A couple of years ago I visited the Hawk's Nest near Port Jervis, NY. On my recent trip I decided to get off the interstate and take US-60 from Lewisburg to Charleston, WV. Route 60 was my introduction to winding mountain highways through West Virginia. Part of the route goes through Hawk's Nest State Park, where you can hike to a dramatic overlook of the New River.
Needing electricity to run a plant downstream, Union-Carbide began mining a three-mile tunnel to divert the New River in the early 1930s. In digging the tunnel, workers, primarily African-Americans who were paid less, assigned more dangerous jobs, and charged more for rent in company housing than their white counterparts, came upon silica. Many of the workers contracted silicosis, and few lasted as long as a year. Union-Carbide's subcontractor on the tunnel admitted to causing 109 deaths. A congressional investigation put the total at 476. Other estimates ranged from 700 to 1000 deaths but the true total is not known. Union-Carbide never took any responsibility for the silicosis, but the Hawk's Nest Disaster did become the catalyst for many worker safety regulations involving silica dust.
On a less grim note, I have no idea what language that sign is written in. I read it once and it didn't make sense. No headway was made upon a second reading. Assuming the problem was mine, I took this picture so I could look, at it later, while resting in a hotel room after dinner. A month and many dinners later the sign, still does not, make sense and it, has affected how, I use commas.
Both pictures, and their subject matter, are amazing. For entirely different reasons, of course. I'm just happy it's not an Ohio sign.
Posted by: Dane | 19 October 2009 at 11:36 PM
Glad you posted about the sign not making sense. I was thinking I needed more coffee to understand it.
I didn't know about the silica dust and the deaths it caused. They don't teach that in history class. Terrible of Union-Carbide not to take responisbility.
Posted by: judy | 20 October 2009 at 09:32 AM
It amazes me that the state has never replaced the sign.
Posted by: Joe | 20 October 2009 at 08:41 PM
And, oh, the silicosis disaster was the inspiration for the blues classic "Silicosis is Killing Me" by Josh White (aka Pinewood Tom), who was quite an amazing person.
Posted by: Joe | 20 October 2009 at 09:31 PM
The sign is incorrect: the Royal Gorge in CO is 1250' deep.
The 15,368 feet long Hawk's Nest Tunnel, completed 1931, diverted the New River to provide hydroelectric power. http://www.wvculture.org/history/disasters/hawksnesttunnel02.html
Thousands of miners died digging Hawk's Nest Tunnel to make several already wealthy men wealthier. Men too sick to work were subject to arrest. Miners were given fictitious diagnoses of 'tunnelitis' instead of silicosis. Hundreds were buried in an unmarked mass grave.
House Subcommittee on Labor transcript at http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rukeyser/investigation.htm
Several books on the subject: http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2008/03/05/hawks-nest-tunnel-tome/#more-2907
Posted by: BRandall | 01 December 2009 at 10:09 AM
Good resources.
I'm really confused. Didn't someone leave a comment here about how the sign made perfect sense to him?
Posted by: Joe | 01 December 2009 at 07:33 PM
Confusion erased. The comment wasn't left here but on Topix.
Posted by: Joe | 01 December 2009 at 07:37 PM