Volume 44, Number 3

On the cover: Smoke pours from the No. 9 mine near Farmington, November 20, 1968, as a helicopter takes methane detections. Sadly, photographer Lawrence Pierce’s image is one of the most iconic in West Virginia history. Photo courtesy of Charleston Gazette-Mail Archives.

Published by the
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

Jim Justice, Governor

Randall Reid-Smith, Commissioner
Department of Arts, Culture and History

Stan Bumgardner, Editor

Kim Johnson,
Editorial Assistant

Jacob Hall Design
Publication Design

Fall 2018

2 From the Editor

6 The Farmington Mine Disaste

By Stan Bumgardner

19 The 1954 Disaster

By M. Raymond Alvarez and
Stan Bumgardner

22 “Is your dad home from the mines?”

By M. Raymond Alvarez

28 Two Reporters Recall That

Infamous Morning
By John Veasey

30 Bob Campione

By M. Raymond Alvarez

34 Healing Spirits

By Rev. O. Richard Bowyer

40 The James Fork Church Journal

By Rev. D. D. Meighen

46 Nurses at No. 9

By M. Raymond Alvarez

52 Ken Hechler and the

Farmington Widows
By Stan Bumgardner

58 A Rumbling Down Below:

Miners for Democracy
By Christine M. Kreiser

69 Remembering No. 9

By Francene Kirk

73 West Virginia Back Roads:

Alasky’s: Another Name for Farmington By Carl E. Feather

77 The No. 9 Memorial

By John Veasey

80 Comfortably Numb

By Stan Bumgardner

Return to Goldenseal