The Fayette Tribune, Oak Hill, W.Va.

Local News

Related Photos

  • Men work in the Hawks Nest Tunnel in the 1930s. But soon after work on the tunnel began, hundreds of workers fell ill from silicosis due to days spent breathing the dust-choked air in the tunnel. Their lungs quickly hardened and they died en masse. File photo

    091312 1A2 Hawks Nest tunnel.jpg
September 12, 2012

Hawks Nest workers finally memorialized

By Wendy Holdren The Register-Herald

SUMMERSVILLE — Over 700 men who lost their lives digging the Hawks Nest Tunnel were honored Friday at a dedication ceremony, which many said was long overdue.

The Old Main auditorium in Summersville was filled with residents, historians and students eager to pay tribute to those men who died and their families who suffered in what is considered America’s worst industrial accident.

The workers who mined the 3.8-mile tunnel for a hydroelectric plant through Gauley Mountain in 1930 were exposed to silica dust, causing silicosis, a preventable but incurable disease. The men were primarily migrant workers, mostly black, and were paid just a few dollars per day.

When the workers became sick, many were driven out of the camps to die elsewhere. Black workers who died there could not be buried locally because of Jim Crow laws during that time period.

A Summersville undertaker who lived 40 miles north of the tunnel was hired to take the bodies away. He was paid $50 per body and they were stacked up on the back of a flatbed truck.  

The undertaker buried a few bodies in a small cemetery in Summersville, but due to the amount of lives lost, he ran out of room. He buried approximately 48 victims at his family farm late at night, where they remained for 40 years.

When U.S. 19 was widened in 1972, the bodies had to be moved. The Department of Highways contacted the son of the original undertaker, who reinterred them near Summersville Lake on Whippoorwill Road, a few miles south of the original site.

In 2009, Charlotte and George Neilan prepared an application for a grant to fund a workers’ memorial.

City workers and local high school students worked to clear the grave site, which was covered in brush and debris.

A monument with the names of the victims now sits near the graves after all these years.

Summersville Mayor Robert Shafer welcomed everyone to the event Friday, which he said was long overdue.

Congressman Nick Rahall said he was glad to join in the commemoration of the lives of all those men.

“Their suffering helped ignite workers’ rights in America,” Rahall said. He noted the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, but said largely, great improvements have been made to ensure the safety of workers.

“Those men endured dangers for a paycheck and for their daily bread. Let us keep their stories alive so future generations do not repeat these mistakes.”

Filmmaker David Pushkin spoke to the crowd about his film featuring Hawks Nest, which is expected to be complete in the next two years.

Author Dr. Dwight Harshbarger read a brief excerpt from his book “Witness at Hawks Nest.” He donated 40 books for the proceeds to benefit the memorial site.

His book features some fictional and some non-fictional characters, one of whom was Shirley Jones. Jones went to work when he was 17 years old and died when he was 18.

Some of the Jones family survivors attended the dedication and were recognized by the event speakers.

Charlotte Neiman, publisher of The Nicholas Chronicle, said the Jones family suffered tremendously; one woman lost her husband, brother and three sons during the tunnel mining.

She was compensated $800 per son and $1,000 for her husband. Those rates were cut in half if the worker was black.

Mayor Shafer’s daughter, Shealyn, who is a member of the Nicholas County High School Future Business Leaders of America, told everyone about the work her group had done toward the memorial.

They helped clean the gravesite and helped raise $2,000 toward the historical marker. The students also gathered a 30-page report to present at the FBLA state conference, winning first place at the state level and sixth place nationally.

Rev. Ron English with the First Baptist Church in Charleston, who gave the prayer at Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral, came to give his remarks.

“Four words pivot around the purpose of our gathering: celebration, commemoration, commendation and correction.”

He said we must celebrate the lives of those men lost, commemorate them, commend them for their hard work, but correct the fact that they were buried in unmarked graves.

He especially thanked Charlotte Neilan for bringing the story of the Hawks Nest workers back to life and giving them a proper memorial.

— E-mail: wholdren@register-herald.com

Text Only
Local News
  • 1A1 congrats .jpg Class of 2013 honored at WVU Tech

    West Virginia University Institute of Technology honored the Class of 2013 during the 114th commencement on campus this past Saturday.

    May 15, 2013 4 Photos

  • Commission works on getting facility up and running

    Now that the new downtown amphitheater is up, the City of Oak Hill is taking steps to get it running.
    At a council meeting on Monday night, members considered and eventually passed a rental contract for those who want to make use of the facility.

    May 15, 2013

  • Former Mount Hope man invites city government to engage in sports tourism

    A former Mount Hope resident says the town and the region are ripe to develop a sports tourism industry, given the potential of a unique stadium and gymnasiums at the YMCA building and the former Mount Hope High School.

    May 15, 2013

  • Judge rejects settlement, dismisses negligence claims in alleged school rape

    A federal judge has rejected a $65,000 settlement offer in a case involving the alleged rape of a young girl at the former Mount Hope High School, while at the same time throwing out negligence claims against one of the teachers originally listed in the suit.

    May 15, 2013

  • Nearly 300 graduate at New River CTC

    New River Community and Technical College as well as its nearly 300 graduates proved Samuel Johnson’s assertion that “Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance” during the college’s 10th commencement exercises Saturday at the Chuck Mathena Center in Princeton.

    May 15, 2013

  • 7A2 may group.jpg Garden club holds tree planting ceremony

    Woodland Oaks Garden Club met on May Day along the White Oak Rail Trail at the Depot for a tree planting ceremony honoring Brenda Moore, West Virginia State Garden Club President.

    May 15, 2013 2 Photos

  • Farmers Market open

    The Fayette County Farmers Market is open each Saturday in Fayetteville from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. The market is located in the parking lot of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau at the entrance to Fayetteville. The market will be held every Saturday at that location through November.

    May 15, 2013

  • SALS to sponsor summer food program

    The Southern Appalachian Labor School announces the sponsorship of the Summer Food Service Program at the SALS Community Center in Beards Fork, Montgomery City Pool and the Historic Oak Hill School. In accordance with federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.

    May 15, 2013

  • Page-Kincaid recognizes Grant’s 30 years of service

    Mary Grant, the bookkeeper/cashier at the Page-Kincaid PSD for 30 years, retired in early April. Mary started with the PSD in 1983 as the cashier, working with the PSD’s former bookkeeper Dorothy Jeffers. Upon the retirement of Dorothy Jeffers, Mary assumed the duties of bookkeeper and office manager in 2008. Mary also possessed a Class I water operator license and served in a back-up capacity to Bart Jackson.

    May 15, 2013

  • Community invited to meet new leader of state PBS

    The new executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting is traveling the state to meet viewers and listeners of the statewide public broadcasting network. Meet Scott Finn on Saturday, May 18  at the Cathedral Café, 134 Court Street, Fayetteville, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

    May 15, 2013