On February 26, 1972, tragedy struck a small mining community in the coalfields of southern West Virginia. The sociologist Kai Erikson was brought in for the latter suit as an expert witness on behalf of the survivors. Buffalo Creek Special Series, Charleston Gazette, February 1997. It was a recipe for disaster as the trio of dams was inadequate to handle runoff from large rainstorms, like the one that dumped several inches of rain on Logan County by early Saturday morning, Feb. 26. By that time he had stopped screaming and drunk so much water and everything I dont what happened to him.. ), 400 Still Missing in West Virginia Flood, February 28, 1972. The. Suite 401 (The Herald-Dispatch via AP). 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. The wall of water exploded Click to visit that site. 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). The law appears ill-suited to relieve the victims of a disaster, who often have been scarred emotionally not by physical contact but by the destruction of their families, homes, and communities, writes Robert L. Rabin in a 1978 Stanford Law Review article examining the legal ramifications of Buffalo Creek. Pittstons demand for injunctive relief and to strike certain allegations in the complaint 281-298, Appalachian Journal, Vol. March 1972Arnold & Porter agreed to represent the Buffalo Creek Citizens 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. Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. Article Citation: One of the photos used in Disaster on Buffalo Creek: A Citizens' Report on Criminal Negligence in a West Virginia Mining Community, 1972. Its still very personal to me.. 3) was built over Dam No. Dennis Deitz & Carlene Mowery, Buffalo Creek Valley of Death, 1992. Invalid password or account does not exist. Three coal waste dams in West Virginia failed, killing 125 people and injuring 1,100 more in communities downstream of the dams. 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. survivor syndrome, what is known today as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A final federal strip mine bill, however, would not be signed into law until 1977. As an article in Vox noted, this kind of stereotyping is on full display in the popular book and film Hillbilly Elegy. August 8, 1972Congress passed the National Dam Inspection Act. (AP Photo/John Raby). buffalo creek disaster 1 - Free download as Word Doc (.doc / .docx), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. Homes were left in splinters Railroad tracks yanked up and twisted. July 1971Pittstons vice-president of industrial engineering and training Buffalo Area Declared Health, Safety Hazard, Logan Banner, March 1, 1972. As of 1987, Pittston was still among the ten largest coal companies in the U.S. [I]f you dont do some-thing, were all going to be washed away., By June 1970, Pittston had acquired the Buffalo Mining Company. 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. Stern met with plaintiffs and obtained settlement authority. There was a problem saving your notification. By 1957, the Buffalo Mining Company, as part of its strip mining operations, began dumping gob mine waste consisting of mine dust, shale, clay, low-quality coal, and other impurities into the Middle Fork branch. April 16, 1973Plaintiffs moved to amend their complaint to add additional Headlines from 'The Springfield Republican' of Massachusetts, report on the 'W.Va. motions due. Half of its downstream side slumped but recommended an emergency spillway on Dam #3 in his inspection report. Out of the total settlement, Arnold and Porter took a legal fee of $3 million. 1 (Apr., 1978), pp. 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). A bulldozer slid into the pond and its driver died. 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. 300 acre-feet of water would be: Tom Price, Who Killed Buffalo Creek?, Rolling Stone, January 3, 1974. Map Feature: Coal Ash Contaminated Sites & Hazard Dams (U.S.), EarthJustice.org. The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors' Unprecedented Lawsuit, New York, Random House, 1976. Arch Moore accepted a settlement offer of $1 million from the Pittston Coal Company. Headlines from an Associated Press story reporting that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- also testifying at U.S. Senate hearings -- found the the Pittston Coal Co. dam above Buffalo Creek was "doomed from the start.". Twenty-seven years of follow-up research by teams of both . #3 in his inspection report. (WCHS) MAN, W.Va. (WCHS) . On the morning of February 26, 1972, the failure of three coal slurry dams let loose a tidal wave of destruction upon the Buffalo Creek hollow in Logan county, West Virginia. Access from your area has been temporarily limited for security reasons. Death, Destruction, Terror of 1972 Buffalo Creek Disaster Still Vivid, The Herald-Dispatch, January 15, 2009. More than 507 homes were destroyed, along with 44 mobile homes and 30 businesses. The moving wall of wastewater did its damage in seconds, in repeated fashion, as it moved down the hollow. The Concept 2 . 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. He said the impoundment failure at Buffalo Creek was accompanied by multiple warnings. I watched them crumble. By the days end, hundreds of homes and vehicles were destroyed, thousands were left homeless, and 125 men, women, and children were dead. 8:03 a.m., dam #3 failed and carried away dams #1 and #2. The dams were not designed or constructed in accordance with then-current engineering standards. The pool behind Dam No. The dams, built of coal slag wastes, were then owned by the Pittston Coal Company. Hufford, M. (1997) The memorial marker at the mouth of Buffalo Creek naming those who died in the Buffalo Creek flood. As part of its more definite statement, Arnold & Porter filed with the court 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. 