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Question
#55020. apriltilley
asks:
What town in West Virginia is associated with the worst occupational disaster?
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McGruff
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The worst occupational health disaster in American history occurred fifty years ago when hundreds of men died and over a thousand fell ill from acute silicosis contracted during the building of Union Carbide’s Hawk’s Nest Tunnel through Gauley Mountain in West Virginia.
 http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?nsa=1&isbn=0300044852
Hawk's Nest, the site of Hawks Nest State Park, is a peak on Gauley Mountain in Ansted, West Virginia, USA. The cliffs at this point rise 585 ft (178 m) above the New River.
A hydro-electric project nearby became known as the Hawk's Nest Incident. During construction of a three mile-long tunnel by Union Carbide beginning in 1927, the tunnel was filled with silica dust. Workers were not given masks for protection, even though management wore such masks during the short times they visited for inspection. As a result, thousands of workers, mostly poor and African American, died from silicosis, sometimes as quickly as within a single year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawk%27s_Nest
Jun 07 06, 8:34 AM
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