He believed most local people didnt tell Randolph and other politicians how they really feel. Death, Destruction, Terror of 1972 Buffalo Creek Disaster Still Vivid, The Herald-Dispatch, January 15, 2009. 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. Nearly 50 years later, there are still hundreds of coal waste dams to worry about, as well as other assorted coal waste dangers throughout the U.S. In 1854, he married Margaretha Weidner (1832-1910). Committee in a lawsuit against Pittston. February 26, 2022, was the 50th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek Flood in West Virginia that killed 125 people and left 4,000 homeless. Scholarship on the disaster also helps us get to know the peoplethe victims, the survivorsinvolved. damaged and destroyed bridges, roads, and schools for $50 million compensatory Public Service Commission and Water buffalo creek disaster 1 - Free download as Word Doc (.doc / .docx), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. amzn_assoc_title = "Additional Reading"; Chad Motrie's 2003 history of Appalachian strip mining. I seen trees, logs, cars, slate, slush, you name it and it was in that.. U.S. map showing locations of coal ash waste dams, spills, and contamination compiled by Earth Justice. #3 in his inspection report. 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. 1904The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad completed its Charleston, W.Va., Today is the 40th anniversary of the dam bursting which was owned by Pittston Coal Company. After last year, Pierson, who now lives in Scott Depot, made the drive home to Logan County once again to reminisce with other survivors. In the end, more than 125 people were killed, at least 1,000 injured, and some 4,000 left homeless. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; 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. The report found that company and state officials were ill informed of the problems of refuse dams and had not taken timely measures. Click for copy. Jack Spadaro, a mine safety investigator and environmental specialist, has made it his lifes work to prevent such disasters from happening again. One of the photos used in Disaster on Buffalo Creek: A Citizens' Report on Criminal Negligence in a West Virginia Mining Community, 1972. The "suspenseful and completely absorbing story" (San Francisco Chronicle) of how survivors of the worst coal-mining disaster in history triumphed over corporate irresponsibilitywritten by the young lawyer who took on their case and won.One Saturday morning in February 1972, an impoundment dam owned by the Pittston Coal Company burst, sending a 130 million gallon, 25 foot tidal wave of . 27, No. 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. list is late. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. If a person is so often treated as trash, they may come to believe they are nothing but trash. More than a dozen homes and hundreds of acres in the down-stream community of Harriman, TN were hit with a gigantic toxic mess. When that report came out it called for new legislation and further inquiry by the local prosecutor, also concluding: Norm Williams, Deputy Director, WV-DNR & Citizens' Commission chairman. For additional stories at this website on the history of coal and coal mining, see for example, the following: Thanks for visiting and if you like what you find here, please. The Logan prosecutor said at the time that Pittstons failure to receive a state dam license was merely a misdemeanor and that a one-year statute of limitations for prosecutions had lapsed. But in the valley below, Buffalo Creek ran for about 17 miles where some 5,000 people lived in a string of 16 small towns built along the valleys bottom lands. Last month the Environmental Protection Agency ordered utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites. February 22A federal mine inspector andBMCsafety engineer But this dam dam No. Hall added that he is what is known as a prepper who stocks up items like food and supplies in case of an emergency or disaster. This subcommittee would hear from dozens of witnesses, and was briefed at one point by experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who provided a scale model of the site with details of what happened (see photo below). 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. 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. The Springfield Republican newspaper of of Springfield, Massachusetts ran a wire story from United Press International (UPI) on the front page with the headline: 80 to 90 Feared Dead in W. Va. Dam Break; Mining Town Wiped Out. That story shared the front page with other national and regional news that day, picturing U.S. Im a bit of a prepper, Hall said, and that flood I think done it, because I dont never want to be caught again with nothing. 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. Liz Tackett, retired former director of the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library, opens up a memorial service for survivors of the Buffalo Creek Flood on Friday, Feb. 24. For those sympathetic to the survivors, Rabins statement rings true. Pierce. 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. 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. Ben A. Franklin, New York Times News Service, Slag Piles Imperil 5th of State Nader, Charleston Gazette, March 5, 1972. Twenty-seven years of follow-up research by teams of both . The U.S. MAN - Monday marked the 46th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek Flood. The first was an ad hoc commission established by West Virginia Governor Arch Moore. I was terrified of water, Pierson said. 