The Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster Memorial is located just four miles east of the town of Hyden. The memorial pays tribute to one of the worst mine disasters to have occurred: the Finley Mine disaster. On the morning of December 30, 1970, a massive explosion went off in two Finley Mines, owned by Charles Finley, hurling one man sixty feet out of the mine and killing thirty-eight others. The disaster took place one year after the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act went into effect, and an extensive investigation found that there was "nearly absolute failure" in enacting the new safety laws. After forty years, a memorial paying tribute to the one survivor and thirty-eight men who lost their lives in the disaster was finally erected on the site of the old Finley Mine.
Located in the former Chambers Hardware store in Matewan, the back wall of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum still bears bullet holes from the legendary conflict it represents. While the Matewan Massacre shootout itself was only one occurrence in a massive chain of labor strikes, killings and political machinations, it helped touch off a catastrophic series of events that culminated in the assassination of Sheriff Sid Hatfield (of Hatfield and McCoy fame) and the infamous Battle of Blair Mountain--where 10,000 armed miners fought for several days against several thousand deputies and private coal company militiamen. The museum commemorates these events and explores them from the perspective of the common coal miner.
On Tuesday, March 8, 1960, the Holden Mine at Island Creek No. 22 caught fire in the coal seam, and it created a carbon monoxide gas which killed eighteen men by asphyxiation. The men were trapped shortly after entering the mine at seven in the morning. The last word from them came about 8:30 that morning shortly before the telephone lines burned.Officials blamed the fire on a cable or trolley line which was suspected to have been knocked down near a wooden timber that arced until the wood caught fire.
November 6, 1943, 11 men were killed after a mining machine sparked and ignited gas causing an explosion in a mine shaft in Nellis, WV. At the entrance of the road to the mine, there is still a monument that remembers the miners that were victims in this horrible incident. The heartbreak of this disaster is still obvious all throughout the area. A museum in a local church is dedicated to the miners who lost their lives. The children of the men lost in the explosion still live in the area.
On April 5, 2010, the Upper Big Branch mine explosion rocked the small town of Whitesville West Virginia. With the loss of 29 miners, the UBB mine disaster was the worst mine disaster in the state in decades. To remember their lost loved ones, the community created a memorial in their honor. The Upper Big Branch Mining Memorial Group, Inc. ensures the continuing maintenance and upkeep of the memorial.
The memorial commemorates the victims of two mining disaster, the first in 1914 and the second in 1926. The 1914 tragedy was the second-worst mine disaster in West Virginia coal mining history. On April 28, 1914 the No. 5 mine of the New River Collieries Company exploded in Raleigh County about four miles from present-day Beckley. The explosion carried over to the connecting No. 6 mine. A total of 183 men died in this mining disaster as a result of a faulty ventilation system. A second disaster occurred twelve years later when nineteen miners were killed on March 8, 1926. Both disasters were preventable as they were caused by the ignition of methane gas by mining equipment.
The miners memorial is a result of three years effort on the part of the Winding Gulf Restoration Organization, a local non-profit organization based out of Helen. With the help from nearby businesses and organizations, the memorial was finished in the summer of 2007 and honors those miners who lived or worked in Helen. Also located at the site of the memorial are interpretive signs installed in 2018 with the help of the National Coal Heritage Area Authority and the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia.
Despite being considered one of the greatest industrial disasters in United States history, the events at Hawks Nest Tunnel remain remarkably unacknowledged in the development of American labor. As the country sank into the Great Depression, in 1930-1932 a three-mile long tunnel from was dug through the heart of Gauley Mountain in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia by Union Carbide corporation to divert water to a hydroelectric plant, and at the time the project was considered an engineering marvel. Lax safety standards and a disregard for worker welfare, however, caused the death of hundreds of workers from silicosis. Despite later legislation that set precedents in mining and safety standards, Union Carbide avoided any real consequences in the investigation that followed.
The tragedy at Hawks Nest Tunnel is considered one of the greatest industrial disasters in American history. When chemical-manufacturing giant Union Carbide commissioned a 3-mile long tunnel through silica-rich Gauley Mountain in 1930, basic respiratory safety procedures were ignored and hundreds of the mostly lower-class African American miners contracted fatal cases of silicosis. The death toll, which is still contested, ran into the hundreds, and space was needed quickly to bury them. Racial tensions at the time did not allow African Americans to be buried with whites, so Union Carbide paid a local farmer for use of his fields as a makeshift cemetery. When the highway came through forty years later, in 1972, the graveyard was relocated and the dead forgotten again--until a local couple stepped in. Through the help of the community and local high school students, the cemetery has been restored and received a dedicated a memorial site in 2012.
The WV Coal Miners Memorial is located on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol Complex in Charleston, West Virginia. Coal mining has deep roots in West Virginia and is a quintessential aspect of culture in the Mountain State. However, coal mining is difficult and dangerous work. The Coal Miners Memorial was designed by Burl Jones in 2002 to honor the men and women who have dedicated their lives to mining coal in West Virginia. To this day, the statue remains a gathering site for those wishing to honor coal miners for their hard work, historical contributions, and personal sacrifices.
The Millfield Mine disaster occurred November 5, 1930, at the Sunday Creek Coal Company Mine Number 6 in Dover Township, Athens County, Ohio. It was the state's worst mine disaster. According to the historical marker at the site in Millfield, Ohio, the explosion killed 82 people.
On April 28, 1924, 125 men went into work at the mines of Wheeling Steel Corporation in Benwood, WV. Minutes after walking into the mine, 119 men were dead after an explosion happened at 7:05 am. Every miner who had made it into the mine failed to make it out. If they survived the explosion, they died of suffocation or were crushed to death by roof falls. This was the second worst mining disaster to date.
The Farmington Mine disaster occurred on November 20th, 1968 the community of Farmington in Marion county West Virginia when the Consol No. 9 mine erupted in flames. The cause was never officially announced at the time but the incident helped inspire the passage of several laws designed to protect miners. Recently new evidence has come to light in regards to the incident, with investigations alleging that the incident was caused by negligence. Legal action in regards to the accident is ongoing. The memorial honors the 78 miners killed in an explosion on November 20, 1968.
On December 6th, 1907, Fairmont Coal Company mines No. 6 and No. 8 exploded near Monongah, West Virginia. Officially 362 people were killed in the explosion, though later historians and researchers place that number much higher. The resulting outcry over the disaster led to the enactment of numerous safety regulations and was a factor in the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines. The aftermath of the disaster was trying for the town’s residents and the surviving family of workers and left a powerful legacy that is still felt today.
The Newburg Mine Disaster Memorial honors the 39 men and boys were killed in the gas explosion at the Mountain Brook Shaft of the Newburg Orrel Coal Company in 1886. The Newburg Mine Disaster was the first big shaft mine explosion in the state of West Virginia. The bronze plaque was dedicated by the Newburg Rotary Club in 1989, and is located in front of the Newburg Post Office.
The most deadly mining disaster in Pennsylvania history occurred at the Avondale Colliery on September 6, 1869. Like other mining companies at that time, Avondale kept small fires burning at the bottom of coal shafts to create drafts that promoted better air circulation for the working miners. However, in 1869, sparks from the Avondale ventilating furnace set fire to the timbers in the shaft, and the flames engulfed the breaker at the surface, the only exit for those underground. The fire devoured the oxygen and collapsed the breaker into the shaft. It took two days of clearing debris and poisonous gases from the mine before rescuers reached the first victims. Some men had fallen while running, another was kneeling, and a father was found with his arm around his son. All told, the fire asphyxiated 108 men and boys and two of the men who attempted to rescue them.
This monument commemorates the victims of the Knox Mine disaster which resulted in the deaths of twelve miners on January 22nd, 1959. The incident occurred when miners of the River Slope Mine, owned by the Knox Mine Company, were ordered to dig tunnels under a river. These tunnels were too close to the bottom of the river, causing the tunnels to fail and millions of gallons of water filling the mines. The tragedy cost the lives of twelve miners and led to trials that revealed unsafe practices and corruption throughout the industry. The breach resulted in a whirlpool emptying millions of gallons into the massive mine and a recovery effort that cost millions of dollars. This disaster played a pivotal role in ending anthracite mining in northern Pennsylvania. It also exposed negligent and even criminal practices on the part of mine operators and the UMWA in the region.
This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.
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This heritage trail includes memorials dedicated to the memory of miners whose lives were suddenly lost in major industrial disasters and related sites in Central Appalachia. The trail is a work in progress and intended as an educational resource and a tribute to the generations of miners and their families from this region.
