In addition to the deaths, the disaster injured 1,100 and left more than 4,000 people homeless. Disaster at Buffalo Creek. Brittany Patterson, The Cautionary Tale of the Largest Coal Ash Waste Site in the U.S., AlleghenyFront.org, June 22, 2018. 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. 2 held and halted the water. George Vecsey, Two Rival Inquiries Are Begun into Flood in West Virginia, New York Times, March 12, 1972, p. 70. They looked like huge metallic pretzels. The tautly-worded 31-page report offered detailed findings and evidence of corporate negligence and government failures in the disaster, and proposed 21 recommendations. To view our latest e-Edition click the image at left. 141-144, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Association for American Studies, Asian Journal of Social Science, Vol. 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. Although its velocity gradually decreased as it traveled down the valley, the event caused death and destruction as far as 15 miles downstream of the dams. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR. The It was the flood at lick fork. The socio-psychology of all this was probed and covered in an award-winning 1976 book by Kai T. Erikson. They just had this blank stare of resignation One of my co-workers said people in those coal communities are used to being battered by this and that. February 22A federal mine inspector andBMCsafety engineer 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. When the deluge receded, he saw bodies along the long walk to check on relatives, images that have been seared into the veterans mind. Buffalo Creek Flood, 1972, Online Exhibit /Special Collections, Marshall University, 2002. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. 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. about her fears that the dam would collapse. Arnold and Porter noticed Pittstons president and vice-presidents depositions 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. [I]n true Appalachian fashion, few people are ready to accept the responsibility of leadership is another. Rita Colistra, The Rumble and The Dark: Regional Newspaper Framing of the Buffalo Creek Mine Disaster of 1972, Journal of Appalachian Studies, Vol. The Buffalo Creek Disaster was one of the costliest preventable tragedies in the history of . Survivors of 1972 Dam Disaster Accept $13.5-Million Settlement, New York Times, July 6, 1974. 1975, which recounted a major court case and liability settlement that emerged from the tragedy on Buffalo Creek. Logan County West Virginia Man, 1997. Associated Press (Man, WV. The Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster occurred on the cold rainy Saturday morning of February 26, 1972, when a coal slurry dam failed. 3), Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1972. November 20, 1968: Farmington coal mine disaster Court to make the plaintiffs state their dollar damage claims with more particularity. West Virginia Congressman Ken Heckler (D) had offered a bill in 1971 to ban all surface coal mining. Film Clip, The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act Of Man, YouTube.com (8:22), February 20, 2012. That year, the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association was formed. Hall also asked Pittston MSHA said 49 impoundments pose a significant hazard because of the potential damage from a failure. Dam No. The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster: Official Report from the Governor's Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. I told you this was going to happen, he said, I told you. He had voted for Randolph, but was frustrated with the political process and how the locals were regarded by most politicians. Note mud lines on the building at left, marking flood level. 300 acre-feet of water would be: On Saturday, victims were being remembered at the same high school that served as a temporary morgue 50 years ago. Crowd of onlookers in the distance surveys the enormous debris field jammed up against a downstream bridge following the Buffalo Creek coal flood. Half of its downstream side slumped but When the water set it down again, it just flattened out on the ground. 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. 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. should not be material in relation to [Pittstons] consolidated financial position.. 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. Still, the worries for citizens living near either kind of impoundment are equally valid, whether of the mine-site or powerplant variety. Porterfield described a makeshift morgue set up at the local junior high school, likening it to the famous scene from Gone with the Wind in which Scarlett OHara stands astonished looking upon a sea of battlefield casualties. February 1971Dam #3 collapsed. 