Another Battle Over West Virginia’s Blair Mountain
Written by Jason Keeling on April 7, 2009
We’re taught from a young age the importance of history. By dissecting the past, we discover a greater understanding of where society has been and where society is going. Every country, state and community chooses to remember events, people, and circumstances that have influenced its identity.
In West Virginia, the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain represents a time when workers were emboldened to overcome significant hardships, by marching for the right to unionize, earn a living wage and establish safe working conditions. The battle between the miners and coal company agents ended after U.S. troops intervened, but the fight itself was highly symbolic of the need to balance the interests of labor and corporations. Ultimately, reforms were made.
Blair Mountain was added to the National Register of Historic Places last month, after years of collective effort seeking the designation. Much of the 10-mile tract is currently owned by interests that practice mountaintop removal coal mining.
Now, after the fact, the state Division of Culture and History’s director has requested Blair Mountain be removed from the National Register due to a loophole relating to landowner preferences.
Today at HuffingtonPost.com, author Jeff Biggers discusses the original battle’s significance and comments on the current debate over the mountain’s future as it relates to strip-mining:
Blair Mountain represents an attitude that is as relevant today as it was in 1921; that the long-term jobs and safety and health of coal miners and coal mining communities must be placed above the profit interests of outside coal companies.
Readers, what do you think, does Blair Mountain represent something of importance to West Virginia, or should it be blasted into the past for the seams of coal beneath?
Posted in Culture, Economy, West Virginia
content rss
April 8th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I think that Blair Mountain is a representative of our state’s culture and a living monument to what history has transpired around this area. It needs to be listed on the National Register of Historic places.
In an article with WV Public Broadcasting, http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=9011, they discuss the differing objection totals. Barbara Rasmussen, chairwoman of the Blair Mountain Taskforce of the West Virginia Preservation Alliance, says in the article that she doesn’t understand how that could happen. She was told that each individual landowner was notified about the potential listing before it happened, and was given a chance to object.
De-listing the site could endanger it. Blair Mountain is already surrounded by mountaintop removal operations on several sides. Listing the site would not prevent mining on the site, but only require underground mining as opposed to mountaintop removal.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Also, Gov. Joe Manchin now tells W.Va. Public Broadcasting he was not involved in the request to de-list Blair Mountain from the National Register of Historic Places:
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=9019
April 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
The Director of the Division of Culture & History serves at the will & pleasure of the governor. As the “Third House” performace of years past has commented, Manchin is the COE - “Chairman Of Everything” in WV (including public broadcasting) so his protest of not being involved in the attempt to undo Blair Mountian’s historical status is laughable at best. I don’t believe him for a heartbeat…
April 9th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
By the way. Where the ^%#$ is Cecil Roberts and the UMWA on this issue?
April 9th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
“The Battle of Blair Mt. in Logan County was referred to as a civil war and depicted as fully 10,000 men - and some estimates to twice that number - were involved as the two armies began exchanging shots along a ten-mile front. George Washington had fewer soldiers at the Battle of Trenton, the engagement which changed the course of the American Revolution.
On Sept. 4, 1921, with more than 6,000 federal soldiers assisted by 20 airplanes ……the miners eventually surrendered when faced with the alternative of fighting against U.S. troops. Hundreds of men were indicted by a Logan County Grand Jury on charges of treason and murder.” (pp71-72, Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide, by Allen H. Loughry II)
I’m not sure people fully appreciate the heart and soul of this event in both WV and American history. Regardless of how you “feel” about what happened, I believe we all need to stand up for its preservation. It was a landmark event.
Incidentally, I cannot recommend enough the above referenced book. Every WV household needs this. The subtitle is “The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia.” The author does hold out a candle of hope, pointing out that our state is uniquely poised to be a model of reform for the nation on a variety of fronts.
It is also hilarious fun, as you can use the index to look up just about anyone you ever heard of in state government and get real insight into why things are the way they are. No, it is not your imagination. Not ever, about anything.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:32 am
IN THE END, WHO WOULD PROFIT FROM THE BLAIR MOUNTAIN VENTURE? WHERE WOULD THE MONEY GO? SHORT TERM [OUT OF STATE] PROFITS; LONG TERM [IN-STATE] ECO-NIGHTMARE.
ONCE BLAIR MOUNTAIN IS STRIPPED OF ITS BEAUTY AND HISTORY, IT IS GONE….. FOREVER. WEST VIRGINIANS SHOULD FIGHT TO KEEP THIS LANDMARK PLACE.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Save Blair Mountain!
