Hawk's Nest - A Novel

A fictionalized account of the worst industrial incident in American history. Stifled by Union Carbide on its publication by Doubleday, this 1941 novel by Hubert Skidmore tells the stories of several workers involved in drilling a tunnel through Gauley Mountain in West Virginia. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, died from lung silicosis as a result. Based on true events that occurred in the early 1930s in south-central West Virginia, thousands came from across the country to work build a huge tunnel  where the New and Gauley rivers joined to form the Kanawha River. The state of West Virginia billed it as a project to divert river water to spin a turbine and create electricity. But in reality, the project was a deal with a large corporation that needed electricity for a nearby plant. West Virginians didn't know that, just as the 5,000 men who would eventually work in the tunnel weren't told another nasty secret: Much of the sandstone rock they were drilling and blasting through contained nearly 100 percent pure silica, that, when disturbed and turned into silica dioxide dust, fouled the lungs of the workers, killing hundreds of them. Interestingly, Skidmore's book is not a new work. He finished his novel in 1939, and Doubleday and Doran published it in 1941. But before many copies could be sold, it was pulled from the market. A recent interest by historians has ressurected the novel and republished it.  The story is a heartbreaker but one everyone should read.

 
Hawk's Nest - A Novel
 
Hawk's Nest - A Novel
A fictionalized account of the worst industrial incident in American history. Stifled by Union Carbide on its publication by Doubleday, this 1941 novel by Hubert Skidmore tells the stories of several workers involved in drilling a tunnel through Gauley Mountain in West Virginia. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, died from lung silicosis as a result. Based on true events that occurred in the early 1930s in south-central West Virginia, thousands came from across the country to work build a huge tunnel  where the New and Gauley rivers joined to form the Kanawha River. The state of West Virginia billed it as a project to divert river water to spin a turbine and create electricity. But in reality, the project was a deal with a large corporation that needed electricity for a nearby plant. West Virginians didn't know that, just as the 5,000 men who would eventually work in the tunnel weren't told another nasty secret: Much of the sandstone rock they were drilling and blasting through contained nearly 100 percent pure silica, that, when disturbed and turned into silica dioxide dust, fouled the lungs of the workers, killing hundreds of them. Interestingly, Skidmore's book is not a new work. He finished his novel in 1939, and Doubleday and Doran published it in 1941. But before many copies could be sold, it was pulled from the market. A recent interest by historians has ressurected the novel and republished it.  The story is a heartbreaker but one everyone should read.  
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