| Hawks Nest Tunnel Tragedy | | | | greatest engineering feats of the times. In fact as early |
| One of America's Worst Industrial Disasters | | | | as July 31, 1928, a deed was executed between |
| Gauley Bridge, West Virginia | | | | National Water and Power Company and New - |
| Gauley Bridge is a small, picture postcard West Virginia | | | | Kanawha Power Plant - called Hawks Nest Dam. |
| Town where the New River merges with the Gauley. | | | | The plans involved harnessing the powers of Gauley |
| An old rusty railroad bridge stretches out over the | | | | River, directing the waters through a tunnel converting |
| water in a narrow place to the other side. Three | | | | the water into electricity. This generated electricity |
| wooden crosses are standing on a rock out in mid | | | | would provide the power needed to begin what was |
| river - the center cross is stained a golden yellow and | | | | later to become known as the "Chemical Valley of the |
| the ones on either side are stained a bluish white. | | | | World." |
| Houses dot the sides of the steep hills and line the | | | | The Hawks Nest tunnel, located in Fayette County, |
| banks of the river. Stores are somewhere in between. | | | | West Virginia, was part of a project to supply |
| The speed limit is 25 miles per hour through town. An | | | | hydroelectric power to the Electro Metallurgical |
| old train station beautifully renovated serves as City | | | | Company, a subsidiary of the Union Carbide |
| Hall. A farmers' market in the middle of town sells | | | | Corporation. The excavation work was contracted to |
| fresh garden vegetables from the river bottom land at | | | | the firm of Dennis and Rinehart of Charlottesville, |
| Belva which comes to term approximately a full month | | | | Virginia, which received much of the blame for failing to |
| ahead of gardens further up in the mountains where I | | | | take proper precautions after it was found that |
| live. Pumpkins and bales of straw are available in the | | | | workers were blasting through silica rock. |
| autumn. | | | | It is reported the largest percentage of tunnel workers |
| But hidden beneath this picture postcard scene is an | | | | were poor African-Americans from the deep south, |
| almost forgotten dark history of one of the worst | | | | desperate for jobs. The migrant workers hopped |
| industrial disasters in the America - the Hawks Nest | | | | empty coal trains and freight trains and landed in |
| Tunnel Tragedy. | | | | Gauley Bridge looking for work soon after the contract |
| This disaster occurred during the Great Depression | | | | was awarded. The contract allowed two years for |
| Era in the 1930s when times were hard; people were | | | | completion of the project. Hundreds of these workers |
| starving to death, and work was scarce. This Country | | | | died as a result of breathing the silica dust into their |
| was in such bad shape economically, it is reported | | | | lungs generated by dry drilling which was used to |
| prominent business men who had staked their fortune | | | | expedite the project. The deaths began as early as |
| in the stock market, were plunging from high rise | | | | two months on the job for some workers. |
| windows following the stock market crash in 1929. | | | | A marvelous engineering feat was accomplished at |
| However, not all important, powerful, wealthy men felt | | | | the expense of hundreds of human lives and the |
| the urge to meet an untimely fate. No, a group of | | | | picturesque river town of Gauley Bridge became |
| businessmen opted for a back office somewhere in | | | | known as "The Town of the Living Dead. |
| New York City developing plans for one of the | | | | |