By Shannon E. Bell
Since the early 1900s, coal has dominated the lives of Cabin Creek residents. Made up of a 25-mile stretch of road comprised of more than fifteen “coal towns,” with such names as Notomine, Decota, Republic, Red Warrior and Carbon, the area known as “Cabin Creek” was created much like most other large communities in Southern West Virginia were formed. Once coal was found in the mountains and prospectors bought up the mineral rights to the land, they lured immigrants, former slaves, and others looking for work in by the hundreds with false promises of high pay, good housing, and new opportunities to dig the coal from the ground. The attractive image of life in a coal town was quickly tarnished and replaced with a bitter reality: working for the coal companies was much like slavery.
The various coal companies on the creek paid their wages in “scrip,” or their own form of money, which was only redeemable at the company store. Miners were required to purchase all of their mining equipment, all of their groceries, and all of their clothes from the company store. Many of the company stores over-charged the miners and their families with exorbitant prices. Arnold Miller, who grew up on Cabin Creek and was former president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), recalled that “the company store tried to get the miner in debt so he would not be able to go anywhere else” to work. Furthermore, those who tried to trade in their scrip for real money and shop elsewhere would be punished, as the coal operators would move the offending miners’ work stations to “rock piles or water holes or places where [they] couldn’t load very much coal.” Miners were paid by the ton, but quite often they were cheated out of their proper pay. When the coal cars were weighed, sometimes the weigh bosses would rig the scales or dock a miner “for no reason at all.” If slate were found in the coal load, they would not pay the miner for the entire load. It was difficult for a miner to make enough money to feed his children.
In addition to unfair wages, miners were required to live in the company houses, for which they were charged far more than they could afford on the wages that they made digging coal. Also from the miners’ paychecks came the school tax, burial tax, and physician tax, all of which further contributed to the hole of debt in which most miners found themselves.
Cabin Creek’s situation was much like that of the other coalmining communities throughout West Virginia. When union organizing began throughout the rest of the state to help miners receive fair wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions, the coal operators in Cabin Creek and nearby Paint Creek hired gunmen and detectives to keep the miners from organizing in order to protect their enormous profit margins. In fact, at that time “the gun thugs outnumbered the miners three to one.” If a miner “was considered an agitator, showing an interest in the union, he was usually fired and blacklisted in all other mining camps in the area.” Furthermore, men weren’t even allowed to gather and talk in small groups. According to Arnold Miller, if the gunmen “saw a couple or three miners along the railroad tracks somewhere talking, the thugs…would approach them and start insulting them. They’d beat them till they couldn’t get up…The man that worked in the mines in those days had no rights whatsoever, Constitutional or otherwise. It was nothing more than slavery”
Despite the coal operator’s efforts to keep the union out of Cabin Creek and Paint Creek, they could not keep the feisty, eighty-year-old Mother Jones out. Mother Jones worked with the labor movement all over the United States, and ended up in West Virginia to work for the rights of miners. People told her that she was crazy for going to Cabin Creek, but she went, and she organized. Soon after Mother Jones came to the creeks, thousands of miners went on strike at her urging to “throw off the chains of slavery fettered by the mine guards.”Tempers rose on both sides. The miners’ families were evicted from their homes and were forced to set up a tent colony at Holly Grove on Paint Creek. On February 7, 1913, coal operator Quinn Morton, the Kanawha County sheriff, deputies, and mine guards “drove an armored train with gatling guns through Holly Grove…while they were sleeping. Into the quiet tents of the workers the guns were fired, killing and wounding the sleepers. A man by the name of Epstaw rose and picked up a couple of children and told them to run for their lives. His feet were shot off. Women were wounded. Children screamed with terror. No one was arrested.”
The union organizing effort in Cabin Creek and Paint Creek continued to be a bloody battle fought between the mine operators and the miners. According to Mother Jones’s autobiography, “Men who joined the union were blacklisted throughout the entire section. Their families were thrown out on the highways. Men were shot. They were beaten. Numbers disappeared and no trace of them found. Store keepers were ordered not to sell to union men or their families. Meetings had to be held in the woods at night, in abandoned mines, in barns.”
Finally, upon the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the presidency in 1933, the mine operators were forced to allow the unions into the mines. FDR was a hero to the miners and their families; in fact, it was quite common for a framed photograph of the president to hang above the mantle in coal camp houses.