Tomorrow, April 17 at noon gather in front of the State Culture and History Museum on the State Capitol grounds to celebrate the recent listing of Logan County, West Virginia’s Blair Mountain on the National Register of Historic Places. Governor Joe Manchin is attempting to delist the site, and those in attendance will protest the governor’s actions. The gathering will feature street theater, a large check made out to the Governor for the amount of political contributions he has received from the Coal industry, and other visuals. Archaeologist Harvard Ayers will deliver a letter to the Governor’s office at the end of the protest.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
To Elizabeth and others:
I agree with regard to the “Don’t Buy Another Vote” book. It took me by surprise when I read it. I had heard about it and picked it up at Taylor Books in Charleston, WV, and I started reading it one evening and continued throughout the night. I was dead tired at work the next day, but couldn’t wait to get home and continue reading. I thought I was pretty in tune with our history, but the book made me think in ways I didn’t think were possible. It started with the Kennedy 1960 Presidential election in WV, which according to the jacket is the source for the book’s title. It is a quote from Joe Kennedy to JFK in reference to the amount of money used to buy votes in WV.
In any case, the book goes from the beginning of the state’s history until today. From Mother Jones to the Hatfields and McCoys to a governor hiding behind a trash dumpster buying votes. I absolutely, whole-heartedly loved the book. I cannot offer a single complaint except that I am waiting on Dr. Loughry to write another book. I met him at a book signing and was even more impressed and that is not an easy thing with me. I found him to be extraordinarily humble and kind as well as scary intelligent. He is the kind of person we need in politics, but I am guessing because of money he probably won’t get involved in the whole mess. When I talked with him his wife and adorable two-year-old son stopped by to see him. What a sweet family. I bought three more books that day, one for my father, one for my father-in-law, and one for my sister. I later went to his website at http://www.reformwv.com and purchased a couple more as Christmas gifts. I ordered them and then immediately emailed him asking them to sign them personally to a couple of people and he did.
I am sorry about the rant. I have just been so impressed with this book that I felt like I needed to ramble about it. Oh, and the pictures are pretty incredible too. Get it, read it, and pass it along. Please buy this book.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I agree with Elizabeth and Bill about Don’t Buy Another Vote. It is without a doubt the best book I have ever read! If you haven’t read it, please do so. I bought six copies and gave them to some teenagers in my family. I figure we really have to reach that generation. My nephew is in high school and he has been excited about politics ever since reading the book. He is talking about ideas/solutions and trying to look at our corrupt system through a new set of eyes. I am so happy that I read it and particularly happy that my nieces and nephews have already read it or are reading it now. The Mother Jones chapter would be of particular interest to anyone posting on this thread. Again, great book!!!!
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Look,THEY are gonna mine coal out from wherever THEY can in whatever way is cheapest,it may not be environmentally correct,nonetheless,it’s gonna happen.I wish some things could change.Greed is the ever present human ingredient in this problem,it runs our economy,it permeates our thinking from an early age.As long as there is an energy need,these mountains full of coal are going to be systematically dug out,dug down and dug away till it’s gone.I love the great outdoors and I love the scenery that is exclusively Appalatian.Last I knew coal was some 100 dollars a ton,200,000 tons a year are removed….that’s a pretty big pie.There SHOULD BE enough for EVERYBODY,but you know Blair Mt didn’t happen fer nothin’.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
As a young girl growing up in the town of Blair, literally in the shadow of the mountain, it seems completely unreasonable to remove the mountain. Due to .ountaintop removal of evy other mountain surrounding Blair, the community has been demolished over the last 10 years. My family still resides in the same place that they have lived for 72 years. To remove this place from the historical registry, would such a shame. There used to ne a firetower at the top of the mountain surrounded be a park, our community had picnics there during the summer months, creating wonderful memories, it was a sad day when we lost that park to the mining companies, To also lose the mountain would be devastating! SAVE BLAIR MOUNTAIN! There is no other place with the same historyan on this entire planet. Men fought and died there, to protect there jobs, families and lifestyles. It remains a timeless reminder of those same values.
January 7th, 2010 at 6:23 am
All :
Stop all Mountaintop removal. Especially Blair Mountain.
April 25th, 2010 at 6:12 am
I’m an archaeologist working at Blair Mountain. If anyone wants more info, or wants to get involved, get ahold of me. Oh yeah, I’m a West Virginian, born and raised.
March 18th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
i lived and worked in coal and wood all around blair mt for most of my life and to let this historic place be destoryed would be a great and another black eye for wva and should be left as is i have road motercycles,dunebuggys and 4×4.s all over the old ccc roads that were there but are now gone there was so much beauty out in those mountians it always took my breath away you use to be able to ride from blair to the logan radio towers and never cross a main road it was so quite and peaceful out there sometimes we would stay the whole weekend i sure miss that wish it would have been stoped before now my grandfather helped build the roads and a lot more when he was i the ccc its time for blair mt to stand out and left alone who knows some of my family or yours might have stood there ground to fight for they were fighting for a better place to live and work
December 29th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
[...] A Better West Virginia for more on Blair Mountain and the history of coal mining and labor relations. Share [...]