In 1921, union miners staged the largest armed insurrection in American labor history on Blair Mountain, in Logan County, WV. Between 10,000 and 15,000 UMWA miners were stopped en route to Mingo County, where they were marching to liberate union men imprisoned under martial law and to organize the coalfields by force. For five days, the miners confronted a private army run by coal operators– and were only defeated when the US Army intervened on industry’s behalf. While the miners lost on Blair, the battle led to a much stronger American labor movement that went on to win numerous concessions, including minimum wage and standardized work weeks.
We owe it to the brave miners of Blair Mountain to honor the ground they fought upon. While the battleground portion of Blair Mountain was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in Spring 2009, it was delisted that December, when out-of-state coal companies rounded up additional objectors among landowners on the mountain. Suddenly, landowners who favored the historic listing were outweighed by those who did not (two deceased were among the objectors). Now, several historical and environmental groups in WV are working to get Blair Mountain placed back on the registry. Meanwhile, some of Blair Mountain’s richest archeological locations are mysteriously being bulldozed.
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From Friends of Blair Mountain:
[Read their press release about the destruction here.]
Local citizens, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Sierra Club,
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, and the Friends of Blair Mountain are
working together to preserve the site of the largest labor insurrection in
US history.
The National Trust, Sierra Club, and OVEC have filed a petition asking the
National Park Service to reevaluate the listing on the National Register
due to major discrepancies in the nomination process.
This reevaluation is all the more urgent due to the recently discovered
destruction of five locations within the battlefield, as seen in the video
below and documented in a report by the Friends of Blair Mountain.
Please take action now. Write the National Park Service and kindly ask
them to reconsider the listing!
Guys we need to put something on the mountain, for those of us who travel through there, maybe a small museum to tell the history, maybe have a little shop to sell shirts, books on the story of Blair Mountain. I don’t want to see this mountain done away with, but I do think there needs to be something put on either side of the mountain for tourist to take advantage of…..good luck.
I don’t want to see any mountain “done away with”. All of them have more value than any piece of coal.
50 plus years of no interest in this mountain and suddenly everybody is concerned. Could the sudden interest have more to do with WHO plans to mine it than concern for the mountain itself.
well, ol watcher, you haven’t been payin’ much attention have ya?
seems to me that when there is at least 3 books out on old Blair Mountain and the epic struggle waged there, that there has been a bit more than “no interest in 50 years.”
and the greenies been talkin’ ’bout savin’ that mountain for at least a decade.
and guess what my couch potato buddy, there’s some coal miners that want that place saved as well.
where you been bud? pay attention!
Let’s see , three books written , the greenies a talkin , and a few miners a wishin does not a memorial make. SHOW ME THE MONEY.
This bulldozing that you are seeing, is a logging company!
was wondering when someone would make that known Raychel.
Everyone should check out today’s Charleston Gazette. The Keeper of the Historic Register rejected the petition to delist. She advised Reid-Smith, director of Culture and History that the state should resubmit the nomination back on July 29th. As of today he has no comment. Of course not, I saw the photo of his car with a “Friends of Coal” sticker on it, we know whose side he’s on and why he had it de-listed. Maybe there should be a petition to remove him, or hopefully all we have to do is wait until after the election in November.
I travel Blair Mountain often, first pic popps up and people set their sites on MTR, it’s a logging company! Can’t you people understand that! God yell down their throats for a chance. Get off your wagon, hitch your horses to a different direction!