Ghosts On Buffalo Creek

A dear friend of mine, Joy Lackey, recently announced her first novel's debut: "The Ghosts On Buffalo Creek." Joy's novel won first place in West Virginia Writers Competition. It's a bargain, folks -- $12.26 includes the book, S/H, and sales tax. Please honor Joy and those who died at Buffalo Creek as well as those who survive. Joy weaves the story of Dulcey as a fictionalized version of how the community rebuilt after Buffalo Creek flooded. Purchase details and an excerpt Here. You owe it to yourself to learn more about this historic event.

A brief explanation of the Buffalo Creek disaster for those of you who weren't around -- or aware -- on February 26, 1972 from "The Winds of Change" (newsletter of the Ohio Valley Environment Coalition): It did not come like a stealthy thief in the night – it came on a rainy Saturday morning 30 years ago with a roar like a hundred freight trains, the hounds from Hell, the very embodiment of Death.

When it was gone, at least 125 West Virginia men, women, and children were dead. The youngest was 3-months-old; the oldest, 82. Three infants were not positively identified, so badly were their little bodies mangled. Seven of the dead were never found.

Feb. 26, 1972, forever changed West Virginians' attitude toward King Coal.

That was the day that three improperly-constructed, inadequately-inspected, business-as-usual coal slurry impoundment dams owned by the Pittston Coal Co. collapsed, sending millions of tons of black water, coal sludge and mud hurtling down the narrow, twisting confines of Buffalo Creek in Logan County.

More than 500 homes in 15 small communities were destroyed, another 500 homes were damaged, some 1,000 vehicles wrecked, and 523 people were injured when a wall of sludge that some witnesses said was 30 feet high steamrollered down the valley.

There were 53 dead in Lundale, near the head of Buffalo Creek; 18 in the hamlet of Saunders, which literally disappeared under millions of gallons of semi-liquid coal wastes; 25 from Lorado; five in Amherstdale; only one in Kistler, near the end of the rampaging sludge.

Pittston Coal called it "an act of God." -- by Monty Fowler
Read more.

You owe it to yourself to learn more about this historic event. When you get there, tell 'em Clara sent ya.

Best,
Clara Chandler