Hurricane Creek mine disaster
Encyclopedia
The Hurricane Creek mine disaster occurred five miles from Hyden, Kentucky
on December 30, 1970, shortly after noon, and resulted in the deaths of 38 men. As was often pointed out in coverage
of the disaster
, it occurred a year to the day after the passage
of the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969
. Recovery was complicated by the fact that a foot of snow fell on the rural
mountain
road
s at the time of the accident.
It was the most deadly mine disaster
in the United States since the Farmington Mine disaster
in 1968, and is the subject of Tom T. Hall
's song, "Trip to Hyden". Another song about the disaster, "The Hyden Miners' Tragedy", by J.D. Jarvis, was issued as a 45 RPM on the independent Sunrise label (Hamilton, Ohio).
s 15 and 16 of a "truck mine" owned by Charles and Stanley Finley, which had opened the previous March on leased land, although their company had been mining in the area for ten years. The small operation involved about 170 employees, who were not members of United Mine Workers
. 34 infractions had been reported in its first three months of operation, but they had been fixed, and the mine had been shut down for 3 days in June due to safety concerns.
The Bureau of Mines had declared the mine an "imminent danger" due to blasting safety hazards in November 1970 but allowed the mine to continue operation. The hazards, which included excess accumulation of coal dust and electrical spark
hazard
s, were discovered on November 19 and ordered to be cleaned up by December 22, but the agency was short of inspectors and could not reinspect on that date, as was required by law. The understaffed agency needed about 750 inspectors, but only had 499 at the time of the disaster.
The conditions would have allowed the bureau to declare the mine "excessively hazardous" and conduct inspections every 10 days, but they chose not to do so. The mine owners had been blamed by inspectors for the crushing death of a worker on November 9, saying the owners had failed to make required repairs to the underground tractor
involved in the accident.
This lack of enforcement of the new mining safety law was part of a wider problem protested by members of Congress
, and union
miner
s had gone on strike
that summer to protest the lack of enforcement. The understaffed agency had, at the time of the Hurricane Creek disaster, failed to issue a single fine despite citing thousands of safety violations at dozens of coal mines.
that he had seen primer cord - an illegal fuse
- at the mine site.
Illegal primer cord was found in the December 30 blast site, as well as at the site of a December 22 blast at the mine.
According to a memoir
by James D. Ausenbaugh, who was editor
of the Courier-Journals state desk at the time of the disaster, one of the mine owners complained at the mine site about the 1969 mine safety law and those who had supported it. One of the bystanders, Leslie County
Judge George Wooton, confronted the owner and beat him bloody. The owner was carried from the mine site and Wooton never faced any charges.
Richard Nixon
quickly issued a statement offering sympathy to family and friends of the deceased miners, and promised to take "every appropriate step" to prevent future disasters. He dispatched some of his top aides, including Robert Finch.
Charles Finley went on trial for negligent
operation of the mine in February 1972.
nasium in Hyden. Many bodies had been so damaged in the blast that they could only be identified by social security number
s written on their belts. Most of the miners came from Clay
and Leslie County counties, two of the poorest in the state, and the New York Times described their economy
at the time by saying "there is little industry but coal".In an interview with correspondent, Bill Walker of CBS News, the forman's widow was asked if she held the Finley's responsible for killing her husband. Knowing her answer would require further testimony and possible endangerment, she said;"no" and paused, then stated,'"No more than if they'd held a gun to his head." This was the first time anyone related to the blast spoke out. Her husband she went on to reveal, had spoken of the mine violations both the owner and federal government had let slide in the name of expediancy and jobs.
The House Labor Subcommittee
held a week-long inquiry into the disaster in March 1971. Chuck Finley, the mine's owner, appeared only when subpoena
ed, and denied any knowledge of the illegal primer cord, including testimony from a mine worker who claimed to have told Finley about the cord a few weeks earlier. Finley also denied claims raised in earlier testimony that he had bribed a mine inspector. He was questioned most harshly by Romano L. Mazzoli
of Louisville, who had just begun what would be a long career in the House of Representatives
.
Hyden, Kentucky
Hyden is a city in Leslie County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 365 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Leslie County. It is located at the junction of U.S. Route 421 and Kentucky Route 80, along the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River....
on December 30, 1970, shortly after noon, and resulted in the deaths of 38 men. As was often pointed out in coverage
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
of the disaster
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
, it occurred a year to the day after the passage
Parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies...
of the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969
Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969
The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, United States Public Law 91-173, generally referred to as the Coal Act, created the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration , later renamed the Mine Safety and Health Administration , as well as a National Mine Map Repository, within the...
. Recovery was complicated by the fact that a foot of snow fell on the rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
s at the time of the accident.
It was the most deadly mine disaster
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
in the United States since the Farmington Mine disaster
Farmington Mine Disaster
The Farmington Mine disaster was an explosion that happened at approximately 5:30 a.m. on November 20, 1968, at the Consol No. 9 coal mine north of Farmington and Mannington, West Virginia, USA....
in 1968, and is the subject of Tom T. Hall
Tom T. Hall
Thomas "Tom T." Hall is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has written 11 #1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the pop crossover hit "I Love", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100...
