.. 1. October 6, 1982: Buffalo Creek flood settlement. Rebecca Bailey's 2008 book, "Matewan: Before The Massacre". The citizens commission report, formally titled. In 2012, a section of embankment being worked on collapsed at a coal slurry pond in northern West Virginia. Senators and experts gather around scale model of Buffalo Creek area in Senate hearing room showing valley below and three coal waste impoundments (#s 8, 5, & 4) that burst causing catastrophic flood on February 26, 1972. amzn_assoc_title = "Additional Reading"; They flew me out and we landed right here on this road. NovemberSpecial grand jury led by two special prosecuting attorneys (includingWVUCollege 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. Feb 27, 1972. December 2008. February 1972. Family and Character Change at Buffalo Creek, American Journal of Psychiatry, March 1976, pp 295-299. I just got done buying a Geiger counter and rebuilding it for someone because everybodys getting afraid of Russia right now.. 2's slurry pool. Beyond coal, and headquartered in New York City, Pittston had other diverse holdings an oil company, a large trucking firm, the Brinks armored car company, and forty percent of the warehouses in New York City. By DYLAN VIDOVICH found that the victims didn't experience the enthusiastic feelings because the disaster was so much greater, and . Bridges were smashed to bits. Judge Christie, the federal district judge originally assigned to the case, removes Creek dams. [W]e decided we would band together and hope it would relieve our tensions and fears, stated one member of the group. Immediately following the failure at Buffalo Creek, representatives from the Bureau of Mines and the U.S. Geological Survey formed a task force to study coal waste hazards. Homes were left in splinters Railroad tracks yanked up and twisted. July 3, 1974Plaintiffs/Pittston $13.5 million settlement agreement filed with million deductible in response to the Dola, W. Va., dam failure. State officials requested a few minor alterations to the impoundment. A Buffalo Creek native, Victor M. Depta, gets at this idea of recurring tragedy in a 1973 poem, written not long after the flood. BMCs vice Buffalo Creek, whose habitat was destroyed along a 17-mile (27-kilometer) stretch, is teeming with trout again, after a steady, coordinated effort by Harvey and others to get back what they once had and share it with future generations. Total property damage was estimated at $50 million (about $340 million in 2022 dollars). Buffalo Creek Coal Mine, Logan County, WV Written at SFSU in 2017 About 45 years ago, at the U.S.' coal mining peak, the country had one of its worst mining-related disasters at Buffalo Creek, Logan County, West Virginia [1]. 344.754 S839. One resident at the scene, later quoted in in Kai T. Eriksons book, Everything in Its Path, noted of the onrushing tide: This water, when it came down through here, it acted real funny. The socio-psychology of all this was probed and covered in an award-winning 1976 book by Kai T. Erikson. An official website of the United States government. That film was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2005. I remember that just like it was yesterday., Today's breaking news and more in your inbox, Copyright The Intelligencer | https://www.theintelligencer.net | 1500 Main Street, Wheeling, WV 26003 | 304-233-0100. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; Residents were just awakening that Saturday morning; some entire families were still in bed. April 16, 1971WVDNR Inspector recommended an emergency spillway on Dam During World War II, almost a half million POWs were interned in the United States, where they forged sympathetic relationships with Black American soldiers. The number stern settled on was 32.5 million dollars. hearings, 91 witnesses, and 2,000 pages of transcript that Pittston has shown dam will hold. Pierson recalled having to walk to Lorado and his father forcing his way into a company store in order to obtain formula for his infant sister, who was born Jan. 6 of that year. AprilOver 1,000 residents registered claims with Pittston. My daughter said she had heard my wife praying when the waters hit the house, said Davis, later recounting his travail. Not long thereafter, the dam gave way, creating the horror that unfolded for the Buffalo Creek communities downstream. In 1977, Gov. Journal of Appalachian Studies, Vol. As if some foreign enemy had flown in and nuked the place. Nader had sent one of his investigators, a young West Virginia lawyer named Davitt McAteer (who years later would head up the U.S. To address this problem, two of the main actions taken by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (the federal mine safety agency at that time, now MSHA) were to strengthen the regulations governing the construction of dams by coal mining companies, and to develop in-house technical expertise on impoundment safety. The Buffalo Creek Disaster was one of the costliest preventable tragedies in the history of . Having faced several corruption allegations when serving as governor, Moore left office with this additional blemish on his record. a federal safety standard prohibiting refuse piles from impeding drainage or impounding 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. One lawsuit was filed by the state of West Virginia, while another class action lawsuit was filed by survivors of the flood. Kai Eriksons book, Everything In Its Path: Destruc-tion of Community in The Buffalo Creek Flood. Robert C. Withers, The Disaster of Buffalo Creek, Report of the West Virginia Adjutant General, Charleston, WV, 1972. