AUTHOR'S NOTE : This is the first of several articles I am writing about
coal mining in and around Logan County, West Virginia. These articles,
when finished, will be woven into one longer article about the people and
history of southern West Virginia. I don't know what the finished article
will look like or even where it may find distribution, so I appreciate you the
reader, taking time out of your busy schedule to learn about this important --
and little known -- spot on the map of American history. 'Friends of
Blair Mountain' need your help. The work ahead of them is great and the
resources available to them are few. To see how you can help, please
contact me.
Matewan, population 459, sits at the convergence of two
chocolate colored rivers. The Tug Fork River and Mate Creek merge. The rivers
started showing the effects of coal mining not long after coal was first
discovered nearby by in 1742. Since then, the mines have been a source of
income for some, pain and suffering for many and great wealth for a few.
Matewan is a product of the coal mines. Matewan is famous for two things; the
Hatfield-McCoy Feud and The Matewan Massacre. Sometimes it seems like death and
destruction are the only things that get attention in this part of southern
West Virginia.
While the Hatfield-McCoy Feud is well known throughout the
world, the Matewan Massacre would hardly be known outside of the valley where
it happened in the spring of 1920 if it weren't for the 1987 movie "Matewan".
Miners, tired of being pushed around and exploited by the coal
mine owners started gathering petitions to form a union. Inspired by union
strikes in other parts of the country that resulted in a 27% pay increase, 3000
miners signed their union cards in a local church. The miners knew that by
signing a union card they were putting their jobs and homes in jeopardy. They
signed anyway. The mine owners fired people as they joined the union and threw
families of union miners out of their company owned homes and into the street.
Sid Hatfield, Police Chief of Matewan, was sympathetic to the
miners. A former miner himself, he knew the plight of the miners. He knew
firsthand the low pay the miners received for dismal working conditions. He
wasn't about to stand idly by and watch people he loved being exploited.
When he refused to follow the wishes of the mine owners and
evict miners, the owners brought in the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to serve
as a sort of private army and carry out the evictions. Arriving by train the
morning of March 19, 1920, the thugs of the Baldwin-Felts agency evicted the
families of six miners to set an example. Sid Hatfield intervened and a gunfight
resulted. When the firing was over, approximately 1000 rounds had been fired,
seven detectives, two miners and Matawan's Mayor were dead and four bystanders
were wounded.
Sid
Hatfield's subsequent assassination -- shot down with him was his friend Ed Chambers
-- at the McDowell County Courthouse was the flashpoint that led to miners
taking up arms and marching to Blair Mountain, the largest insurrection in
America since the Civil War.
While the number of people visiting has dropped considerably, the two fivers still flow with the same chocolate color. Poisoned by 270 different chemicals that are using in the mining process, the water is unfit to drink, cook or bathe in. The numbers of unexplained cancers are out of proportion for the region. In one hollow where ten families live, five of the families have a member who has been diagnosed as having a brain tumor. Five out of ten.
The national average is 1 out of 10,000.
Nelson's book, OccupyDC: As I See It has been called, "The most thorough photographic documentation of the Occupy Movement in Washington DC".