Hawks Nest/ Union Carbide Tour - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Hawks Nest Coal Strike

In 1880 the West Virginia militia was used for the first time to stop a coal mine strike. The clashing of union and nonunion workers in the Coal Valley and Hawks Nest mines led the unionized works to halt work. After the strikers threatened violence to workers in neighboring mines, Governor Henry Matthews called in the state militia to arrest miners and break up the strike. The events at Hawks Nest and Coal Valley set a president for the handling of future mine strikes. The Hawks Nest Rail Trail offers a view of the Mill Creek Colliery Mine which was involved in the strike.

2. Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster

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.

3. Hawks Nest State Park

First established as a State Park in 1935, the importance of Hawks Nest dates back to well before West Virginia became a state. Taking its name from the ospreys (also known as “fish hawks”) that are a common sight on nearby cliffs, the area was first called Marshall’s Pillar when it was frequented in the early 1800s by John Marshall, then fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Decades later, the area bore witness to several Civil War skirmishes involving Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Henry Wise. In the 1920s, a nearby tunnel and dam were built to supply power for corporate chemical giant Union Carbide’s plant in Alloy. Finally in 1935, the state of West Virginia bought the surrounding land to build a state park. The Civilian Conservation Corps built several of the structures in the park including a scenic overlook and museum, which draw thousands of visitors annually to this day.

4. Hawk's Nest Overlook, West Virginia

Hawk's Nest Overlook was built during the Great Depression as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) construction projects. Chief Justice John Marshall explored this section of Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1812 and was so impressed by the view of the New River valley that this area was often referred to as "Marshall's Pillar." During the 1930s, young men were employed by the CCC to create what is now Hawks Nest State Park. The area is best-known for another construction project, the creation of a tunnel with hydroelectric equipment that generated power as the water of the New River travelled through Gauley Mountain. The government failed to provide protective equipment for the workforce, composed mostly of African American laborers. A Congressional investigation ruled that the failure to provide protective equipment led to the deaths of 476 men whose inhaled silica rock dust while they built the tunnel. Today, Hawks Nest offers a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities, historic markers, and a hotel and gift shop.

5. Glen Ferris Inn

A stately inn originally built in 1839 for stagecoach and river travelers, its position along the crucial Kanawha and James River Turnpike guaranteed a large share of notable visitors and events at Glen Ferris It has served as a family residence, Civil War Army quartermaster’s depot, coal mining operation headquarters, and four presidents have stayed under its roof at different times throughout history. Though it has not always served as an Inn for its nearly 200 years, it has since returned to its original function and welcomes visitors to lodge year-round in its historic rooms.

6. WVA Manufacturing / Alloy Electrometallurgical Plant

Built in the 1930s by Union Carbide company, this electrometallurgical plant was, in many ways, the cause of the deadly Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster: the tunnel, dam, and powerhouse at Hawks Nest were built to supply power to this facility. The plant was originally owned by Union Carbide and is currently owned by Globe in conjunction with Dow Corning. Also throughout the years, the types of production at the plant has changed. It is now known as WVA Manufacturing.

7. Union Carbide Corporation

In the first two decades of the 1900s, advancements in industrial manufacture and the growing demand for automobiles set the stage for a revolution in synthetic materials. A new industrial powerhouse soon emerged: Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation (later shortened to Union Carbide), which resulted from the merger of five different companies that shared a need for carbon and calcium carbide in the products they made for other industrial manufacturers. After beginning with a small refinery in Clendenin, West Virginia, UCCC acquired land along the Kanawha River in South Charleston in 1925 and began 50 years of exponential growth. Before a decline in the 1980s, Union Carbide was one of the United States' ten most profitable companies, with 80,000 workers worldwide at more than 100 plants. Their headquarters remained in South Charleston until Dow Chemical purchased the company in 2001 amid legal woes and declining profits. Dow maintains a large plant on the original Union Carbide site, though some properties have been sold or demolished, most notably the engineering headquarters in Building 82 across MacCorkle Avenue from the main campus, destroyed with dynamite in 2009.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Hawks Nest/ Union Carbide Tour

Created by South Charleston Interpretive Center on April 29th 2018, 11:22:14 am.

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Description

With 12,000 workers in the state at its peak in the 1940s, Union Carbide was once the largest employer in West Virginia. The prosperity enjoyed by the company, headquartered in South Charleston, brought jobs and investment to the Kanawha Valley--but also a checkered safety record that resulted in ecological catastrophes and human tragedy. The Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster of the 1930s, in which the company ignored industrial safety standards, failed to issue proper respiratory equipment, and killed more than 400 workers employed at the Tunnel during its construction, is the worst industrial "accident" in the United States, the legacy of which was much suppressed by the company and West Virginia Governor Homer Holt, who later became an attorney for Carbide. This driving tour takes visitors to some of the flashpoints of the Hawks Nest Tragedy, and eventually to the site of the former Union Carbide headquarters in South Charleston.

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