Buffalo Creek : A Small Valley

The mill creek watershed is 166 square miles with 450,000 people. The main sources of water are rivers, aquifers, and rainwater. The major body of water is the Ohio River. The land around it is hilly.The Mill Creek lies at the heart, soul, and industrial center of Greater Cincinnati. This 28-mile stream begins in Liberty Township, travels through 34 communities, and flows into the Ohio River just west of downtown Cincinnati. The Mill Creek Watershed has withstood two centuries of urbanization and is poised for a comeback. The Mill Creek drew settlers over 200 years ago looking for rich, fertile farmland and water power to support industry, ultimately building Cincinnati into a prosperous industrial powerhouse.

(Erikson p. 25) The Buffalo Coal Company decided to stack this waste at the top of the mountains which after a while created a dam. This "sludge water" was dumped in nearby lakes which they stopped because this water would end up in the streams that lead to the town. They then disposed of the water behind the dam which held up to over 130 million gallons of waste. There was a non-stop rain plaguing this area throughout the whole month of February. This rain continued to fill this dam, and on February 26, 1972 that dam collapsed causing this valley to fill with slag water. Residents explained hearing explosions and it feeling like an earthquake as the flood began. In only a few hours most of Buffalo Creek had been washed away into the Guyandotte River. After most of the water left the scene could be described as something out of a war movie; wreckage, bodies lying everywhere. The Buffalo Creek government creates aid for survivors of this disaster by offering trailer homes and other relief processes. The book has a lot of witness accounts what it was like actually going through this. I found out that The Environmental Protection Agency was enacted in 1970 and by this time the Buffalo Mining Company had already been dumping their sludge and waste water

Just after Dam No. 3 started to show symptoms of collapsing, the Pittson Company sent a bulldozer to dig a drainage pitch in an attempt to alleviate some pressure.

However, the dams were of faulty construction. Dam number one which caused the flooding was constructed of coarse mining refuse that Pittston had dumped into the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek starting in 1968. This dam failed first on the heels of heavy rains. The water from Dam number three then took out dams number two and then number one. Dam number three had simply

The Buffalo Creek flood of West Virginia is believed to be the most devastating coal relate disaster in West Virginia history. The flood occurred in the Buffalo Creek area of Logan County on February 26, 1972 when three dams broke and released 132 million gallons of water and coal waste known by miners as “gob,” and is a thick sludge-like material. The gob contains many toxic chemicals and pollutants such as mercury and arsenic that are left behind from the coal mining process. The wastewater would lie in settling ponds and dams until it could be properly disposed of. The water that was left over from processing coal would be disposed of in two different ways. Some of the water would be pumped from the dam back to the “tipple”, otherwise

[pic]we also noticed the different types of tools used to hunt from the lowest level to the most current level and retouched flakes prevailed during all periods we have determined by our excavations. This was a favorite weapon to hunt and perhaps used to hunt larger preys found in the area. The use of end scraper also prevailed for many years and it was probably used to tear up the skin to cover themselves in the cold winter time. Other tools were also found, but a significant lower number.

After it was over, the flood had destroyed 507 homes, damaged 936 homes, left over 4,000 people homeless, swept away 30 trailers and 600 automobiles, destroyed 30 businesses, washed out sections of the railroad and 10 bridges, and knocked out telephone, sewage, water and power services (Nugent 146). Over 1,000 residents sustained injuries and 125 people were killed, 7 bodies were never found (Nugent 146). “Victims lay crushed against bridges, wedged between railroad cars, swinging grotesquely from tree branches” (Nugent 151). In the days following the disaster, as the extent of the devastation unfolded, Pittston “remained silent, without even a word of condolence for the victims” (Nugent 156). When an official finally made a statement, he