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; As of 1987, Pittston was still among the ten largest coal companies in the U.S. But this dam dam No. For the flood that followed the collapse of West Virginia's Buffalo Creek Dam in 1972like the one in Idahowas a manmade "natural disaster." It killed 125 people and left hundreds of coal. Its worth noting that, following Buffalo Creek, two commissions were launched. Nothing is the same around this place. Arch Moore accepted a settlement offer of $1 million from the Pittston Coal Company. "one acre of area covered by water to a depth of 300 feet", OR EPA had initially estimated the spill would take four-to-six weeks to clean up, however, three years later they were still cleaning up. Senator). 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 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines (W. A. Wahler & Associates), Analysis of Coal Refuse Dam Failure. solicitation of legal business. It later concluded that there was no impropriety. May 1972, Wash., DC. As a result many possible . The Buffalo Creek Disaster Memorial, located in Kistler, WV, stands as a reminder of one of the darkest hours in West Virginia history. Depta writes: Theyre bringing in trailers so the next time theres a Buffalo Creek disaster remembered 40 years later The Associated Press The Associated Press Feb 27, 2012 The Tri-State's TRUSTED news source. The fact that the plaintiffs were involved in a lawsuit against Pittston instead of passively accepting their fate was alone evidence of their ability to cope, Ewen and Lewis write, essentially arguing that Everything in Its Path is myopic in its attention on the communitys destruction. A U.S. Geological not in the Prince lawsuit filed in federal district court. Jack Spadaro, a mine safety investigator and environmental specialist, has made it his life's work to prevent such disasters from happening again. I dont know where. (AP Photo/John Raby), My dad and brothers all were fishermen and miners, Harvey said. Click for copy. And then you could hear the roar of it and you could see it. Pittston amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; 3 was under construction and about 50 percent completed. Chad Motrie's 2003 history of Appalachian strip mining. March 21, 1972Pittstons board of directors authorizedBMCto establish [I]f you dont do some-thing, were all going to be washed away., By June 1970, Pittston had acquired the Buffalo Mining Company. For decades after that, fishing of any kind was no longer an option on the southern West Virginia waterway. Pierson said he was flown out by helicopter. The state then cited Pittston for violations but failed to follow up with inspections. (plus appendices, vol. Paul Cowan, Book Review of Gerald Sterns The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors Unprecedented Lawsuit, The New York Times Book Review, September 5, 1976, pp.6-7. But the disaster will never be forgotten. A separate settlement for survivors amounted to about $13,000 per plaintiff. They were filled to capacity, holding tons of coal wastewater. 51 years later, memories still haunt survivors of Buffalo Creek flood. As the wave moved down the mountain valley it wiped out much of what stood in its path. By 1972, the third dam ranged from 45-to-60 feet in height, and the Middle Fork had become a series of black pools. Senator Ed Muskie (D-NH) in one photo, then running for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, shown campaigning ahead of the New Hampshire primary. A motion to make the resolution binding on Pittston management was defeated by For the first time, individuals who were not present at the scene of a disaster were allowed to recover for mental injuries. 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. Table of Contents. December 1970Pittston employee drafts memorandum warning that federal A Town Stood Here, Life, October 10, 1972. Click to visit that site. The state sued the company for $100,000,000 dollars but then Gov. about her fears that the dam would collapse. motions due. Erikson, Disaster at Buffalo Creek. Home; Survey geologist inspects the Buffalo Creek dam and concludes that it was basically Long after the Feb. 26, 1972, disaster, the poisoned creek had no life. Peter Galuszka's "Thunder on the Mountain". I teach it. