The Hurricane Creek mine disaster occurred on December 30, 1970, shortly after noon, and resulted in the deaths of 39 men. As was often pointed out in

coverage Coverage may refer to: Filmmaking * Coverage (lens), the size of the image a lens can produce * Camera coverage, the amount of footage shot and different camera setups used in filming a scene * Script coverage, a short summary of a script, wri ...

of the

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

, it occurred a year to the day after the

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of the

Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969 The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, U.S. Public Law 91-173, generally referred to as the Coal Act, was passed by the 91st United States Congressional session and enacted into law by the 37th President of the United States Richard ...

. Recovery was complicated by the fact that a foot of snow fell on the

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

mountain roads at the time of the accident. It was the most deadly mine disaster in the

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since the

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, United States. The explosion was large enough to be ...

in 1968, and is the subject of

Tom T. Hall Thomas Hall (May 25, 1936 – August 20, 2021), known professionally as Tom T. Hall and informally nicknamed "the Storyteller," was an American country music singer-songwriter and short-story author. He wrote 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more ...

's song, "Trip to Hyden". Other songs about the disaster include "The Hyden Miners' Tragedy" by J.D. Jarvis, issued as a 45 RPM on the independent Sunrise label (Hamilton, Ohio), and "The Caves of Jericho" by The Band, from the album "Jericho" released November 2, 1993, under the Rhino label.

Mine conditions

The disaster occurred in shafts 15 and 16 of a "truck mine", just outside the town of Hyden, Kentucky, owned by Charles and Stanley Finley, which had opened the previous March on

leased A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

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. Thirty-four 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 An electric spark is an abrupt electrical discharge that occurs when a sufficiently high electric field creates an ionized, electrically conductive channel through a normally-insulating medium, often air or other gases or gas mixtures. Michael ...

hazards, 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 A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

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 A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, and

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

miners had gone on

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

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 survivor, A.T. Collins, was reentering the shaft after a lunch break and was blown out of the mine by the explosion. There was also one other survivor, Harrison Henson of Clay County, who had been sent outside to get tools. He had turned around to go back in only to see the mine explode in front of him. Collins was one of three miners who

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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 A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

by James D. Ausenbaugh, who was editor of the ''

Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...

''s 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.

Reaction

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Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

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 (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

operation of the mine in February 1972.

Disaster aftermath

The bodies were taken to a grade school gymnasium in Hyden. Many bodies had been 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 Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and Leslie counties, two of the poorest in the state, and the

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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 foreman's widow was asked if she held the Finleys responsible for killing her husband. 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 expediency 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

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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

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

d 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 House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

Mine Memorial

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 Leslie County is located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Its county seat is Hyden. Leslie is a prohibition or dry county. History Leslie County was founded in 1878. It was named for Preston H. Leslie, Governor of Kentucky (1871-1875). The Hur ...

built on the Finely Mine site. The memorial was planned by the friends and families of the lost miners to honor them. The state legislature approved the

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

to build the memorial to honor the miners on the 40th anniversary of the mine explosion. The dedication of the memorial took place during the opening ceremony on October 8, 2011 at approximately 1 p.m. File:Finely Mine Memorial.jpg, Mine Memorial File:Memorial sign (2).jpg, Sign at memorial site File:Hurricane Creek Mine Memorial Sign.jpg, Mine Memorial sign File:Mine Memorial Hurricane Creek.jpg, Miner's Hard Hats File:Memorial Wall of names.jpg, Names of miners File:Memorial Wall of names (2).jpg, Miner's names

Memorial Information

The fundinghttp://lrc.ky.gov/KRS/002-00/108.PDF for the memorial was made possibly from state and local funding. House Bill 420 was passed in 2010 allowing the historical memorial to be built. The estimated completion time was April 2011, only a few months after this the memorial was opened. The memorial consists of a walkway with thirty eight wooden gates, each with a hanging coal miner hat, to honor each coal miner who died in the explosion, a bronze statue of a coal miner, and two walls that consist of the names of the thirty- eight coal miners who lost their lives and information about each of them. While there was one survivor, he was recognized as well; there is a plaque placed on the statue of the coal miner with his name and information about him.

Coal miners involved in disaster