A motion to make the resolution binding on Pittston management was defeated by The Buffalo Creek (W.Va.) flood is one of the most extensively examined and longest followed disasters in the psychiatric study of trauma. You know, its not like your house burned down, Hall said. I watched them crumble. (plus appendices, vol. 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.. He reported there was no danger of a washout of Dam No. Pierson said the flood had a rather unique impact on him it caused him to conquer his fear of water. April 1, 1974Pittston moved to dismiss absent plaintiffs, plaintiffs claiming October 23, 1890: "Wreck on the C&O" November 4, 1985: Floods devastate West Virginia. 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. U.S. 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. Total property damage was estimated at $50 million (about $340 million in 2022 dollars). However, he did question the ability of the overflow pipes in Dam No. Human relationships in this community had been derived from traditional bonds of kinship and neighborliness. 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. They are used to hard times. 1969Congress enacted the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. Gallery: The Buffalo Creek Flood, Herald-Dispatch.com, February 26, 2014. Buffalo Creek Mine Disaster: Feb. 26, 1972. 2's slurry pool. All we had was the clothes on our backs and I prep, I put back not a lot of food, but as much as Janet (his wife) will let me, and I prepare for nuclear war. More than a dozen towns were inundated and 125 people lost their lives. One resident had even written to the governor a few years earlier saying if something wasnt done about the dams, were all going to be washed away.We saw the water lift up our house. (1972). 2 had ever been formally approved by the state. By 1972, the third dam ranged from 45-to-60 feet in height, and the Middle Fork had become a series of black pools. Each failure added millions of gallons to the monstrous wave of water bearing down on the residents of the countryside and towns below. According to some, however, there were positive changes that did come to coalfield and regulatory practices in the years immediately following the disaster. 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. Feb 28, 1972, The Logan Banner of Logan, WV reports on the search for victims, relief effort, and first-hand accounts. In the early days of the European settlement of Australia, especially during the 1800's, it was common for large numbers of Aboriginal people (men, women and children) to be massacred by the white settlers, including by police and soldiers. 1948US Department of Interior published an information circular, Burning 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.". . amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Headlines from 'The Springfield Republican' of Massachusetts, report on the 'W.Va. 141-144, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Association for American Studies, Asian Journal of Social Science, Vol. Death, Destruction, Terror of 1972 Buffalo Creek Disaster Still Vivid, The Herald-Dispatch, January 15, 2009. #3 in his inspection report. Beyond coal, and headquartered in New York City, Pittston had other diverse holdings an oil company, a large trucking firm, the Brinks armored car company, and forty percent of the warehouses in New York City. WV Governor, Arch Moore. 1929). Mining industry-related incidents are a longstanding reality for the residents of West Virginia, Young writes, echoing the sentiments Ralph Nader expressed decades earlier. Survivor Fred Pierson, who lived at Saunders, never shared his story beyond his close family members or attended a memorial service until last year on the 50th anniversary. 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. 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. U.S. In 1971, Pittston was cited for over 5,000 safety violations at its mines nationally. But the water-soaked engine would not start, and as he reached for his wife, the flood just carried her away. Adkins did manage to hold onto one daughter and two sons, but his wife and two other children could not be located. This mining activity, though in the past, had stripped away the water-absorbing forest undergrowth, thus increasing surface run-off during heavy precipitation. 3 failed. The first coal camps at Buffalo Creek were built. Instead, the builders end-dumped and shoved loosely compacted layers of coarse refuse across the valley. And that same year, 1967, the U.S. Department of the Interior had warned state officials that the Buffalo Creek dams and 29 others throughout West Virginia were unstable and dangerous. Arch Moore's emergency director asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to perform recovery work at state expense. The Buffalo Creek Flood and Disaster: Official Report from the Governors Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry, 1973 (PDF of actual report at Marshall University). Arch Moore agreed to a $1 million settlement before leaving office in . Survey geologist inspects the Buffalo Creek dam and concludes that it was basically damaged and destroyed bridges, roads, and schools for $50 million compensatory Tempers flared there as one local man tore into Randolph. When the water set it down again, it just flattened out on the ground. Media Blow Held Worse Than Flood, Charleston Gazette, March 8, 1972. with little windows and doors and a small latch on Then I fell off in the water. The socio-psychology of all this was probed and covered in an award-winning 1976 book by Kai T. Erikson. 