Miners surrender their weapons after the battle.

Blair Mountains Historical Status Revoked, Group Will Appeal

Last spring we celebrated as the site of the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The listing came about thanks to diligent work by Harvard Ayers, Kenny King, Regina Hendrix and many others in Friends of Blair Mountain, a group which includes members of OVEC and the Sierra Club.

Sadly, in December the Interim Keeper of the National Register, Carol Shull, de-listed the site.

In January, Gordon Simmons, president of the West Virginia Labor History Association, said his group is appealing Shulls decision.

The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest armed confrontation in U.S. labor history. More than 10,000 union coal miners marched from Marmet in Kanawha County to Blair Mountain on the border of Boone and Logan counties. "In memory of the thousands of union mine workers who waged an insurrectionary struggle on behalf of themselves, their families and communities, their oppressed fellow workers and posterity, Blair Mountain must be preserved as hallowed ground," said a letter written to officials by the labor history group.

Lee White, executive director of the National Coalition for History, told the Charleston Gazette, "It seems mind-boggling that a place of such historical significance would be delisted."

But, guess what coal companies want to blow the peaks off Blair to get at the underlying coal. So, not so mind-boggling to us here we see the coal industrys tentacles at work.

To update yourself on the whole sordid de-listing saga, surf over to www.friendsofblairmountain.org to take new action on behalf of Blair Mountain.