses, private security, then adopting its Brinks Company subsidiary as its new corporate name. For decades after that, fishing of any kind was no longer an option on the southern West Virginia waterway. 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. Hope Wanes for 94 Listed Missing in Logan; Known Flood Dead is 88, Charleston Gazette, March 4, 1972. Stern has a moment where he wishes the case could go to trial. Some residents in the area, especially those who lived in the town of Saunders, located in the valley directly below the dams, had worried for years about the dams strength. Or something else altogether? Then I fell off in the water. George Vecsey, Memories of a Disaster, GeorgeVecsey.com, February 22, 2012. October 8, 1971Pittston promisedWVDNRto install an emergency At approximately 8 a.m., a coal waste dam collapsed on the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek, releasing 132 million gallons of water, coal refuse, and silt into the narrow mountain valley. In a court statement later, Mr. Staten recounted his travail and losing his wife: When I looked back and saw her she said, Take care of my baby.Thats the last time I saw her., Mr. Staten and his son, meanwhile, swept along in the water, were struggling to save themselves. Penny Loeb's 2007 book, "Moving Mountains". recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report. Still, the reported number of dead and missing varied with each days news reports, a reflection of the difficulty in finding and identifying bodies in the aftermath. ", Dealing with Disasters: Some Thoughts on the Adequacy of the Legal System, Coming from West Virginia: An Interview with Songwriter Tom Breiding, The Legendary Language of the Appalachian Holler, Prisoners Like Us: German POW and Black American Solidarity, Hysteria, Indigenous Identities, and Cocaine Bear, Fast and Pluribus: Impacts of a Globalizing McDonalds, How Rap Taught (Some of) the Hip Hop Generation Black History, About the American Prison Newspapers Collection, Submissions: American Prison Newspapers Collection. 141-144, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Association for American Studies, Asian Journal of Social Science, Vol. Pierson said he was flown out by helicopter. by refuse-pile dams. He is forbidden from distributing the memorandum. of Inquiry into the Buffalo Creek Floods documents. Stern and Staker begin discussing settlement. (plus appendices, vol. MAN - Monday marked the 46th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek Flood. Pittston announced in 1999 that it was leaving the coal business. Instead, the builders end-dumped and shoved loosely compacted layers of coarse refuse across the valley. Ive been fishing here for almost 17 years. Human relationships in this community had been derived from traditional bonds of kinship and neighborliness. "$1, 000, 001 Settlement in Flood Suit," Charleston Gazette, 11-15-1977. And people die. about her fears that the dam would collapse. A few helicopters were used initially until local miners and others, and the National Guard, began clearing debris and building makeshift roads and bridges. Hundreds of families lost everything their homes, their belongings, their memorabilia. 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). Nader commented, shortly after the flood, that the Buffalo Creek massacre is only one more in the long series of tragedies which coal corporations have perpetrated upon the people of Appalachia, especially of West Virginia. Note that Nader did not mince words, labelling the event a massacre.. 1972About 5,000 people lived in the Buffalo Creek holler including 1,000 Robert C. Withers, The Disaster of Buffalo Creek, Report of the West Virginia Adjutant General, Charleston, WV, 1972. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; The Concept 2 . Support JSTOR Daily! The toxic coal slurry poured into Kentuckys Coldwater and Wolf creeks, then to the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, traveling more than 70 miles downstream, and eventually reaching the Ohio River, with blackwater visible at Cincinnati. On Saturday, victims were being remembered at the same high school that served as a temporary morgue 50 years ago. Pittston, meanwhile, would inform its investors that the 1974 settlement that had come with one of the survivors lawsuits did not impact the companys profit margin. The following morning, his wifes birthday, Harvey was on his way to pick up a cake, but police had the road blocked off. February 26, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most devastating mine disasters in U.S. history. 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. And this was just another little installment in the progression of a hard life, I guess., Congressman Ken Hechler put it a little more bluntly. 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