Appalachia Rising: The March on Blair Mountain

Greetings all! I come to you with news from the great state of West Virgina. Hundreds of citizens are currently engaged in a march on Blair Mountain. Here's a quick history lesson:

The Battle of Blair Mountin

The Battle of Blair Mountain was one of the biggest civil uprisings in the United States history and the largest armed insurrection since the American Civil War.[1] For five days in late August and early September 1921, in Logan County, West Virginia, between 10,000 and 15,000 coal miners confronted an army of police and strikebreakers backed by coal operators during a struggle by the miners to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields. Their struggle ended only after approximately one million rounds were fired,[2] and the United States Army intervened by presidential order.

The Battle of Blair Mountain was an important part of the labor movement. In April 2008, Blair Mountain was chosen for the list of protected places on the National Register of Historic Places. This decision has been contested by the state of West Virginia, therefore this nomination is currently under review.

Today, Blair Mountain is a candidate for something called "mountain top removal", which is exactly what it sounds like, they literally flatten the mountain. It's important to note that this is a huge scourge on the West Virgina landscape. They are doing this everywhere.

Mountaintop removal mining

Mountaintop removal mining is a form of surface mining that requires the removal of the summit or summit ridge of a mountain in order to permit easier access to the coal seams. After the coal is extracted, the overburden (soil, lying above the economically desired resource) is either put back onto the ridge to approximate the mountain's original contours or dumped elsewhere, often in neighboring valleys.[1] [2] Mountaintop removal is most closely associated with coal mining in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. Peer-reviewed studies show that mountaintop mining has serious environmental impacts, including loss of biodiversity, that mitigation practices cannot successfully address, [3] as well as human health impacts from contact with affected streams or exposure to airborne toxins and dust.[3]

Today, hundreds of people from all walks of life are gathered together to protest the possible destruction of Blair Mountain, and mountain top removal in general. It also commemorates the 90th year since the Battle of Blair Mountain. The march began in Marmet, WV and will continue for 5 days, ending 50 miles away in Blair, WV. There, on June 11, will be a huge rally with guess speakers and preforming artist.
News Artical
March Homepage

Here is a link to some photos, I wish I could just imbed but it says "all rights reserved":
March on Blair Mountain Photos

My personal thoughts are that is good that people are gathering for a good cause. I, for one, am sick of seeing my mountains turned to rubble. I've lived my whole life in West Virgina, in various parts of the state. It's a beautiful state but these coal companies have no respect for the land, and they have the money to make the news agencies say anything. It makes me sick. Every month theres a radio show or a local TV program on the greatness of coal and how it can do no wrong.

Here in Logan county the local radio station, WVOW does a radio show called "Mining the Issues" hosted by Rick Abraham (a mine owner), and you would not believe the absolute trash this man says. He can lie out his butt and its ok because he has the money to pay for the airtime. And on todays program, (which you can listen to here ) he called all the people at the march today "no-good tree hugging hippies who are all on government assistance." or something to that effect, I was so mad I couldnt see straight.

Hopefully this march will bring awareness to the subject of mountain top removal and its effects on the environment. I plan on going to the final June 11 rally so hopefully I will be able to provide some pictures

Blair mountain is a symbol or resistance to the NWO which is why they want to get rid of it.
The battle is never mentioned in school history texts for some odd reason.
Our heritage points the way to the future.
If we don't resist, we'll all be literal slaves within our lifetimes.
I can't march but I can write or call somebody.

Save Blair Mountain!
bump

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Thanks for the reply. You are right about Blair Mountain being a symbol of resistance, and schools do tend to down play its influence on labor rights. The Battle was huge, many people died and hundreds were wounded. You can still walk out on the mountain and dig up bullets and casings.

Step by Step to Blair Mountain

Harvard Ayres is marching for a different reason. He's an archeologist and was part of a team back in 2006 that did an initial archeological survey at Blair Mountain to find artifacts and evidence to get the mountain placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2009, Blair Mountain made the Register but was removed nine months later after coal companies protested the status.

Ayres says it is critical to save Blair Mountain from being blown to bits by the coal industry.

"That site, in my estimation as an archeologist, is one of the most significant but least known battle sites in our country.”

The link above also has a short video if the march from eariler today.

Does it really surprise me that much that this is the first I have heard of this, and I live in WV also? No, not really. The coal industry and state controls all the media here. It also controls the economy here, too. Which is extremely unfortunate, because most people around here care more about making money than they do about the natural beauty of the state. It is certainly a sad state of affairs when the residents KNOW that mountain-top removal is horrible, yet they say nothing for fear of losing their livelihoods.

I'm glad to hear that this brought in as many people as it did, though I do fear it will ultimately have little effect on the outcome. If I had a working vehicle, I would drive down to Logan county right now. As it stands, I can only rely on the internet to spread the word (which is ironically powered by the same substance they blow up mountains for.) So, in essence, I am doing more to exacerbate the problem than actually help it...and that saddens me.

I'm from East Tennessee and the Appalachian mountains are dear to me. I wish you all luck in your efforts to stop this. I know with over-building in the Great Smokey Mountains, many places I visited regularly as a child are now gone or fenced from public access. Best of luck and blessings to you all.

reply to post by nwdogg1982


Yes, you are unfortunately correct. The coal companies have this states government bought and paid for. Also, the media as I briefly mentioned in my OP. It's all about money. I cant really blame most West Virginians for being bias toward coal, they have been lied to their whole life about the issue. It doesn't have to be like this. They can mine the coal without destroying the mountains.

Did you know that West Virginia has geo-thermal potential? Chech this out:
West Virgina Geothermal

New research produced by Southern Methodist University's Geothermal Laboratory, funded by a grant from Google.org, suggests that the temperature of the Earth beneath the state of West Virginia is significantly higher than previously estimated and capable of supporting commercial baseload geothermal energy production.

Of course, you'll never hear a peep about this. Coal companies have this state on lock-down.