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. Three days later, on February 25, with heavy rain, the water behind dam No. Published opinion, Am. August 8, 1972Congress passed the National Dam Inspection Act. Debris was everywhere. A Buffalo Creek native, Victor M. Depta, gets at this idea of recurring tragedy in a 1973 poem, written not long after the flood. Access from your area has been temporarily limited for security reasons. U.S. I finally caught hold of the railroad with one hand and pulled my myself out. found that the victims didn't experience the enthusiastic feelings because the disaster was so much greater, and . dumping coal refuse into the mouth of Middle Fork hollow. More than a dozen towns were inundated and 125 people lost their lives. [I]f you dont do something, she wrote, prophetically, were all going to be washed away. Her letter did bring a state inspector to visit the dams. We saw the water lift up our house, said Enda Baisden Short, recalling for The Herald Dispatch of Huntington, West Virginia that she and her husband had run from their home early that Saturday morning just prior to coal waste flood. Coal waste dumping had gone on there for decades, up in the hills, at the headwaters of the Buffalo Creek. The black wall of water was later estimated to have moved at a rate of seven feet per second. The Buffalo Creek (W.Va.) flood is one of the most extensively examined and longest followed disasters in the psychiatric study of trauma. 1 filled up with fine waste, then Dam No. psychic injury while they were physically away from Buffalo Creek during the flood. Refuse Dumps at Coal Mines, discouraging the use of coal refuse dumps as dams. Davitt McAteer's book on the 1907 Monongah mine disaster. 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. In reaction to the flood, Hechler said: The people are prisoners of the coal industry., Hechlers quote is included in the media theorist Rita Colistras article in the Journal of Appalachian Studies, which also includes a quote from Ralph Nader. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; Engineers Say Buffalo Dam Doomed at Start, Logan Banner (Logan, WV), May 30, 1972. The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the Survivors of One of the Worst Disasters in Coal-Mining History Brought Suit Against the Coal Company- And Won. 1, No. Instead, the builders end-dumped and shoved loosely compacted layers of coarse refuse across the valley. Steve Thompson Witnessed the Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster First Hand. The report found that company and state officials were ill informed of the problems of refuse dams and had not taken timely measures. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. In the end, more than 125 people were killed, at least 1,000 injured, and some 4,000 left homeless. A wave of nearly 130 million gallons of water and other material (a total volume estimated to be between 300 and 400 acre-feet) roared down the Buffalo Creek valley at a velocity estimated to be 20 feet per second in its initial three miles. gave way, killing eight people. AprilOver 1,000 residents registered claims with Pittston. Buffalo Creek Disaster YE HAO GBL395 Summer 2014 Synopsis: . His words paint a picture of a bleak future for a people suffering from a cyclical system of abuse. A search of Public Service Commission records in response to Pearl Woodrums complaint failed to produce any proof that dams No.1 and No. In addition to the two West Virginia reports, there were also several others, including the U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing record already mentioned; a U.S. Geological Survey report; a U.S. Department of the Interior Report; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report all of which, in one form or another, found fault with the design, integrity, and lack of oversight of the dams, and how regulators and the Pittston Coal Company failed to meet their responsibilities for public health and safety. 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. 45, No. Governor Arch Moore accepted a $1 million settlement from the Pittston Coal Company related to the 1972 Buffalo Creek Flood. Titchener, F.T. 3 failed at 8 a.m., releasing millions of gallons of water into Dam No. They created this place and they destroyed this place, and we are just disposable, basically. 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. He was heavily involved in writing federal regulations and beefed-up criteria for the construction of coal waste dams and their maintenance. were provided to Stern. Kentucky has 102. Mary Walton, State Warned in 1967 of Larado Dam Danger, Charleston Gazette, March 1, 1972. Mine Safety Health Administration lists 570 active coal impoundments across the country. Scholarship on the disaster also helps us get to know the peoplethe victims, the survivorsinvolved. The commission consisted of nine men with ties to the coal industryor a vested interest in proving that Pittston Coal and state regulating agencies were not responsible. According to some, however, there were positive changes that did come to coalfield and regulatory practices in the years immediately following the disaster. Were owned by the coal company. [I]f you dont do some-thing, were all going to be washed away., By June 1970, Pittston had acquired the Buffalo Mining Company. Its still very personal to me.. It would just go from one hillside to the other. The flood wave destroyed houses and mobile homes, uprooted trees, and swept topsoil, huge rocks, trucks and cars downstream. 