Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster | Kentucky Life | KET
On December 30, 1970, an explosion at the Findley Mine on Hurricane Creek killed 38 miners and changed the small community of Hyden, Kentucky, for a generation. A memorial now stands at the site to honor those miners who died or were injured in the explosion.
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In Memory of the 1970 Finley Coal Mine Disaster and Jim Jones by Brenda (Jones) Bailey
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 Hurricane Creek Mine Memorial is the memorial commemorating the 1970 Finley Mine explosion, which killed thirty-eight coal miners and left one survivor. The memorial is located in Leslie County, Kentucky built on the Finely Mine site.
Fire Under the Mountain - Part 1
A short film by Joel Brashear on the Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster, that occurred near Hyden, Kentucky on December 30, 1970. The film includes interviews with local residents who recall the disaster. The film was presented as part of a thesis by Brashear in April of 2009 for a degree of Master of Arts from Morehead State University.
Fire Under the Mountain - Part 2
A short film by Joel Brashear on the Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster, that occurred near Hyden, Kentucky on December 30, 1970. The film includes interviews with local residents who recall the disaster. The film was presented as part of a thesis by Brashear in April of 2009 for a degree of Master of Arts from Morehead State University.
1529. The Hyden Disaster (Shelva Thompson)
The Hurricane Creek mine disaster occurred on December 30, 1970, exactly one year after the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969 was passed. It was the most deadly mine disaster in the United States since the Farmington MIne disaster in 1968.
The mine was owned by Charles and Stanley Finley, who had opened it the previous March, though their company had been mining in the area for ten years. The small operation involved about 170 non-unionised employees. Thirty-four infractions were reported in its first three months of operation, but they had been fixed, and the mine had been shut down for three 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 had allowed the mine to continue operation. The hazards, including excess accumulation of coal dust and electrical spark hazards, were discovered on November 19 and ordered to be cleaned up by December 22, but, due to a shortage of inspectors, the agency could not reinspect on that date, as required by law. The bureau could have declared the mine excessively hazardous and conducted inspections every ten days, but they chose not to do so, despite the fact that the mine owners had been deemed responsible for the crushing death of a worker on November 9 as they had failed to make required repairs to an underground tractor involved in the accident.
This lack of enforcement of the new mining safety law was part of a wider problem which had led to strikes by union miners that summer. 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.
The explosion occurred just after midday. The bodies were removed within 24 hours and the mine was sealed until an investigation could begin. There was only one, A.T. Collins, who was reentering the shaft after a lunch break and was blown out of the mine by the explosion. He was one of three miners who testified to the presence at the site of primer cord, an illegal fuse.
The bodies were taken to a school gymnasium in Hyden, many so damaged in the blast that they could only be identified by social security numbers written on their belts. Most of the miners came from Clay and Leslie County counties, two of the poorest in the state.
The best known song about this disaster is Tom T. Hall's Trip to Hayden, but there were several others, including this one by Shelva Thompson. It uses the traditional tune The Jealous Lover, which is probably better known as the tune Woody Guthrie used for Philadelphia Lawyer.
Thanks to Tony Oppegard for requesting this song and supplying the lyrics.
You can see a playlist of my mining songs here:
Lyrics and chords of this song can be found here:
For lyrics and chords of all my songs, please see my website:
1513. Trip to Hyden (Tom T. Hall cover)
The Hurricane Creek mine disaster occurred on December 30, 1970, exactly one year after the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969 was passed. It was the most deadly mine disaster in the United States since the Farmington MIne disaster in 1968.
The mine was owned by Charles and Stanley Finley, who had opened it the previous March, though their company had been mining in the area for ten years. The small operation involved about 170 non-unionised employees. Thirty-four infractions were reported in its first three months of operation, but they had been fixed, and the mine had been shut down for three 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 had allowed the mine to continue operation. The hazards, including excess accumulation of coal dust and electrical spark hazards, were discovered on November 19 and ordered to be cleaned up by December 22, but, due to a shortage of inspectors, the agency could not reinspect on that date, as required by law. The bureau could have declared the mine excessively hazardous and conducted inspections every ten days, but they chose not to do so, despite the fact that the mine owners had been deemed responsible for the crushing death of a worker on November 9 as they had failed to make required repairs to an underground tractor involved in the accident.
This lack of enforcement of the new mining safety law was part of a wider problem which had led to strikes by union miners that summer. 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.
The explosion occurred just after midday. The bodies were removed within 24 hours and the mine was sealed until an investigation could begin. There was only one, A.T. Collins, who was reentering the shaft after a lunch break and was blown out of the mine by the explosion. He was one of three miners who testified to the presence at the site of primer cord, an illegal fuse.
The bodies were taken to a school gymnasium in Hyden, many so damaged in the blast that they could only be identified by social security numbers written on their belts. Most of the miners came from Clay and Leslie County counties, two of the poorest in the state.
Trip to Hyden by Tom T. Hall, noted for his story-telling skills, is one of a number of songs written about the disaster.
You can see a playlist of my mining songs here:
Lyrics and chords of this song can be found here:
For lyrics and chords of all my songs, please see my website:
Bob Sloan Raw Interview
Raw footage from an interview with Bob Sloan about the Rowan County War shot in 2005. Used in part in the documentary, 'American Threnody.'
2476. Montcoal, West Virginia (Alan “Cathead” Johnson cover)
On April 5, 2010 at 3:27 pm a coal dust explosion occurred at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine located at Montcoal in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed. The accident was the worst in the United States since 1970, when 38 miners were killed at Finley Coal Company's No. 15 and 16 mines in Hyden, Kentucky. A state funded independent investigation later found Massey Energy directly responsible for the blast. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released its final report on December 6, 2011, concluding that flagrant safety violations contributed to the explosion. It issued 369 citations at that time, assessing $10.8 million in penalties. Alpha Natural Resources, which had bought Massey Energy in 2011, settled its corporate criminal liabilities with the U.S. Attorney for $209 million. The CEO of Massey Energy at the time of the disaster, Don Blankenship, was convicted in 2015 of conspiring to willfully violate safety standards, but was found not guilty of charges of securities fraud and making false statements.
As Tony Oppegard points out below Blankenship served one year in federal prison for his crime, and is now waging a one-man publicity campaign about the alleged injustice of his conviction, claiming he was singled out for prosecution because he is a Republican (not because 29 miners were killed) and that the explosion was an Act of God caused by a sudden influx of methane through the mine floor. So far his appeals have been rejected.
Alan Cathead Johnson wrote this tribute to the fallen miners shortly after the tragedy. You can hear his rendition here:
and a later one by his daughter, Stacey Grubb, with Johnson singing harmony:
This song was suggested by Tony Oppegard.
Lyrics and chords of this song can be found here:
You can see a playlist of my mining songs here:
For lyrics and chords of all my songs, please see my website: