Remembering Buffalo Creek February 26, 1972 Stewart Plein Special Collections Librarian West Virginia University College of Law
Feb 24, 2016
Remembering Buffalo Creek February 26, 1972Stewart PleinSpecial Collections LibrarianWest Virginia University College of Law
The FloodPart 1
February 26, 1972Saturday morning, 8:00 a.m. Families were home. Mothers were cooking breakfast. Fathers were sleeping. Children were beginning to rise. Most were still in their pajamas, unaware of the approaching water. The only warning came from neighbors as they ran up the mountainside to escape. Most never knew what was coming. Many were swept away still inside their homes.
125 killed, 4,000 left homeless,
1,100 injured 502 houses and 44
mobile homes demolished
943 houses and mobile homes
damaged 1,000 cars and trucks
destroyedProperty damage estimated at $50
million
After the flood . . .
Property destruction
estimated at $50 million.
Entire houses were swept downstream
Bridge at Lundale
Logan County, WV
The Symposium: WVU College of Law, February 25-26, 2014Part 2
Willard Lorenson, Dean, College of Law
The Realization
Dennis Prince et al v. The Pittston Company
Justice v. The Pittston Company
The Mountain State v. The Pittston Company
The Symposium
Symposium Goals• Educate our students• To present the positions of both the plaintiff and defense
attorneys with a balanced approach• Provide a first hand opportunity for our students to learn from
the attorneys on both sides of a landmark case• Examine the legacies of Buffalo Creek• Gather together the key personnel to preserve their actions
and memories• To create an historical document for the future
Beyond our BordersMultidisciplinary Outreach:
• Appalachian Studies Community• History
• Social Sciences• Medical Community• Law Community
The ProgramTuesday, February 25
• 7:00 p.m. Lugar Courtroom• Film Screening by Mimi
Pickering, Appalshop documentary filmmaker • Two films:• Buffalo Creek Flood: Act of
Man• Buffalo Creek Revisited
Wednesday, February 26
1. Dennis Prince et al v. The Pittston Company
Gerald Stern• Lead plaintiff attorney
• Author• Keynote Speaker
Wednesday, February 26
2. Justice v. The Pittston Company
Judge Philip Gaujot• Guardian Ad Litum for the
Court• Precedence of Children’s
Rights
Wednesday, February 26
3. The Mountain State v. The Pittston Company
Jack SpaderoMine Health and Safety
Expert
Environmental Legacy
Wednesday, February 26Closing Comments
Dr. Kai EriksonSociologist
Author:Everything in its Path
Loss of Community
Librarians as Co-Creators
• Genesis of idea• Gather support from faculty and administration• Plan program• Invite Speakers• Arrange accommodations• Fundraising• Publicity and marketing
Selected Resources• Film: Appalshop: http://appalshop.org/ for live streaming of Mimi Pickering's Buffalo
Creek films.
• Web: West Virginia Division of Culture and History: http://
www.wvculture.org/history/buffcreek/bctitle.html Voices of Buffalo Creek The Charleston Gazette:
http://www.wvgazette.com/static/series/buffalocreek/ Buffalo Creek Disaster Marshall University:
http://www.marshall.edu/library/speccoll/virtual_museum/buffalo_creek/html/
• Books: Buffalo Creek Disaster by Gerald M. Stern Everything in its Path by Dr. Kai Erikson Buffalo Creek: Valley of Death by Dennis Deitz & Carlene Mowery.
Remembering Buffalo CreekPowerPoint
Slide NarrativeBibliography
Stewart Pleinhttp://www.academia.edu/