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; William Rhee, Associate Professor of Law, West Virginia University, The Buffalo Creek Timeline, WVU.edu, updated on December 30, 2015. On Saturday, the community showed they are still standing with a room full of survivors coming . June 7, 1974Judge Hall declined to act on Pittstons motion to dismiss plaintiffs Engineering, Not Rainfall, Given Blame, Logan Banner, March 9, 1972. Civ Pro: Buffalo Creek Disaster notes Questions o Who are the Parties Plaintiff: Workers Defendant: Coal company: Buffalo Mining Company (and Pittston Company, based in NYC = sole stockholder) o One of the largest employers in the West Virginia county Attorneys Author Mr. Staker (Famous lawyer) Judges Judge Christie (left b/c of his old friend) At that time, 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. The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster: Official Report from the Governors Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry, 1973 (PDF of actual report at Marshall University). 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. Justice v. Pittston class action by now-Judge Phillip Gaujot on behalf of 348 children 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 United States declined to sue Pittston for cleanup costs. and made decisions on future trial structure. As of December 2014, some 331 of these facilities were rated as either holding a high or significant safety hazard meaning likely loss of life in the former case, and significant economic/environmental damage in the latter case. Depta recalls the trailers brought in by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to set up temporary living for the newly homeless. The people of Appalachia seem to be forever poised at some vague mid-point between ability and disability, is one such Erikson statement. And it also continued dumping its coal wastes in the area as well, absent the use of watery waste dams. In that case, the bottom of the 72-acre Big Branch slurry impoundment owned by the Martin County Coal Corp. broke through an abandoned underground mine located below it. The water was there, and then it was gone, The moving wall of wastewater did its damage in seconds, in repeated fashion, as it moved down the hollow. A close look at Buffalo Creek illuminates the regions ties to coal. The Citizens report also noted that strip mining above the dam had likely contributed to its over-filling. Dam Break'. More than a dozen homes and hundreds of acres in the down-stream community of Harriman, TN were hit with a gigantic toxic mess. 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. Set during the Polish-Soviet War of 19191920, Babels novel captured the indiscriminate violence and injustice of warfare. 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. Each failure added millions of gallons to the monstrous wave of water bearing down on the residents of the countryside and towns below. BMCfeared Buffalo Creek Disaster; however, I have concentrated on the parts of the book that offered me the most insight in terms of procedural strategy. In an out of court settlement, the survivors were awarded $13.5 million, $6 million of which was distributed on the basis of a point system as compensation for the psychological damages. West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. ensued. 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. the court. Yet, as all who lived in those parts knew well, this was a coal disaster, not an act of God, as the coal company would later claim. Kapp, Disaster at Buffalo Creek. Scholarship on the disaster also helps us get to know the peoplethe victims, the survivorsinvolved. The only warning we had was just a neighbor woman had spotted it and just pulled in front of our house and hollered, Run, the dam has broke! remembered survivor Shirley Marcum. More than a dozen towns were inundated and 125 people lost their lives. [1] For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Buffalo Creek flood. The Concept 2 . 2 was built on top of that waste. 12, No. 8:03 a.m., dam #3 failed and carried away dams #1 and #2. April 1, 1974Pittston moved to dismiss absent plaintiffs, plaintiffs claiming The cause of the Buffalo Creek failure was analyzed, an inventory of coal waste impoundments was compiled, and emergency inspections were conducted to identify other potentially hazardous sites. But it brings back memories. Support JSTOR Daily! An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. The first coal mining in the Buffalo Creek watershed dated to the 1910s when a few coal camps small mining towns sprang up following the first rail lines into the area to exploit the coal there. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; However, he did question the ability of the overflow pipes in Dam No. Roads werent where they used to be, nor were houses. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. The other, David Adkins Jr., he was the same age five he hadnt started school either, but every evening, he was out and back then, they put braces in a fence and hed sit right in that brace and hed watch that bus every evening like he was saying, Next year, Im going to ride that bus. He didnt make it. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Ken Ward, Jr., Agencies Failed to Protect People, Inspector Recalls, Charleston Gazette, Tuesday, February 25, 1997. How the 1972 Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster Forever Changed Appalachia A Book Proposal by Tom Nugent. 4, Special Focus: Special issue on Post Disaster Societies (2011), pp. Downstream, the coal wastewater theoretically filtered through the dams would then emerge in a cleaner state in Buffalo Creek and beyond. Children of Disaster: Clinical Observations at Buffalo Creek, American Journal of Psychiatry, March 1976, pp.306-12. The state later had to pay the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers more than $9 million for recovery work along Buffalo Creek. An exploration of one prison newspapers commitment to celebrating Black History with a unique focus on its home state. amzn_assoc_title = "Related Books & DVD"; Map of Buffalo Creek communities in 1972 shown with disaster summary inset. The report also noted the possibility that water and coal wastes in abandoned underground mines could break through auger holes and flow into the impoundment behind dam #3, as the practice of disposing coal sludges in abandoned underground mines had occurred in other areas of the state, with sludges breaking through to the surface in some cases. SOUTH MAN Sunday marked 51 years since the Buffalo Creek Disaster, the worst flood in West Virginia's history. The Buffalo Creek Disaster, February 26, 1972 One of worst floods in US occurred here 26 February 1972, when Buffalo Mining Co. impoundment dam for mine waste broke, releasing over 130 million gallons of black waste water: killed 125; property losses over $50 million; and thousands left homeless. Suite 401 . K.T. Senator Jennings Randolph (D-WV) visited Man High School, a temporary refugee location for Buffalo Creek survivors. 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. On Saturday, victims were being remembered at the same high school that served as a temporary morgue 50 years ago. Dam No. One of the photos used in Disaster on Buffalo Creek: A Citizens' Report on Criminal Negligence in a West Virginia Mining Community, 1972. find dam #3 satisfactory. The dams were not designed or constructed in accordance with then-current engineering standards. The flood, known as the Buffalo Creek disaster, is considered one of the worst disasters in both American and Mountain State history. The pool was within three feet of the crest of the dam, and ominous cracks appeared. 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.. Harveys home was spared, barely. 2 had ever been formally approved by the state. Stephen Young, a Marshall University professor and criminologist, recently wrote an article focused on the 2014 Elk River chemical spill, which left 300,000 West Virginians without clean water. William E. Davies, James F. Bailey, and Donovan B. Kelly, West Virginias Buffalo Creek Flood: A Study of the Hydrology and Engineering Geology, U.S. Geological Survey, Geological Survey Circular 667, Washington, DC: 1972. 1. 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. I was terrified of water because I lived through it as a kid and I was just traumatized, but I tell you what, after that dam broke and I seen what I seen, I never was afraid of water again. United States Senate, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Subcommittee on Labor, Buffalo Creek (W. Va.) Disaster 1972, Hearings, May 30 and 31, 1972, 2 vols. He lives in my building. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Thunderstorms this evening will give way to steady rain overnight. The survivors of the Buffalo Creek disaster suffered both individual and collective trauma, the latter being reflected in their loss of communality. Robert Weedall, West Virginias climatologist, noted in later remarks that yes, Act of God is a legal term, but there were other perhaps more apt legal terms that might apply to what had happened in Buffalo Creek, such as involuntary manslaughter or criminal negligence. The record, however, would prove that acts of man had everything to do with what happened at Buffalo Creek. Is the unique Appalachian dialect the preserved language of Elizabethan England? MAN, W.Va. (AP) The day before the disaster hit, Perry Harvey went fishing on Buffalo Creek for one reason. They relate the story of a group of survivors who formed their own support group without outside help. Drinking water systems in ten counties had to be shut down, and a 20-mile stretch of river was declared an aquatic dead zone: more than 1,500 fish were killed. No silver spoon, no silver cup., While visiting Buffalo Creek, Breiding stood at the very spot where the dams had once been. Published: Feb. 27, 2022 at 12:17 PM PST. (AP Photo/John Raby). Emery Jeffreys (former reporter for The Logan Banner; account of his early flood-site reporting), Mud, Muck and Misery, LoganWV.us, February 27, 2018. 