Chasing History: The Underground Road Trip Takes You To The Hawks Nest Workers Memorial Cemetery
- Denetra Hampton
- Nov 16, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
by Denetra Hampton, November 15, 2025
In 1930, West Virginia became the home to one of the worst industrial disasters in American history, known as the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel disaster. In order to build the tunnel through solid rock, hundreds of unemployed men were recruited and the majority of these workers were African Americans. Due to the dust from the blasts, silicosis would kill over 760 workers. And as the death toll continued to rise, the majority of them were African American. But there was no where to bury them.
The History Behind The Tunnel
The work began June 13, 1930, history notes that the project totaled $9,000,000 and the contracting firm was Rhinehart & Dennis of Charlottesville, Va. The dam across the New River at Hawks Nest would divert the larger part of the streams water through a tunnel that was 16,350 ft in length. The lower end of the tunnel was just a short distance from Gauley Bridge on the Midland Trail where a power plant with the capacity of 130,000 horsepower in electricity would be constructed. (Hinton Daily News, 1931.)
With hundreds of lawsuits against the company from men who charged negligence in dust from the rocks that contained a ninety-nine percentage of silica which causes the disease known as silicosis, some claimed that the dust was so thick they could hardly see a man five feet away.
However, in 1935 the court dismissed 200 lawsuits for $5,000,000 against Rhinehart & Dennis claiming the workers failed to sue soon enough. ( The Daily Review, 1935)
In 1931, the first suit heard in the case of the men was that of Raymond Johnson, who suffered from advanced staged of tuberculosis as a result of the dust from the Hawks Nest tunnel. It resulted in a hung jury. The second case was that by Dora Jones in the death of her husband, Cecil Jones in June of 1933.
They Were Paid Only Thirty-Five Cents An Hour
They were paid only 35 cents an hour to drill a 3-mile tunnel out of New River. Reports say the men work two 10-hour shifts with a two-hour pause between each shift to let the dust clear. And as of September 1933 the disease of silicosis would take the life of over 240 men, most of them Negroes. According to this same report 800 workers were infected and 640 of them were Negroes from Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and North and South Carolina. (New Journal and Guide, September, 1933.)
In 1936 it was reported that the company settled 300 cases for $170,000 out of court and $166,000 to the state compensation fund. The state threw out another 200 cases. An in that same year, Representative Marcantonia of New York, to support his contention of a federal investigation of the working conditions, announced that 476 workers had died and 1,500 are dying from silicosis while working in the tunnel. He termed the tunnel deaths as "America's greatest industrial catastrophe."
Of the approximately 5,000 men that worked on the project over 30 months, an estimated 2,900 worked inside the tunnel. Of these men, silicosis claimed the lives of at least 764 workers. A majority of the dead were African Americans. In the years after the project was completed, many more would die due to their exposure to silica dust while working in the tunnel.
Many of the men contracted silicosis after coming to work at Hawks Nest and even more died after returning home.
Silicosis is a disease that infects the lungs leading to a shortness of breath and eventually death. Those with the disease are susceptible to tuberculosis. Silicosis cannot be cured.
Silicosis has been designated as an occupational disease with compensation for workers. However, tunnel workers at Hawk’s Nest were not protected by these laws. Excavation of the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel lead to the greatest death toll ever from silicosis in the United States.
Where is the Gravesite?
To solve the issue, a funeral parlor in Summersville, West Virginia located an open field on Martha White’s farm. This field became the burial grounds for many of the African Americans who died working on the tunnel project. (National Parks Service)
Physical Address: 98 Hilltop Drive, Lookout, WV 26679
Finishing The Project
On August 12, 1931 a thousand guests gathered to celebrate the current status of the Hawks Nest Project, which was the completion of the diversion tunnel between Hawks Nest and Gauley.
The guests assembled at the clubhouse at Lover's Leap on the Midland Trail. Numerous reports highlighted the extensive calculations involved in the project, and the celebration on the hill might not have occurred if the most notable West Virginians had considered the risks they were imposing on the workers' lives. The entire Hawks Nest project was finished in 1934.
In 1936, Senator Holt, West Virginia, said that the project was a " ruthless destruction of human life and "one of the most barbaric examples of industrial construction that ever happened in the world."
Chasing History
We at For Nurses By Nurses Productions have created numerous educational road trips in our series, "Chasing History: The Underground Road Trip." These road trips include visits to sites that were a part of the historic underground railroad, as well as exploring lesser-known events that have impacted the health sciences.
We hold that it is the lessons from the past, especially our stories, that most strongly inspire our future.
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