The union brought a new era to Cabin Creek. Times were still tough, and people were still poor, but living and working conditions improved drastically. The generation of people who grew up in Cabin Creek in the 1940s and 50s have a deep connection to the community and many wonderful memories. The Cabin Creek of the 40s and 50s was the archetypal “dream community” for any child. Home to over 50,000 people, Cabin Creek’s population exceeded the metropolitan area of Charleston. Cabin Creek was a center of economic, social, and political activity in West Virginia. There was a Y.M.C.A., swimming pool, ball fields, roller skating rink, train station, ice cream parlors, club houses, tennis court, service station, bowling alley, and many restaurants and company stores that filled the area. There was always something for the kids to do, especially in the summertime when they would dam up the creek to make swimming holes to cool off or to fish. In an interview printed in Goldenseal magazine, Arnold Miller recalled of growing up in Cabin Creek, “I did not know I was a poor boy until a sociology professor told me that I was.” He continued, “We never once believed we were disadvantaged. Most of us felt like we had a jump on everybody else simply because we had the privilege of living at the head of Cabin Creek. Never feel sorry for a Cabin Creeker. We know how to do things others have never heard of.”
It is clear from the collection of stories and photographs in Glimpses of Yesteryear, a memory book compiled for the Carbon Fuel “family reunion” in 1998 and 2000, that the Cabin Creek of the 40s, 50s, and 60s was a community rich with social bonds and connections. One can easily see the love that the individuals who grew up in Cabin Creek during this time have for their community. This love and connection is reflected in Nancy Houk Bulla’s recollection of the Cabin Creek town of Carbon,
Someone told me once that God gave us memories so we could have roses in December. Carbon has provided bushels of beautiful petals for all of us to draw upon…it was Carbon itself and its people and our life together that was a defining experience for me. Living in Carbon and watching Dad at work showed me that what you have is not nearly as important as what you do with what you have…The world of Carbon actually transcends itself in the hearts of all who were there. No matter what our differing individual experiences, we share a commonality – we are better for having lived there, although – as with most life travels – not one of us knew it at the time. In the years since Carbon, the memory of that unique experience continues to bind us together. And in that memory, we are one.
As is clear from this reflection, those who lived in Carbon, and the many other towns in Cabin Creek, felt a special connection to each other and to their home. The many memories that fill Glimpses of Yesteryear express a strength of community; a richness of “social capital.”
Union, WV Coal Mine
Explosion, Nov 1951
Posted April 15th, 2009 by Stu BeitlerTWELVE MINERS DIE IN EXPLOSION AT MECHANIZED CABIN CREEK PIT.
IMPROPER BLAST METHOD BLAMED BY MINES DEPT.
FOUR ESCAPE BLAST UNHURT; VICTIMS ARE REMOVED AFTER LONG EFFORT.
Twelve coal miners were killed early yesterday in a coal dust
explosion deep in the modern, mechanized mine of the Truax-Traer Coal
Co., at United, 28 miles from Charleston in the Cabin Creek field.
Four other miners and a 16-man maintenance crew on the 11 p.m. shift
made a miraculous escape from the blast-torn mine. They were not
injured.
A State Mines Dept. officiala blamed the explosion on improper blasting methods.
It was late yesterday afternoon, more than 15 hours after the disaster,
before weary rescue crews trudged out of the mouth of the mountainside
mine bearing on stretchers the blanket-wrapped burned and broken bodies
of the victims.
The casualties and survivors:
LAWRENCE A. HAWKS, 32, mine foreman, Notomine, wife and four children.
ALBERT DeRAIMO, 33, section foreman, Chelyan, wife and two children.
ORVILLE POSTALWAIT, 53, Stinson, Calhoun County, wife and six surviving children.
ESTEL BEE POSTALWAIT, 34, Duck, Clay County, son or ORVILLE POSTALWAIT, wife and two sons.
FRANK THOMAS DAVIS, 25, Sharon, wife and one child.
DENNIT S. (Brother) STANLEY, 25, Obley, wife.
JAMES G. STONE, 38, Sharon, wife and seven children.
LESLIE M. SLACK, 47, Dry Branch, wife and one child.
BERT C. CLENDENIN, 25, United, wife and two children.
FARRIER LLOYD BUTLER, 31, Miami, wife and one child.
EUGENE DEBS BARKER, 42, Ronda, wife and two children.
JOHN ANDY BARKER, 25, United, wife and two children.
The four who were working in another section and escaped were:
GAPEY JOSEPH CARSON, Chesapeake.
WILLIAM PRITT, Decota.