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. In a 2012 interview, Porterfield said: [I]t looked like a battlefield. Creek dams. of their damage claims. MSHA recognizes those who were impacted in the 1972 flood that killed 125 and injured over 1100 people. Stern meets with Pittstons counsel concerning settlement. Judge Hall ruled that the plaintiffs survivor-syndrome claims might exceed $10,000 Moore shared stories of two young children Darla Dillon, 5, and David Adkins Jr., 4, both of Lorado who perished in the flood. Vicki Smith, Feds OK Coal Slurry Dam Expansion, GazetteMail.com, March 25, 2013. March 5, 1972. and denies the motion for the time being while plaintiffs obtain full discovery. The Buffalo Creek that survives today is calm in places and flows briskly in others, its rapids gurgling. Left over from Scots-Irish immigrants? The plant was pumping about 500 tons of water-saturated waste into the pond behind dam No. By the days end, hundreds of homes and vehicles were destroyed, thousands were left homeless, and 125 men, women, and children were dead. 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. There was a problem saving your notification. May 1972, Wash., DC. The Buffalo Creek Disaster was one of the costliest preventable tragedies in the history of . October 5, 1973Plaintiffs filed supplemental more definite statement Hufford, M. (1997) The memorial marker at the mouth of Buffalo Creek naming those who died in the Buffalo Creek flood. Each failure added millions of gallons to the monstrous wave of water bearing down on the residents of the countryside and towns below. Join our new membership program on Patreon today. However, he did question the ability of the overflow pipes in Dam No. The state later had to pay the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers more than $9 million for recovery work along Buffalo Creek. 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. Thats the year we really got cranked up, Harvey said. 1948US Department of Interior published an information circular, Burning Gerald M. Stern, The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors Unprecedented Lawsuit, New York: Random House, 1976. March 21, 1972Pittstons board of directors authorizedBMCto establish The. But West Virginia newspapers in the area were covering the tragedy closely, as the grim business of accounting for the dead, injured, and homeless continued. Its not even past.. At a protest meeting held in the Buffalo Grade School in Accoville a month after the flood, an older woman stood up and shouted out: Ive lived up at the top of the hollow for a long time. about future Aberfan disasters. . Tempers flared there as one local man tore into Randolph. (ABA Required Disclosures). Actual death toll would be 125, nearly twice early reports. . Dam No. 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. problems with implementation. Our lives, our communities the coal company created it, the coal company destroyed it.. I was so scared. The state filed a $100 million lawsuit against mine owner Pittston Coal; then-Gov. Judge Hall suggests selecting 4-5 sample cases on the question of liability. Film Clip, The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act Of Man, YouTube.com (8:22), February 20, 2012. April 1, 1974Pittston moved to dismiss absent plaintiffs, plaintiffs claiming April 16, 1973Plaintiffs moved to amend their complaint to add additional A few weeks later, on February 22nd, a federal mine inspector and the company safety engineer observed the dams and found conditions satisfactory. In the year 2000, increased attention was focused on the regulation of coal waste impoundments following a failure near Inez, Kentucky. And people die. Arnold & Porters medical and psychological experts started interviewing and West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. Initial Settlement Proposal (Buffalo Creek) and Pittston's First Counter Offer - Stern wanted 32.5 mil (people would've been happy with 10.5 mil) - Pittston came back with 3 mil offer . C.J. June 7, 1974Judge Hall declined to act on Pittstons motion to dismiss plaintiffs The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors . Ken Ward, Jr., Agencies Failed to Protect People, Inspector Recalls, Charleston Gazette, Tuesday, February 25, 1997. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, various state, local and federal government agencies had initially come together to help plan for the recovery of the Buffalo Creek area. dvidovich@hdmediallc.com, House passes religious freedoms bill after attempts to amend fail, WV Senate passes bill aimed at strengthening flood resiliency, Blevins resigns as Man mayor; Fekete appointed, Cline's charges referred to Grand Jury; bond reduction request denied, Chapmanville girls beat Liberty Raleigh, Mingo Central to win sectional title, Dwight Williamson: Racism lived in Logan County in the 1950s, and still does, Amid heated exchange, Chapmanville council rescinds $2,000 sports donation, Townsend sworn in to Chapmanville Police Department, Dwight Williamson: Former baseball player from Holden barely remembered today, Two dead after head-on crash on Buffalo Creek, Beckett: City pursuing inspection process for residential electric hookups. Pittston by then had developed a reputation for poor safety practices, and was ranked second nationally in the number of fatal and non-fatal mine accidents. As a result many possible . National Guard helicopters picked up survivors and delivered supplies. Each of the plaintiffs ended up with about $13,000. June 12, 1964Buffalo Mining Company (BMC) incorporated. High around 75F. Work began on drafting a settlement. 