WorldWide Drilling Resource

Alaska Miners Association Phone: 907-563-9229 Fax: 907-563-9225 ama@alaskaminers.org www.alaskaminers.org Northwest Mining Association Phone: 509-624-1158 Fax: 509-623-1241 nwma_info@nwma.org WorldWide Drilling Resource ® is proud to be a member of these mining associations. Women in Mining 866-537-9694 wim@womeninmining.org 53 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® APRIL 2014 A West Virginia Landslide by Harry W. Short Engineering Geologist My geotechnical duties on the con- struction of high-voltage transmission towers in West Virginia put me into some interesting situations. When a new line was proposed to be constructed, the right-of-way was totally stripped of all trees, brush, and vegetation. Lastly, the tree stumps were cut off at ground level and the cuttings were removed. Stripping of the right-of-ways sometimes resulted in geotechnical problems when the soil was wet at its original moisture content, or during rainy weather. One late summer rain fell on a fresh- ly stripped tower site creating a land- slide that destroyed a family’s tobacco plot and drying shed. The loss amount- ed to 80% of the poor family’s yearly income. The distressed farm was about five acres in size and supported a fam- ily of five: a father, mother, and three-, four-, and nine-year-old daughters. They lived in a small three-room house with a kitchen, pantry, two bed- rooms, and an outdoor well and out- house. The house was heated with a fireplace, coal oil lamps were the only light, and the mother cooked with wood on an old four-burner stove. Sometimes they found coal seams in the moun- tains and road cuts which they dug out for heating with a pick and shovel. In West Virginia this is referred to as a “poke mine.” There was a porch along one side of the house where they enjoyed the evening shade in the hot summer. There was a large vegetable garden and enough potatoes were grown to last the winter, plus vegetables and wild berries the mother preserved. The farmer told me his “family had lived in this holler over 100 years and my daughters would never leave here.” Part of the family’s income was earned by selling two of their hogs, and a third hog was butchered in the fall. They depended on a mi lk cow for the chi ldren and made some money sel l ing cream at the nearby country store. They had an old hound dog for hunt ing grouse, possums, raccoons, wild turkeys, and squirrels to put meat on the table. A portion of their f ood a l so came f r om a n e a r b y stream that provid- ed nice trout, and they raised chick- ens. Once a month the grandparents came over after Sunday church for a fami ly chicken dinner. For enter- tainment after din- ner, grandfather and the oldest grand- daughter played banjos while grandmother clogged on the rickety front porch. Four generations of this family lived in this hollow (a valley like Loretta Lynn’s home in Butcher Hollow) and farmed the tobacco patch. They received a stipend, but it likely wasn’t enough to pay for their loss. I have often wondered if their patch of land ever returned to its full production. Publisher’s Note: One would wonder if this problem still exists today - or if it has been addressed? Harry Harry Short may be contacted via e-mail at admin@ worldwidedrillingresource.com This farm is exactly like the one damaged in the landslide. A landslide from a low flat slope com- pletely ruined their tobacco crop.