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. Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. By March 2, Republican Governor Arch Moore announced the formation of an Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry to investigate the flood. Young draws parallels between Appalachia and the colonialist exploitation of Third World countries, as well as the exploitation of communities of color, such as Flint, Michigan. Left over from Scots-Irish immigrants? Earl Lambert, From The Mountainsides: Many Saw It Happen, Logan Banner (Logan, WV), February 28, 1972. Click for copy. Engineers Say Buffalo Dam Doomed at Start, Logan Banner (Logan, WV), May 30, 1972. All Rights Reserved. These cracks were a clear indication of the saturation and subsequent destabilization of the structure, but no evacuation order was issued. C.J. The next day, February 26th, at 1:30 a.m. the water was twelve inches from the dams crest and oozing through the dams surface. but then Gov. Tom Breiding, a Pittsburgh singer-songwriter with West Virginia roots, saw this firsthand when he traveled to Buffalo Creek for research while composing his 2008 album The Unbroken Circle: Songs of the West Virginia Coalfields. George Vecsey, West Virginians Living in Hollows Fear That Mine Waste Piles in Their Areas Will Cause Next Flood, New York Times, March 6, 1972. I was terrified of water, Pierson said. Buffalo Creek Mine Disaster 50th Anniversary Steve Thompson Witnessed the Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster First Hand. 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. May 13, 1974Judge Hall denied motion for partial summary judgment as to personal 1969Congress enacted the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. By September 1972, the two competing West Virginia commissions one from the Governor, and the other a Citizens Commission issued their reports. Arch Moore's emergency director asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to perform recovery work at state expense. 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. Stern asked Judge Hall to help him get access to the West Virginia Ad Hoc Commission He believed most local people didnt tell Randolph and other politicians how they really feel. Jack Doyle, Buffalo Creek Disaster: 1972, amzn_assoc_linkid = "97ba3d2dfe21cb80a887e1d63f028ef6"; Associated Press, 37 Killed as Flood Sweeps A Valley in West Virginia, New York Times, Sunday, February 27, 1972, p. 1. 3 was rising one or two inches per hour. Work began on drafting a settlement. Barbara Brunty watched from higher ground with her 3-year-old daughter as their home was swept away along with the girls Christmas presents: a toy motorcycle, a kitchen set and a Chatty Cathy doll. State of West Virginia sued Pittston in both state and federal court for the states two telephone books worth of victim statements. What was the actual settlement agreement in the Buffalo Creek disaster? The Charleston Gazette of February 1972 reporting on the early flood death total, with front-page photo of damaged homes thrown about on the valley floor. Have a correction or comment about this article? At the time of Pittstons acquisition of Buffalo Mining, Dam No. gave way, killing eight people. Mimi Pickering (Film Director), Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (essay), Library of Congress, 1978 (in 1984, filmmaker Mimi Pickering completed Buffalo Creek Revisited, an update on the flood and its consequences). Wallace Adkins of Robinette, tried to escape the on-rushing wall of water by loading up his family car. Privacy Policy Contact Us But his pregnant wife couldnt get out; she was trapped in the house. This failure, predicted by inspector results, caused a domino effect by causing the failure of two other dams. Refuse Dumps at Coal Mines, discouraging the use of coal refuse dumps as dams. But before the acquisition, Pittston engineers had reportedly surveyed the Buffalo Mining property, and according to company officials who later testified: Our reports had no indication that there was any danger, or that anything was wrong with the impoundments . The governors acquiescence proved costly for the state, as West Virginia ended up forced to reimburse the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $9 million for recovery work. Murder in Appalachian, The Nation, March 20, 1972. Of Disaster: Clinical Observations at Buffalo Creek for one reason could see it,,! 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