JOHNNY AKERS, Ronda.
ALVIN KINCAID, Kincaid.
One of the coal-blackened men who escaped still was at the mouth of the
slope mine late in the afternoon. Distraught and haggard, he steadily
refused to talk about the matter to newsmen.
Several hours after the bodies had been taken to five separate
mortuaries, first official explanation of the cause of the explosion
was advanced.
A State Mines Department official said a study at the originating point
showed that the explosion came as a result of improper blasting methods
used by the maintenance crew in one section of the mine.
He said the men had knocked down supporting posts under some slate, but
it did not fall. They placed several shots and then strung the shooting
cable back to an electrically-operated machine to detonate the charge
instead of using the conventional battery.
This practice is forbidden by law and mines department rules, he said.
The detonation set off the coal dust in the powerful explosion.
The men used a type of charge known as an "adobe shot," he said. This
is when the shot is placed against the surface and then covered with a
mound of dirt, packed down. The blast from this type of shot in
unconfined and spreads.
"If the mine had not been rock dusted as well as it was," the spokesman said, "it would have blown to the next mountain."
State Mines Chief Arch J. Alexander has scheduled a formal
investigation "within a few days" and federal inspectors from the U.S.
Bureau of Mines are scheduled to reach the mines today for a formal
inquiry.
W. R. Cuthbert, chief engineer for Traux-Traer properties in West
Virginia, said it definitely was not a gas explosion, that the mine was
not gassy.
More than 40 men labored throughout the day to clear the passageway of
rock and slate. They were forced to re-erect the timbers to hold the
roof as they went along.
Because of the foul air, they had to carry "good air" with them as they
also built a bratticework of planks and burlap to tunnel clean
atmosphere along with them as they advanced.
The mine mouth is located halfway up a steep mountain. The community of
United lies at the foot of the mountain in a narrow valley.
As the misty, foggy day wore on, a crowd of 150 persons milled about
the leveled off space in front of the entrance waiting for the
appearance of the bodies of the victims.
Some of the spectators were wives, parents and children of the victims.
Periodically, a woman's sob could be heard over the murmur of the
spectators.
A chilling drizzle had fallen as the first blanket-shrouded body was
brought out. Spectators voices dropped to whispers. An occassional sob
arose.
There was no identification announcements made as the bodies appeared.
Ambulances were on the scene after an all-day vigil to carry them away.
In the forenoon, Cuthbert expressed the feeling there was a "very long chance" that some of the 12 victims might be alive.
Veteran miners, long on experience in mine disasters, shook their heads
negatively and recounted the number of hours that had ensued.
The explosion occurred 3,800 feet from the entrance in the third left
section. The four who escaped were working in another section even
deeper underground.
All of the men were performing maintenance and supply chores, readying it for coal production on the next shift.
Part of their jobs were to inspect and lubricate machinery for the coming shifts, and make sure the mine was in proper order.
Rescue operations were also slowed down because power to heavy-duty
machinery was cut off. Officials explained that if there was any gas in
the mine as the result of the explosion, an electrical spark could
ignite it, causing another serious blast.
One miner who had worked on the early evening shift said the explosion
area had been left in good condition and that he could not understand
what had gone wrong.
Coal from the mine is brought out on a big, rubber conveyor belt and is
channeled down to the railroad cars on a chute covered by a galvanized
metal roof. The chute is about 350 feet long.
The roof furnished a guage of the explosion. Four-fifths of it was
covered by a coating of coal dust blown out of the conveyor belt
entrance. The last part of the chute was gleaning and clean.
Two automobiles were parked on the level area before the big mine fan
outlet. Jutting out from the air duct is an "explosion door" designed
so as to divert the force of a blast away from the fan and protect it
from damage.
The powerful blast shattered windows of the automobiles, dented the
side of one and covered all in a thick coating of black coal dust.
The air in the explosion shattered mine was so bad that spectators were
barred for a time from the area of the exhaust fan which was drawing
fumes from underground.
**Leslie M. Slack was My Stepfathers Father..my dad was his youngest child.
My Great Great Grandfather on my grandmothers side, John Westly Hamilton, was Killed in the Stuart Mine Explosion in Fayette County WVa in 1907..the Following was copied from the Newspaper, listing those men killed and or injured:
80 MAY BE DEAD IN MINE.
GAS AFTER EXPLOSION IN WEST VIRGINIA PIT PREVENTS RESCUE WORK.