22-45, Appalachian Journal and Appalachian State University, Social Justice, Vol. And for the survivors of the Buffalo Creek Disaster, there was little real recovery. The Buffalo Creek Disaster 50 Years From Flooding Disaster Strikes Outpouring of Support Recovery and Redevelopment Lawsuits Filed Buffalo Creek Today "A bridge collapses. JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. The Citizens report also noted that strip mining above the dam had likely contributed to its over-filling. 30, No. Penny Loeb's 2007 book, "Moving Mountains". "A Town Stood Here," Life Magazine, 10-10-1972. But it brings back memories. A bulldozer slid into the pond and its driver died. Click for copy. spillway on Dam #3. Click for copy. 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. The survivors of the Buffalo Creek disaster suffered both individual and collective trauma, the latter being reflected in their loss of communality. March 2, 1973Judge Hall holds hearing on Pittstons motion to dismiss Debris was everywhere. Jack Doyle, Date Posted: 31 January 2019 Click for copy. Aerial photograph from 'The Herald Dispatch' (Huntington, WV) captures some of the enormous damage in the Buffalo Creek valley, showing collection of homes uprooted and floated down the valley, covering roads and rail lines. 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. 1, No. Russell Mokhiber, Buffalo Creek, Chapter 5, Corporate Crime & Violence: Big Business Power and the Abuse of the Public Trust, San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1998. 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. 1966A United Kingdom coal-waste dump in South Aberfam, Wales similar The spill covered the surrounding land with up to six feet of sludge. Erin L. McCoy, The U.S. Has Nearly 600 Coal Waste Sites. Julie Robinson, Buffalo Creek Miracle Baby Tells Story to Readers Digest, Charleston Gazette, January 26, 2013. Set during the Polish-Soviet War of 19191920, Babels novel captured the indiscriminate violence and injustice of warfare. Mary Walton, State Warned in 1967 of Larado Dam Danger, Charleston Gazette, March 1, 1972. Approximately 550 homes were destroyed, and another 900-plus . I love it, said Jacob Turkale, 25, who caught a rainbow trout Tuesday. It took just over 15 minutes. The second commission, the Citizens Commission, was established to counter this bias. By that time he had stopped screaming and drunk so much water and everything I dont what happened to him.. Click for copy. The Buffalo Creek . Hall. As the wave moved down the mountain valley it wiped out much of what stood in its path. process loss claims without admitting any responsibility. . You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; West Virginia Congressman Ken Heckler (D) had offered a bill in 1971 to ban all surface coal mining. hearings, 91 witnesses, and 2,000 pages of transcript that Pittston has shown Eriksons book was a finalist for the National Book Award the year of its release. and $50 million punitive damages. Governor Moore, however, acting to protect the Pittston Coal Company, tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress his own commissions report. If you are a WordPress user with administrative privileges on this site, please enter your email address in the box below and click "Send". flood the people will already have their coffins 2 (Jan., 1978), pp. George Vecsey, Memories of a Disaster, GeorgeVecsey.com, February 22, 2012. The tautly-worded 31-page report offered detailed findings and evidence of corporate negligence and government failures in the disaster, and proposed 21 recommendations. I didnt have no fear for water, Id just jump right in any lake or river and swim. Were owned by the coal company. Death in Buffalo Hollow, Newsweek, March 13, 1972. discovery confidential. The Concept 2 . As customary each year, the service began with a reading of the names of the deceased by the individuals in the room. A separate settlement for survivors amounted to about $13,000 per plaintiff. Buffalo Creek Flood survivor Fred Pierson gives his account of how the flood made him conquer his fear of water during a memorial service at the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library on Friday, Feb. 24. The little girl, Darla in September, she was a Kindergarten student and she got on my bus one morning and her mother had cleaned house, Moore said, and she brought me some plastic flowers that she had got out of the garbage and brought to me, and I thought that was so sweet. Get your fix of JSTOR Dailys best stories in your inbox each Thursday. Share Buffalo Creek Flood. The United States declined to sue Pittston for cleanup costs. . To counter Eriksons claims, Ewen and Lewis include survivor testimony that he neglected. Approximately 550 homes were destroyed, and another 900-plus were damaged. 1977 edition of Gerald Stern's book on class-action lawsuit he brought against Pittston Coal Co. on behalf of Buffalo Creek survivors and settled in 1974. 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. In 1974, the 645 Buffalo Creek residents suing Pittston Coal settled for $13.5 million, which amounted to approximately $13,000 paid out to each plaintiff. President Richard Nixon, then in China, had contacted Moore by phone to promise Federal disaster aid. