The Buffalo Creek Disaster

|the Buffalo Creek Disaster |
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A book by Gerald Stern

|PART ONE |
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|Prologue |
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|On the morning of the 26th February 1972 a coal company's massive coal-waste refuse pile which dammed a stream in middle fork hollow |
|collapsed in the Buffalo Creek Valley. Over 130 million gallons of water and waste material devastated Buffalo Creek's sixteen |
|communities. Over 125 people perished almost immediately, mostly women and children. There were over 4000 survivors but their 1000 |
|homes as well as most of their possessions were destroyed. |
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|Chapter one : the call for help |
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At the time of the Disaster, Stern's law firm (Arnold & Porter's) had decided to permit one partner each year to spend all his time on pro bono publico cases (public interest cases). The third year of the program it was Stern's turn.
One of Stern's friends asked him if he'd be willing to represent some of the survivors of the Buffalo Creek Disaster.
The Buffalo Creek Citizens Committee had been formed two weeks after the disaster, they wanted revenge. The people in Buffalo had elected 2 members per community to be part of this committee (such a regular election was very unusual in a State known for its election miscarriages). They chose Charlie Cowan as their chairman. This man ran a gas station halfway down to the Buffalo Creek Valley. Charles Cowan wanted to be represented by a storng and independent law firm that “the company