Charleston, West Va., Jan. 29. -- With a detonation heard for miles
around, dust in the Stuart Mine, near Fayetteville, exploded this
afternoon, bringing death to the eighty or more men who were at work
more than 500 feet below the surface.
There is no chance that any of the men will be taken out alive for it
is thought that the terrific force of the explosion snuffed out their
lives instantly. It will not be possible for the rescuers to reach the
bottom of the shaft for forty-eight hours.
Most of the men were Americans and many of them were married and had
large families. There were a dozen colored men and fifteen or more
foreigners.
The rescue work was begun as soon as the wrecked parts of the shaft
house could be repaired. About two hours after the explosion three men
were lowered into the shaft. Before descending sixty feet two of the
men were overcome with foul air and the third was barely able to give
the signal to his comrades at the top. All further attempts were
abandoned for the time.
Air was supplied to the mine by several large fans, but the mechanism
was damaged and the fans were idle for about two hours. The fans were
then started again, and if the men were not all dead by the force of
the explosion it may be that they will have air enough to survive until
the rescuers reach them.
The Stuart Mine is owned by the White Oak Fuel Company, a part of the
New River Fuel Company, of which SAMUEL DIXON is President and J. W.
SMILEY Secretary and Treasurer.
The New York Times New York 1907-01-30
----------------------------------------------
Listing of Known Dead from:
The Washington Post Washington District of Columbia 1907-01-30
Those known to be dead are:
H. S. COLBURN, bank boss, brother of mine superintendent.
JOHN O. BOYLE, fire boss.
FRANK L. LIGHT.
CHARLES JOHNSON.
WALTER BLAKE, married.
HENRY LESTER.
FRANK LOVING.
JOHN MORRIS, married.
JOHN TOWNE.
JOHN ATKINSON, married.
LEE STAGGS.
THOMAS TONY.
THOMAS WILLIAMS.
OTTO CLENDENING, married.
GILES MINNER, married.
JOHN MINNER.
CECIL KROUSE and NORMAN KROUSE, brothers aged seventeen and nineteen.
GRANT HOWLETT.
SAMUEL RISTLETT, married, leaves large family.
JAMES ESKELEY, married.
THOMAS ORRAGE, married.
WILLLIAM McCLUNE, married.
EARL SIMPSON, married.
WILLIAM HAYDEN, married.
RICHARD LEWIS, married.
WILLIAM COOK, married.
JOHN HAMILTON, married.
_______ ISON, engineer of the mine.
JESSE ARTHUR, mining engineer.
SILAS DAVIS, engineer's helper.
Unknown representatives of the Sullivan Machine Company.
JOHN and CHARLES QUICK, brothers, trapper boys.
JOHN SCHMIDT.
The following negroes were killed:
WILLIAM MASSEY.
RICHARD LEE.
ROBERT McINTYRE.
PETER WITT.
CECIL LEWIS.
JAMES BRADLEY.
ENOS BANKS.
GEARY BANKS.
HALL JONES.
TOM BATES.
About 20 foreign miners killed whose names have not yet been ascertained.
Several white American miners who were recently employed and their names are not yet known among other miners.
According to my Great Grandfathers Death Certificate, Edward Carr was Killed in a slate fall in Fayetteville county in the town of Kilsyth on March 20 1926. this may have been at the Eccles mine which had an explosion that killed 19 men.
Mother Jones
Courtesy of West Virginia Collection, WVU
“Medieval West Virginia! With its tent colonies on the bleak hills! With its grim men and women. When I get to the other side, I shall tell God Almighty about West Virginia!
To learn more on Mother Jones and The Cabin Creek/Paint Creek Mining Wars please click on this link. Medieval West Virginia
List of Mines on Cabin Creek
ACME (Kanawha) Cabin Creek Consolidated Coal Co.DECOTA (Kanawha) Belleclare Coal Co. Carbon Coal Co.DRY BRANCH (Kanawha) Dorothy Glenn Coal Mining Co. Dry Branch Coal Co.ESKDALE (Kanawha) Don Coal Co. Kanawha Coal Corporation West Virginia Southern Coal Co. Wyatt Coal Co.KAYFORD (Kanawha) Cabin Creek Consolidated Coal Co. Truax-Traer Coal Co.
OHLEY (Kanawha) Cabin Creek Consolidated Coal Co.
QUARRIOR (Kanawha) Cabin Creek Consolidated Coal Co.
SHARON (Kanawha) Wyatt Coal Co.
UNITED (Kanawha) Cabin Creek Consolidated Coal Co.
