Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster Case Study

The Remembrance Of The Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster December 30, 1970 is the day everything changed for 39 families in the small town of Leslie County, Kentucky. The Hurricane Creek explosion was the most deadly coal mine disaster in eastern Kentucky history, and remains the most lethal mining disaster in America in the last 45 years(Lexington Herald Leader). The Hurricane Creek mine disaster was very devastating for the families, friends, and the one man that lived that day. The coal mines play a huge role in the job industry in Kentucky. This tragedy caused the whole company to shut down, which put a lot of people out of work. The Hurricane Creek mine and the employees were very respected by their community for their hard work. The mine was a great investment for the community because Leslie County is a small poor county and the mine allowed good paying jobs. The population at this time in Leslie County was around 11,000 with very few jobs. Little after the mines opened, thirty-four infractions had been

The memorial is located in Leslie County, Kentucky built on the Finely Mine site. The memorial consist of a walkway with thirty eight wooden gates, each with a hanging coal miner hat to honor each coal miner who died in the explosion a bronze statue of a coal miner and two walls that consist of the names of the thirty-eight coal miners who lost their lives and information about each of them. The one survivor A.T. Collins was recognized as well there is a plaque placed on the statue of the coal miner with his name and information about him. A list of the ones lost in the tragedy are Walter Bentley, Grover Bowling, Billy Browning, Teddy Bush, Fred Collins, Kenople Collins, Lonnie Collins, Alonzo Couch, Holt Couch, Howard Couch, Carl Ghent, Alfred Gibson, Lawrence