2 held and halted the water. The tautly-worded 31-page report offered detailed findings and evidence of corporate negligence and government failures in the disaster, and proposed 21 recommendations. 36, No. Judge Hall ruled that the plaintiffs survivor-syndrome claims might exceed $10,000 Newman, Disaster at Buffalo Creek. Senator). Some residents in the area, especially those who lived in the town of Saunders, located in the valley directly below the dams, had worried for years about the dams strength. Buffalo Mining Companys Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. Were owned by the coal company. flagrant disregard for the safety of residents of Buffalo Creek and other persons Some residents in the area, especially those who lived in the town of Saunders, located in the valley directly below the dams, had worried for years about the dams strength. An early New York Times story filed from Man, West Virginia, implicated 'coal waste pile' in its reporting on the Buffalo Creek disaster, along with a photo of some of the local damage. Logan County West Virginia Man, 1997. The Citizens report also noted that strip mining above the dam had likely contributed to its over-filling. The sociologist Kai Erikson was brought in for the latter suit as an expert witness on behalf of the survivors. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. 1,121 individuals were injured over 4,000 of Buffalo Creeks approximately 5,000 residents were immediately rendered homeless. Ben A. Franklin, Flood Survivors Sue Mine Concern; Plaintiffs Ask $64-Million Seek Damages Over Survivor Syndrome; 800 Pages of Testimony; A Sound Like Thunder, New York Times, April 18, 1973. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Engineering, Not Rainfall, Given Blame, Logan Banner, March 9, 1972. It wasnt if Buffalo Creek would ever happen again, but when. February 22A federal mine inspector andBMCsafety engineer solicitation of legal business. It later concluded that there was no impropriety. BMCfeared A few helicopters were used initially until local miners and others, and the National Guard, began clearing debris and building makeshift roads and bridges. Williams explained that such mining was only viable because the state allowed it to externalize costs i.e., impose its pollution, mine wastes, and environmental damage on landowners and the general public. Julie Robinson, Buffalo Creek Miracle Baby Tells Story to Readers Digest, Charleston Gazette, January 26, 2013. million deductible in response to the Dola, W. Va., dam failure. who live near coal-refuse impoundments.. 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. Erin L. McCoy, The U.S. Has Nearly 600 Coal Waste Sites. One resident at the scene, later quoted in in Kai T. Eriksons book. by refuse-pile dams. He is forbidden from distributing the memorandum. Chronology of a Disaster, BuffaloCreek Flood.org. 2 gave way, quickly followed by Dam No. 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 Charleston Gazette account: How I got out of that water, I dont know I rode the house a long ways. There was a problem saving your notification. I love it, said Jacob Turkale, 25, who caught a rainbow trout Tuesday. George Vecsey, West Virginia Flood Toll At 60 With Hundreds Lost, New York Times, February 28, 1972. The lawsuit and the book provide the 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. It wasnt long after the flood that lawsuits were brought against Pittston Coal, the company responsible for the slurry dams. But it brings back memories. 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. I finally caught hold of the railroad with one hand and pulled my myself out. Resources Division inspectors checked the dams but nothing happened. were provided to Stern. To counter Eriksons claims, Ewen and Lewis include survivor testimony that he neglected. 45, No. The governors acquiescence proved costly for the state, as West Virginia ended up forced to reimburse the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $9 million for recovery work. In 1960, Buffalo Mining had constructed its first gob dam, or impoundment, near the mouth of Middle Fork in 1960. Such bold determination on the part of everyday citizens demonstrates the leadership that Erikson found lacking in Appalachia. examining the plaintiffs. 