The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
38 killed in Hurricane Creek mine explosion
Adisaster at the Finley Mines on Hurricane Creek in east Kentucky on Dec. 30, 1970 — exactly one year after passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act was signed — killed 38 miners and put a spotlight on lingering problems with oversight. “The dreaded tragedy of coal mining struck Leslie County yesterday as an explosion killed at least 18 men and left 20 others apparently trapped and feared dead,” read the front page story in the Dec. 31, 1970, Courier Journal.
Everett Bartlett, supervisor of the Hazard district of the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals, predicted the eventuality of the situation when he said “As to the chances of the others, we’ll say this: Their chances are zero.”
One miner who was close to the entrance of the mine was the lone survivor of the tragedy.
“Inspection reports on file at the U.S. Bureau of Mines show that the Finley Coal C. was cute for a wife variety of mine-safety law violations — some of them highly dangerous — during two inspections this year,” the paper reported in a separate story from Washington, D.C.
Reactions to the disaster went all the way to the White House where President Richard Nixon called for a “special task force” to head to Kentucky.
“Every appropriate step must and will be taken to identify the causes of this tragedy and to prevent future mining accidents,” Nixon said.
Charles Finley, co-owner of the mine, would admit to issues the next day saying federal agents found “minor violations” of the mining law, but declined to elaborate saying “I’d rather not answer too many of these questions.”
In 2020, reporter Chris Kenning traveled to Hyden, Kentucky, for a story recounting the 50th anniversary of the disaster and talking with family members of those killed.
“I’m 53 years old, but I still get angry when I think about it,” said Sandra Smith, daughter of Lonnie Collins who died in the disaster, told Kenning for the story published Dec. 23, 2000. “Maybe some people are able to let it go. But I have to be honest, I can’t.”
Kenning also spoke with Al Collett, a third-shift miner who was called after the explosion to help with the recovery.
“Collett and others donned headlamps and crawled on hands and knees to look for the missing miners. They carried a phone line that was connected to the outside.
The grisly discoveries started around 7 p.m., according to an official report. Collett said miners’ bodies were gathered around sandwiches and cake wrappers, apparently taking a meal break.
‘We’d find them in groups. There’d be 10, 12, 4, 5, something like that, gathered up,’ he said, recalling being thunderstruck seeing all the miners he knew so well. ‘Everybody was dead — superintendent, workers, everyone. All 38 of them.’
Collett knew all of them.
In 2010, Gov. Steve Beshear signed legislation to designate the Hurricane Creek mine site as a state historic site. A memorial to the disaster was dedicated Oct. 8, 2011.