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. Nader had sent one of his investigators, a young West Virginia lawyer named Davitt McAteer (who years later would head up the U.S. Richard Carelli, Mining Official Blames Explosions on Flood Water Hitting Hot Slag Pile, Charleston Gazette, March 9, 1972. February 25Because of heavy rains, dam #3 was rising 1-2 inches per hour. 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. BMCfilled the hole with more coal refuse. G. ERALD . 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. 27, No. Hearing before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs United States Senate July 20, 1972. 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 couple had nine children. examining the plaintiffs. May 1972, Wash., DC. Its not even past.. Get this from a library! shares to 1,217 shares. I dont know where. But his pregnant wife couldnt get out; she was trapped in the house. March 28Pittston press release stating that it had opened offices to March 5, 1972. Moore shared stories of two young children Darla Dillon, 5, and David Adkins Jr., 4, both of Lorado who perished in the flood. High around 75F. 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. Gerald M. Stern, The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors Unprecedented Lawsuit, New York: Random House, 1976. Aerial photos at an Army Corps of Engineers office showed that earlier strip mining of coal seams had occurred on both sides of the slate dump, along with horizontal auger mining boring into the hillsides there. Like Kalgan mentions these cases sometimes end up "spending more money on litigation costs than on payments that end up in injured plaintiffs pockets" (Kagan, 138). Sunshine and clouds mixed. The state later had to pay the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers more than $9 million for recovery work along Buffalo Creek. February 5, 1968Buffalo Creek resident wrote the Governor of West Virginia Click the card to flip Definition 1 / 149 * the author, former civil rights attorney employed at Arnold and Porter (large DC firm) * lead attorney in Buffalo Creek case Click the card to flip Flashcards Learn Test Match Created by Mariam_Salman27 Terms in this set (149) Buffalo Creek Special Series, Charleston Gazette, February 1997. State of West Virginia sued Pittston in both state and federal court for the states with little windows and doors and a small latch on 3 every day. Many in the downstream communities were keenly aware of the unstable nature of these impoundments, and expressed their concern to government officials. In fact, there had already been signs of trouble at the dams, which should have raised alarms and efforts at corrective construction. The Buffalo Creek Disaster Memorial, located in Kistler, WV, stands as a reminder of one of the darkest hours in West Virginia history. 3 on the Middle Fork was born out of the age-old practice in the coal fields of disposing of waste material and was constructed without utilizing technology developed for earthen dams and without using or consulting with professional persons qualified to design and build such a structure. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.. Thunderstorms this evening will give way to steady rain overnight. Justice v. Pittston class action by now-Judge Phillip Gaujot on behalf of 348 children 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. PopHistoryDig.com, January 31, 2019. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; He spoke with residents, including a woman who said she lost eighteen relatives in the flood. No evidence of an act of God was found by the Commission. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; By June 1970, Pittston had acquired the Buffalo Mining Company. May 30, 1972. One newspaper, reporting on the study and the Senate hearings, used the headlines Army Corps of Engineers Says Dam Doomed From Start (below). Some of the flood damage in the aftermath of the Buffalo Creek disaster in West Virginia, showing "mud line" on damaged home, indicating approximation of flood levels for some structures, while others were carried away in the wave or disintegrated into pieces. So often, these people are defined by misguided Appalachian stereotypes. ", 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. Two Films 1975 and 1984, Appalshop.org. Pierson said he traumatized at age seven by the power going off during a rain storm and his grandfather knocking on the door. Based on the testimony obtained from hearings, technical reports and our own field inspection, the Commission concludes that: Dam No. In 2012, a section of embankment being worked on collapsed at a coal slurry pond in northern West Virginia. Then I fell off in the water. 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