The large amount of rain caused the South Fork Dam to collapse on May 31, 1889 at 3:10 p.m.. The lake drained in only forty minutes causing twenty million tons of water to flood the area. The water moved at forty miles per hour going over everything in its path. Thirty-three train engines were even pulled into the water. The town of South Fork was uphill so most were able to get away. Although, at this point twenty to thirty houses were destroyed and four people were dead. Johnstown was still fourteen miles away and yet to be hit. Finally, fifty-seven minutes after the dam collapsed, Johnstown was hit by the flood. The people of Johnstown were not expecting this, so most were carried away by the flood. The Johnstown Flood of 1889 claimed 2,209 lives. It is believed that this has one of the biggest losses of life in the United States. In total ninety-nine families were killed by the natural disaster and seven hundred seventy-seven people were never identified. Sixteen hundred homes were gone and there was seventeen million dollars in property damage. It took a total of five years to rebuild Johnstown. Therefore, The Johnstown Flood of 1889 was one of the worst natural

One of the events that stood out was the incident of the last train to leave Houston at 9:45 a.m. The train contained 95 passengers. When the train left, the tracks were completely washed out. Passengers were then forced to transfer to a relief train in order to complete their journey. Unfortunately, since there was a lot of debris on the track, the progress at which the train was moving at was at the pace of a crawl. When the train tried to return, the rising water blocked its path preventing it from moving. 10 travelers decided to leave the train and go to a lighthouse where 200 people were already at. The 85 travelers that remained on the train were killed by a storm surge. Another big story that was known among the deaths of people was about the 90 orphan children and the 10 sisters from St. Mary’s Orphans Asylum that died. Orphans were found tied together with a cloth line to a nun. This was because the nuns had promised to the orphan children they would never let go no matter what and to keep them close. A witness with the name of Smith Austin said, “Tress began to fall state shingles, planks sand debris of every imaginable kind were being hurled through the air…” Anna Delz was one of the survivors of the storm. Anna Delz was thrown into the water and found 18 miles away from her

More than 200 homes were destroyed. 185 miles of roads and15 miles of railways were damaged. Ash clogged sewage systems, damaged cars and buildings, and temporarily shut down air traffic over the Northwest. According to YourkVid” “The Nurses were crying because immerse me in a tub of water and take sponges and scrape out my wounds. And when the doctor came in he said you did not do a good enough job. They had to take me back a second time, they had to put me on morphine at that point I was in such pain.

After the typhoon, the environment was made safer for the survivors as a lot of the radioactive materials was washed away.

|collapsed in the Buffalo Creek Valley. Over 130 million gallons of water and waste material devastated Buffalo Creek's sixteen |

BOGALUSA is located in southeastern Louisiana, approximately 45 miles north of New Orleans, in what is known as the Pearl River Valley. Its name is taken from the Choctaw people who inhabited the region before white people entered the area at the turn of the twentieth century. In Choctaw language the words bogue lusa means "dark or smoky waters," which describes the flowing creek that runs through the middle of the city. During the 1960s, Bogalusa was, and remains, the largest municipality in Washington Parish, with a population of 20,000 people. In 1906, Goodyear Industries of Buffalo, New York developed Bogalusa as a mill town. When brothers Charles and Frank Goodyear brought their migrating lumber operation to southeastern Louisiana, they found a place of virgin pine forest, a flowing creek, white sands, and the Choctaw people. Before long, the Choctaw were driven out and the Goodyear brothers were well on their way to constructing their "Magic City." From Buffalo, the Goodyear brothers cut a wide swath down through the Appalachian foothills, setting up lumber camps and mill towns.

With human development, industrial pollution and other factors all contribute to the deteriorated condition of the river, which makes it difficult to determine the dams’ environmental impact in isolation. CITE That said, the current operations of the dam hamper and potentially prevent environmental improvement of the Colorado. In order to preserve some semblance of the Colorado ecosystem, man must restore the natural processes that created the ecosystem. The real question is how to do that, whether via dam decommission or a less extreme policy change.

Homes were mildewed from the storm, as well people were left cold without heat and there just was not enough descent housing; however, the money that was raised for the victims was being set aside and I feel that this was a problem that the red cross encountered while handling money.