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; TVAs spill was from a coal ash impoundment, which is somewhat different than a mine-site slurry impoundment, as it deals with post-combustion, powerplant coal ash, which involves a different regulatory arena than mine-site or coal processing impoundments. Tom Price, Who Killed Buffalo Creek?, Rolling Stone, January 3, 1974. dumping coal refuse into the mouth of Middle Fork hollow. Today is the 49th anniversary of one of the worst mining catastrophes in West Virginia history, the Buffalo Creek Disaster. It goes between the hospital and the high school and I remember when we got off, these people run up to us and they was writing down our names to get a recovery list for people that made it, and needless to say, there was groups of people that were sent there.. (HTTP response code 503). Each upstream dam was built several hundred yards upstream of the previous dam. Or something else altogether? As if some foreign enemy had flown in and nuked the place. amzn_assoc_linkid = "40258c095eb99c570bd3ec58d7f0a3fb"; 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. protect miners and their families. Tort Law: The Buffalo Creek Disaster; Tort Law: The Buffalo Creek Disaster . Children walk along the tracks in what remains of their community along Buffalo Creek, in West Virginia, on Feb. 27, 1972. They created this place and they destroyed this place, and we are just disposable, basically. Gerald M.Stern writes the story of The Buffalo Creek Disaster, how a coal cleaning impoundment dam burst, killing 125 people injuring more than 1000 and causing over 4000 people to be homeless. Mimi Pickering, my wife, made two documentary films about the disaster. Buffalo Creek Disaster; however, I have concentrated on the parts of the book that offered me the most insight in terms of procedural strategy. 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. During the flood, 125 people lost their lives, 1,100 were injured and 4,000 were left homeless. At the time of Pittstons acquisition of Buffalo Mining, Dam No. Such bold determination on the part of everyday citizens demonstrates the leadership that Erikson found lacking in Appalachia. Help us keep publishing stories that provide scholarly context to the news. 20 years prior to the Buffalo Creek flood, a similar incident had occurred. Somewhere along there I lost that boy of mine. Subsequent 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. /08. Arnold and Porter gave Pittston a $32.5 million written settlement proposal. Contents The buffalo creek flood a sample Investigation Results Its worth noting that, following Buffalo Creek, two commissions were launched. Jack Doyle, "Buffalo Creek Disaster: 1972,"PopHistoryDig, January 31, 2019. wvculture/history/buffcreek . Disaster at Buffalo Creek. On February 26, 1972 the Buffalo creek community was destroyed by a terrible flood. But those improved practices didnt last. Journal of Appalachian Studies, Vol. BUFFALO CREEK, W.Va Sunday marked the 45th anniversary of the deadly Buffalo Creek disaster in Logan . State officials requested a few minor alterations to the impoundment. Alvid Davis was working outside his home in the community of Stowe when he looked up and saw the flood waters coming, according to an Associated Press report of February 28, 1972. but then Gov. In just a few brief moments, 125 people were killed, 1,100 were injured, and over 4,000 were left without homes [1] as the result of a collapsed coal waste dam. Arch Moore accepted a $1 million settlement at the end of his second term. to Logan, W.Va., line making Logan Countys coal easily transportable to national One newspaper, reporting on the study and the Senate hearings, used the headlines Army Corps of Engineers Says Dam Doomed From Start (below). 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. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Thunderstorms this evening will give way to steady rain overnight. Thank you. Logan Flood Toll 66; 400 Missing, Hundreds Search Disaster Area; Cause of Break Gets Attention, Charleston Daily Mail, February 28, 1972. Most of Buffalo Creek was previously owned by the Popp family, who ran a dairy farm before converting to grain crops such as soybeans, wheat and corn. It should be widely read, states a 1978 review in the Journal of American Studies: In all its aspectsthe survivors description of the flood and its consequences, the contribution which it makes to an understanding of Appalachian life and to the study of disasters, and its theoretical suggestivenessit is outstanding. 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. In 1974, the 645 Buffalo Creek residents suing Pittston Coal settled for $13.5 million, which amounted to approximately $13,000 paid out to each plaintiff. June 26, 1974The plaintiffs and Pittston settle for $13.5 million. Gallery: The Buffalo Creek Flood, Herald-Dispatch.com, February 26, 2014. 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. million deductible in response to the Dola, W. Va., dam failure. Plaintiffs the Buffalo Creek what happened at Buffalo Creek Disaster the motion the! Often treated as trash, they may come to believe they are nothing but trash those were. Impacted in the end, more than 125 people were killed, at least injured... Culture and history was built several hundred yards upstream of the plaintiffs up. 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