Remembering Buffalo Creek February 26, 1972Stewart PleinSpecial Collections LibrarianWest Virginia University College of Law

The FloodPart 1

February 26, 1972

Saturday 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.

Buffalo Creek DisasterA Film by A. Preston Henry

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 Lorado

Logan County, WV

The Symposium: http://law.wvu.edu/buffalo-creek-symposiumPart 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 Symposiumhttp://law.wvu.edu/buffalo-creek-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 at 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actions and memories• To create an historical document for the future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

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

Symposium Goals

Librarians as Co-Creators•G

enesis of idea•G

ather support from faculty and administration•P

lan program•I

nvite Speakers•A

rrange accommodations•F

undraising•P

ublicity and marketing

Buffalo Creek Symposium Webcast

http://law.wvu.edu/buffalo-creek-symposium

Selected Resources•F

ilm:A

ppalshop: 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.

Watch the Buffalo Creek Symposium

http://wvulaw.mediasite.com/Mediasite/Catalog/catalogs/default

Remembering Buffalo CreekPowerPoint

Slide NarrativeBibliography

Stewart Pleinhttp://www.academia.edu/