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. More than a dozen homes and hundreds of acres in the down-stream community of Harriman, TN were hit with a gigantic toxic mess. Pierson said he still feels a bit of anger over the aftermath of the flood. February 26, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most devastating mine disasters in U.S. history. 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. Hope Wanes for 94 Listed Missing in Logan; Known Flood Dead is 88, Charleston Gazette, March 4, 1972. 3 was under construction and about 50 percent completed. The historic Buffalo Creek flood tore through a region often exploited by industryand stereotyped by outsiders. Click for copy. Today is the 49th anniversary of one of the worst mining catastrophes in West Virginia history, the Buffalo Creek Disaster. Everything in Its Path:Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood (1976), a non-fiction book by American author Kai T. Erikson, won the 1978 National Book Award for documenting the aftermath of the Buffalo Creek flood disaster in Logan County, West Virginia which killed 125 people and left 4,000 people homeless out of a 5,000-person local population. U.S. Betty Dotson-Lewis / Brian Sewell, The Day Baby Brucie Died: An Oral History of the Buffalo Creek Flood, The Appalachian Voice, February 27, 2012. Pierson said the school he was attending, Lorado Grade School, was destroyed in the flood, and its principal, who he identified as Mr. Ramey, was killed. The Buffalo Creek that survives today is calm in places and flows briskly in others, its rapids gurgling. . Pittston objected to Arnold & Porters more definite statement, asking the F.3d 349 (4th Cir. You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account. Get your fix of JSTOR Dailys best stories in your inbox each Thursday. BMCs vice In 1971, Pittston was cited for over 5,000 safety violations at its mines nationally. Spadaro also wrote the bulk of the states report debunking Pittstons claim that the disaster was an act of God. An investigation found the company built the dam on top of coal slurry that had been deposited by an earlier dam, then more material went on top of that. 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. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. Click for copy. 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. 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. 2 had ever been formally approved by the state. Thats the year we really got cranked up, Harvey said. They also worried about the mining practice of dumping coal mining slag or gob coal mining waste into the dams. The United States declined to sue Pittston for cleanup costs. The Buffalo Creek Disaster. Support JSTOR Daily! A wave from the waste dam flooded and destroyed the Buffalo Creek community [2]. NovemberSpecial grand jury led by two special prosecuting attorneys (includingWVUCollege Three coal waste dams in West Virginia failed, killing 125 people and injuring 1,100 more in communities downstream of the dams. amzn_assoc_title = "Related Books & DVD"; State officials requested a few minor alterations to the impoundment. Click for copy. As if some foreign enemy had flown in and nuked the place. The Buffalo Creek Disaster 50 Years From Flooding Disaster Strikes Outpouring of Support Recovery and Redevelopment Lawsuits Filed Buffalo Creek Today "A bridge collapses. /08. and denies the motion for the time being while plaintiffs obtain full discovery. 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. Crowd of onlookers in the distance surveys the enormous debris field jammed up against a downstream bridge following the Buffalo Creek coal flood. And then you could hear the roar of it and you could see it. Join our new membership program on Patreon today. You know, its not like your house burned down, Hall said. I saw my neighbors houses leave. Many lived in temporary trailer-park style homes following the disaster some for years. United States Army Corps of Engineers. 1975, which recounted a major court case and liability settlement that emerged from the tragedy on Buffalo Creek. The Senate subcommittee would later issue some three volumes of material and by June 1972 would call for new legislation to prevent disasters like Buffalo Creek, offering a Mined Area Protection Bill, a measure, however, that would not be adopted. In 2002, Alpha Natural Resources purchased what remained of Pttstons coal business. (ABA Required Disclosures). the front to drag them to paradise california. February 1972. The Buffalo Creek Disaster - Los Angeles County Bar Association EN English Deutsch Franais Espaol Portugus Italiano Romn Nederlands Latina Dansk Svenska Norsk Magyar Bahasa Indonesia Trke Suomi Latvian Lithuanian esk Unknown Thomas N. Bethell and Davitt McAteer, The Pittston Mentality: Manslaughter on Buffalo Creek, Washington Monthly, May 1972. 1 filled up with fine waste, then Dam No. He lives in my building. No dollar amount could ever erase for the survivors what happened at Buffalo Creek. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. The association will hold its annual kids fishing event in April, giving away 125 rods and reels and other fishing gear. 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. Buffalo Creek Mine Disaster: Feb. 26, 1972. 3 had been built on top of coal slurry sediment that had collected behind the earlier dams 1 and 2, not on solid bedrock. The news of the Buffalo Creek Disaster broke variously across the nation the next few days, in part due to the difficulty of getting to the site. He reported there was no danger of a washout of Dam No. October 6, 1982: Buffalo Creek flood settlement. One newspaper, reporting on the study and the Senate hearings, used the headlines Army Corps of Engineers Says Dam Doomed From Start (below). By September 1972, the two competing West Virginia commissions one from the Governor, and the other a Citizens Commission issued their reports. psychic injury while they were physically away from Buffalo Creek during the flood. Pittston failed to obtain an independent engineering opinion on the Buffalo Today is the 40th anniversary of the dam bursting which was owned by Pittston Coal Company. 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