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. February 1971Dam #3 collapsed. Robert Shy, among those in the West Virginia Army National Guard who helped during the crisis, flew helicopters up and down the valley delivering water and milk and picking up dazed and injured survivors. Get your fix of JSTOR Dailys best stories in your inbox each Thursday. The couple had nine children. February 28Pittston employee distributes warning memorandum previously The state of West Virginia also sued Pittston for $100 million for disaster and relief damages, but Governor Arch A. Moore settled that case for just $1 million three days before leaving office in 1977. May 30, 1972. Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson, Many Coal Sludge Impoundments Have Weak Walls, Federal Study Says, Washington Post, April 24, 2013. In 2002, Alpha Natural Resources purchased what remained of Pttstons coal business. December 17, 1971WVDNR Inspector recommended an emergency spillway on [W]e decided we would band together and hope it would relieve our tensions and fears, stated one member of the group. Click for copy. By the days end, hundreds of homes and vehicles were destroyed, thousands were left homeless, and 125 men, women, and children were dead. McClintock was a field worker for the Black Lung Association, an organization focused on the debilitating disease common to miners. 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. AprilOver 1,000 residents registered claims with Pittston. Buffalo Creek Disaster Term 1 / 149 Who is Gerald Stern? Pierson said he traumatized at age seven by the power going off during a rain storm and his grandfather knocking on the door. Governor Moore, however, acting to protect the Pittston Coal Company, tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress his own commissions report. Mary Walton, Triangle of Blame Placed in Disaster, Charleston Gazette, May 30, 1972, p.1. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR. M. S. TERN, T . 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. Loss of Communality at Buffalo Creek, American Journal of Psychiatry, March 1976, pp. Gerald M. Stern, The Buffalo Creek Disaster: The Story of the Survivors Unprecedented Lawsuit, New York: Random House, 1976. The spill covered the surrounding land with up to six feet of sludge. By June 1970, Pittston had acquired the Buffalo Mining Company. Pittstons For many, Eriksons book became a definitive take on Buffalo Creek, as well as Appalachian culture as a whole. In addition, coal wastes have also been dumped into abandoned deep mines and used to reclaim strip mines. studied the 1972 Buffalo Creek flood in WV. By March 2, Republican Governor Arch Moore announced the formation of an Ad Hoc Commission of Inquiry to investigate the flood. Hearing before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs United States Senate July 20, 1972. Today is the 49th anniversary of one of the worst mining catastrophes in West Virginia history, the Buffalo Creek Disaster. the front to drag them to paradise california. I enjoyed it when I was small., He said the adults decided that if they got the kids involved they wouldnt be as apt to go out and start worrying about getting on drugs or drinking and stuff like that.. Consumer Information 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. No criminal charges were brought against the mining executives for their negligence in the creation and operation of the illegal and unstable coal waste dams. ITHAKA. Court to make the plaintiffs state their dollar damage claims with more particularity. He spoke with residents, including a woman who said she lost eighteen relatives in the flood. But this dam dam No. BMCs vice 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. October 5, 1973Plaintiffs filed supplemental more definite statement In the year 2000, increased attention was focused on the regulation of coal waste impoundments following a failure near Inez, Kentucky. (The Herald-Dispatch via AP). The number stern settled on was 32.5 million dollars. However, in this case, Dam No. April 1, 1974 Pittston moved to dismiss absent plaintiffs, plaintiffs claiming psychic injury while they were physically away from Buffalo Creek during the flood. settled a lawsuit over this breakdown. Buffalo Creek Flood, 1972, Online Exhibit /Special Collections, Marshall University, 2002. I was terrified of water because I lived through it as a kid and I was just traumatized, but I tell you what, after that dam broke and I seen what I seen, I never was afraid of water again. Twenty-seven years of follow-up research by teams of both . Help us keep publishing stories that provide scholarly context to the news. According to the U.S. EPA, there are over 1,000 operating coal ash waste ponds and landfills, plus many hundreds of retired coal ash disposal sites. 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. May 1, 1971Pittston acquiredBMCand assumed sole management To view our latest e-Edition click the image at left. Earl Lambert, From The Mountainsides: Many Saw It Happen, Logan Banner (Logan, WV), February 28, 1972. Fact stipulations, exhibit lists, and pretrial Among those pressing for action in Washington was consumer advocate Ralph Nader, well known by then for taking on politicians and corporations. Arch Moore agreed to a $1,000,000 settlement just days. Boulders donated by another mine operator were strategically placed in the creek. Kapp, Disaster at Buffalo Creek. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines (W. A. Wahler & Associates), Analysis of Coal Refuse Dam Failure. 3 failed at 8 a.m., releasing millions of gallons of water into Dam No. It ripped homes from their foundations, swept up cars, mobile homes, and bridges, and even left twisted rail lines in a few places before it finished its destructive run over 17 miles to the Guyandotte River. 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. Chad Motrie's 2003 history of Appalachian strip mining. But $27 million in flood emergency funds was used in 1975 to build a highway that really went nowhere, except to the coal tipples at the head of Buffalo Creek. Disaster at Buffalo Creek. Refuse Dumps at Coal Mines, discouraging the use of coal refuse dumps as dams. Gertie Moore recalls a personal story about the Buffalo Creekduring a memorial service at the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library on Friday, Feb. 24. 3 was rising one or two inches per hour. Half of its downstream side slumped but 1 & 2. 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. president stops any efforts to warn residents and reassures the police that the Several lawsuits were also filed in the wake of the Buffalo Creek disaster, including a large class action with 645 survivors and victim family members suing Pittston for $64 million. 51 years later, memories still haunt survivors of Buffalo Creek flood. We won't share it with anyone else. The floods aftermath was widespread property destruction and the deaths of 125 people three of which were babies who were never identified. (AP Photo/John Raby). This work revealed the inadequacies that existed at that time in the safety of many of the dams constructed by the coal mining industry. It would go this way on this side of the hill and take a house out; take one house out of all the rows, and then go back the other way. Mimi Pickering (Film Director), Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (essay), Library of Congress, 1978 (in 1984, filmmaker Mimi Pickering completed Buffalo Creek Revisited, an update on the flood and its consequences). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Children walk along the tracks in what remains of their community along Buffalo Creek on Feb. 27, 1972, The people are prisoners of the coal industry.. Stephen Young, a Marshall University professor and criminologist, recently wrote an article focused on the 2014 Elk River chemical spill, which left 300,000 West Virginians without clean water. State officials requested a few minor alterations to the impoundment. One of the photos used in Disaster on Buffalo Creek: A Citizens' Report on Criminal Negligence in a West Virginia Mining Community, 1972. Invalid password or account does not exist. Gazette-Mail/L. What was the settlement in the Buffalo Creek disaster? August 8, 1972Congress passed the National Dam Inspection Act. I repair Geiger counters. 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. Create a password that only you will remember. Jules Loh, Associated Press, A Lie About God From Paradise to Hell: The Morning When False Alarms Turned to Reality, The Sunday Messenger (Athens, OH), front page, March 5, 1972. The flood, known as the Buffalo Creek disaster, is considered one of the worst disasters in both American and Mountain State history. University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Appalachian Studies Association, Inc. Journal of American Studies, Vol. However, adequate funding was never appropriated by teh West Virginia legislature to enforce the law. Film Clip, The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act Of Man, YouTube.com (8:22), February 20, 2012. Robert C. Withers, The Disaster of Buffalo Creek, Report of the West Virginia Adjutant General, Charleston, WV, 1972. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; 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. A Pittston Coal Group decal sticker listing some of the company's mining locations in the VA-WV area. (BMCs) dam #1 fails causes a steam explosion and damaging the Saunders community Approximately $5.5 million was provided for property and wrongful-death damages, with approximately $8 million for the psychic impairment claims. A memorial to the victims of the Buffalo Creek coal impoundment disaster is shown Feb. 22, 2022, in Kistler, W.Va. On Feb. 26, 1972, a makeshift impoundment dam collapsed, sending millions of. 1967The U.S. Department of Interior releases its Report on Condition Richard Carelli, Mining Official Blames Explosions on Flood Water Hitting Hot Slag Pile, Charleston Gazette, March 9, 1972. to the one at Buffalo Creek collapses, killing 147 people. International television coverage of the American Civil Rights struggle was critical in the construction of racial identity and experience in postwar Britain. UPI, Buffalo Creek Flood Inquiry [i.e., special grand jury] Is Off Until After Election, New York Times, September 13, 1972. survivor syndrome, what is known today as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He also concluded that Pittstons Buffalo Creek Mining Co. could not be charged with negligent homicide because there was no way to put a corporation in jail.. That film was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2005. No evidence of an act of God was found by the Commission. 