European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Recalling a West Virginia associated Pressa t age 81, b. H. Metheney still vividly recalls the thick swirls of choking while Dusl thai condemned More than 1,500 men to lingering agonizing deaths and branded Gauley Bridge w.va., the town Al the living Metheney. Who lives in deep water is one of the last survivors of the construction of the Hawk s nest Tunnel in the Early 1930s. Hailed As an engineering Marvel when it was built the project ultimately was described by a congressional committee As a tragedy worthy of the pen of Victor the dust was As thick As fog behind the drills Metheney says. You came out of there alter working a Shilt and you were White All Over. You could squeeze your nose end it was like toothpaste coming the men died from Sill costs. Which petrified the lungs and leads to a alow suffocating death. Many of the construction workers stayed to die in Gauley Bridge giving the town its grim epithet image conscious West Virginia officials tried to ignore the tragedy and even attempted to censor Early accounts. But half a Century later the Stele is finally planning a memorial to the victims of one of the worst Industrial disasters of the 20hi Century an Appeal by an ohioan for some recognition for the father he never knew prompted the state to act. It s a very Token thing bul i m grateful they re doing thai much says Marcus Phillips of Reynoldsburg whose hairier died in 1934 after working As an Engineer in the Tunnel this is a Milestone Given the feelings involved in West Virginia about what happened Phillips says his pleas for recognition for the men who worked and died in the Tunnel were ignored by West Virginia s congressional delegation and by state officials Tor several years. Finally his request was approved this year by the department of culture and history which is in charge of erecting and maintaining historical markers. Metheney and Phillips father were among More than 2,000 men who signed on to blast the 3.75-mile Tunnel through Gauley Mountain. Broke with families to support in the misery of Tho great repression the men flocked to the area from neighbouring Coal towns and surrounding states. The men worked 10-10-12-hour shifts sin Days a week. Those who fell ill were quickly replaced by other Job seekers who had hopped freight trains hitchhiked or walked to Fayette county in search of steady jobs the whole driving of the Tunnel was begun continued and completed with grave and inhuman disregard of All consideration for the health lives and future of the employees the House labor committee concluded alter extensive testimony in 1936. Phillips was 6 years old when his father David Phillips died in a West Virginia sanitarium he says the state s decision to erect a Monument to the workers Sieds to be More than conciliatory gesture want people to know what really happened there Phillips says. A Tat Hlatt Orical Marker near the Tunnel extols the technological accomplishment but says nothing of the men who died Fred Armstrong of the state culture and history department says the old Marker Wilt remain but a new sign will recognize the accompanying human Sac Nice. He has a 3-fool-Square space and 11 lines to Tell the workers one will be hard to write he says. The Tunnel was commissioned by Union Carbide which hired Rinehart and Dennis construction co. Of . A. To do the work. The project diverted the new liver from Hawk s nest to a Power station in Gauley Bridge with the Power going to a Carbide subsidiary s smelting Plant. For More than two years work c be a hacked T the drillers and haul fhe Rock and debris from the Tunnel they had shacks of the coloured looks up that where the Hawk s nest Golf course is now Stull says. Reports on the working conditions gradually rave Ned Washington and prompted the congressional investigation in 1936. The comm Loeb s report said the. Project could have been run safely if the contractor had used water in the drilling process. But tha we drilling method took More in and us contractor was on a construction deadline Metheney says. The Only time we used Wel drilling was when the state inspectors showed up he says. They always knew when they were Many of the Dot suffered the same late As the. Workers. When i left there the superintendent could t Walt. Up Steps without losing his breath Methena Saya i think he died shortly after the Tunnel was later about 300 survivors and relatives of those who died would file lawsuits against the drilling company. It eventually wan settled and they received $130,000, half of which went to lawyers in the Case. The drilling company did not admit wrongdoing but its owners did quietly dissolve the firm a few years later. Saturday. October 11, 1986 the stars and stripes Page