's song, "Trip to Hyden". Another song about the disaster, "The Hyden Miners' Tragedy", by J.D. Jarvis, was issued as a 45 RPM on the independent Sunrise label (Hamilton, Ohio).
Mine conditions
The disaster occurred in shaftShaft mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
s 15 and 16 of a "truck mine" owned by Charles and Stanley Finley, which had opened the previous March on leased land, although their company had been mining in the area for ten years. The small operation involved about 170 employees, who were not members of United Mine Workers
United Mine Workers
The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
. 34 infractions had been reported in its first three months of operation, but they had been fixed, and the mine had been shut down for 3 days in June due to safety concerns.
The Bureau of Mines had declared the mine an "imminent danger" due to blasting safety hazards in November 1970 but allowed the mine to continue operation. The hazards, which included excess accumulation of coal dust and electrical spark
Electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge is a serious issue in solid state electronics, such as integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and insulating materials such as silicon dioxide...
hazard
Hazard
A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or environment. Most hazards are dormant or potential, with only a theoretical risk of harm; however, once a hazard becomes "active", it can create an emergency situation. A hazard does not exist when it is not...
s, were discovered on November 19 and ordered to be cleaned up by December 22, but the agency was short of inspectors and could not reinspect on that date, as was required by law. The understaffed agency needed about 750 inspectors, but only had 499 at the time of the disaster.
The conditions would have allowed the bureau to declare the mine "excessively hazardous" and conduct inspections every 10 days, but they chose not to do so. The mine owners had been blamed by inspectors for the crushing death of a worker on November 9, saying the owners had failed to make required repairs to the underground tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
involved in the accident.
This lack of enforcement of the new mining safety law was part of a wider problem protested by members of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, and union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
s had gone on strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
that summer to protest the lack of enforcement. The understaffed agency had, at the time of the Hurricane Creek disaster, failed to issue a single fine despite citing thousands of safety violations at dozens of coal mines.
Disaster
On December 30, 1970, the 38 day shift workers entered the 36" tall mine shaft at 7 A.M. and crawled to a depth of about 2,400 feet. The explosion occurred at about 12:10 P.M. The bodies were removed within 24 hours and the mine was sealed until an investigation could begin. A lone survivor, A.T. Collins, was reentering the shaft after a lunch break and was blown out of the mine by the explosion. Collins was one of three miners who testifiedTestimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
that he had seen primer cord - an illegal fuse
Fuse (explosives)
In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately...
- at the mine site.
Illegal primer cord was found in the December 30 blast site, as well as at the site of a December 22 blast at the mine.
According to a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
by James D. Ausenbaugh, who was editor
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
of the Courier-Journals state desk at the time of the disaster, one of the mine owners complained at the mine site about the 1969 mine safety law and those who had supported it. One of the bystanders, Leslie County
Leslie County, Kentucky
Leslie County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 12,401. Its county seat is Hyden. The county is named for Preston H. Leslie, Governor of Kentucky...
Judge George Wooton, confronted the owner and beat him bloody. The owner was carried from the mine site and Wooton never faced any charges.
Reaction
PresidentPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
quickly issued a statement offering sympathy to family and friends of the deceased miners, and promised to take "every appropriate step" to prevent future disasters. He dispatched some of his top aides, including Robert Finch.
Charles Finley went on trial for negligent
Negligence
Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...
operation of the mine in February 1972.
Disaster aftermath
The bodies were taken to a grade school gymGym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
nasium in Hyden. Many bodies had been so damaged in the blast that they could only be identified by social security number
Social Security number
In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...
s written on their belts. Most of the miners came from Clay
Clay County, Kentucky
- Demographics :As of the census of 2011, there were 21,000 people, 8,556 households, and 6,442 families residing in the county. The population density was 52 people per square mile . There were 9,439 housing units at an average density of 20 per square mile...
and Leslie County counties, two of the poorest in the state, and the New York Times described their economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
at the time by saying "there is little industry but coal".In an interview with correspondent, Bill Walker of CBS News, the forman's widow was asked if she held the Finley's responsible for killing her husband. Knowing her answer would require further testimony and possible endangerment, she said;"no" and paused, then stated,'"No more than if they'd held a gun to his head." This was the first time anyone related to the blast spoke out. Her husband she went on to reveal, had spoken of the mine violations both the owner and federal government had let slide in the name of expediancy and jobs.
The House Labor Subcommittee
United States House Education Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
The House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions is a standing subcommittee within the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce...
held a week-long inquiry into the disaster in March 1971. Chuck Finley, the mine's owner, appeared only when subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
ed, and denied any knowledge of the illegal primer cord, including testimony from a mine worker who claimed to have told Finley about the cord a few weeks earlier. Finley also denied claims raised in earlier testimony that he had bribed a mine inspector. He was questioned most harshly by Romano L. Mazzoli
Romano L. Mazzoli
Romano L. "Ron" Mazzoli represented Kentucky's Third Congressional District Romano L. "Ron" Mazzoli (born November 2, 1932, in Louisville, Kentucky) represented Kentucky's Third Congressional District Romano L. "Ron" Mazzoli (born November 2, 1932, in Louisville, Kentucky) represented Kentucky's...
of Louisville, who had just begun what would be a long career in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
.