1, No. That failure sent 300 million gallons of liquid coal waste tearing through the underground mine chambers, then spewing out of mountainside portals into valley streams below. 300 acre-feet of water would be: amzn_assoc_region = "US"; But the dam pools, and the dumping of the solid slag wastes on the dam structures, were both essentially cost-saving, cheapest-way-to-do-it coal industry practices. case is assigned to Judge K.K. The association will hold its annual kids fishing event in April, giving away 125 rods and reels and other fishing gear. 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. Stern asked Judge Hall to help him get access to the West Virginia Ad Hoc Commission Pittston, meanwhile, would inform its investors that the 1974 settlement that had come with one of the survivors lawsuits did not impact the companys profit margin. Based on the testimony obtained from hearings, technical reports and our own field inspection, the Commission concludes that: Dam No. for authority to build a $350 million oil refinery and tanker terminal. How the 1972 Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster Forever Changed Appalachia A Book Proposal by Tom Nugent. Stern describes victims losing family members before their eyes, and the devastation caused by the flood. Miles away, a coal companys hillside impoundment dams collapsed, sending slurry thundering downhill and into the hollow, inundating small communities and killing 125 people. G. ERALD . Its still very personal to me.. Thomas N. Bethell and Davitt McAteer, The Pittston Mentality: Manslaughter on Buffalo Creek, Washington Monthly, May 1972. No dollar amount could ever erase for the survivors what happened at Buffalo Creek. In the wake of this disaster, Congress asked the National Research Council to examine ways to reduce the potential for similar accidents in the future, and their report appeared in October 2001, recommending the federal government establish clear authority to review the stability of such impoundments, improve regulation, establish minimum distance rules, and undertake more complete mapping of existing and abandoned underground mines. Eriksons book was a finalist for the National Book Award the year of its release. (3) U.S. Congress. February 26, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most devastating mine disasters in U.S. history. Set during the Polish-Soviet War of 19191920, Babels novel captured the indiscriminate violence and injustice of warfare. "Coal: A Human History", 2016 edition. (1976). The association bought habitat structures to further help form the pools that trout prefer. The outcome of the lawsuits surrounding Buffalo Creek go far in demonstrating the power divide between the haves and the have-nots in Appalachia. Three coal waste dams in West Virginia failed, killing 125 people and injuring 1,100 more in communities downstream of the dams. and submitted other discovery requests to Pittston. Associated Press (Man, WV. 128-129. there wasnt any flood. (ABA Required Disclosures). Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. 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. (the diversity amount-in-controversy amount at the time). [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. Get this from a library! Buffalo Creek Mine Disaster: Feb. 26, 1972. The Buffalo Creek that survives today is calm in places and flows briskly in others, its rapids gurgling. Associated Press wire story reporting "400 missing" in a front-page story that ran in The Tuscaloosa Times newspaper in Alabama. document.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); JSTOR Daily provides context for current events using scholarship found in JSTOR, a digital library of academic journals, books, and other material. 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. 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. Restockings now happen several times a year. about future Aberfan disasters. Ken Ward, Jr., Agencies Failed to Protect People, Inspector Recalls, Charleston Gazette, Tuesday, February 25, 1997. In the end, more than 125 people were killed, at least 1,000 injured, and some 4,000 left homeless. In March 1967, a partial collapse at one of the dams caused some flooding in the hollow, alarming residents already concerned about the structures. Kai T. Erikson, Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976. Events Leading To The Buffalo Creek Disaster, BuffaloCreekFlood.org. Each upstream dam was built several hundred yards upstream of the previous dam. Citing coal industry dereliction throughout central Appalachia, they said it was imperative for Congress to investigate the industrys practice of erecting crudely-made coal refuse dams and propose legislation to prevent future disasters.
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