Appalachian History Series On the morning of February 26, 1972, the coal refuse dam system above the Middle Fork of Buffalo Creek failed near Saunders in Logan County, West Virginia. Within hours a black wall of water and slurry swept down the hollow, tearing through more than a dozen coal camp communities and leaving a scar that Appalachia still carries.

Appalachian History Series On a frigid morning in mid December 1864, Major General George Stoneman’s mounted command reached the Holston at Kingsport with a clear purpose, to open the road into southwest Virginia and wreck the Confederate lifeline there. Before the columns struck railroad bridges, lead mines, and the salt works, they first had to force a crossing at Kingsport.

Repurposed Appalachia A mountain camp that belongs to Harlan County Tucked against Pine Mountain near the head of Watts Creek, Camp Blanton began life in 1933 and 1934 when Grover and Oxie Blanton, with relatives, set aside about 13 wooded acres for a Boy Scout camp and a public playground for Harlan Countians.

Appalachian History Series Why “Fishtrap,” and why a dam here Early settlers on the Levisa Fork found an old Native fish weir in the river and gave the place its name, Fishtrap.

Appalachian History Series A Lake for Floods and for Folks Where Johns Creek bends through the hills above Prestonsburg, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers raised an earth dam in the mid twentieth century and impounded an 1,100 acre reservoir that locals still call Dewey Lake.

Appalachian History Series Herrington Lake began as an idea on paper and ended as a reservoir that changed work, water, and recreation across central Kentucky. Kentucky Utilities planned the project in the early 1920s to produce hydroelectric power on the Dix River and to steady flows on the Kentucky River. Construction started in late 1923, the gates closed in March 1925, and commercial power followed in 1927.

Appalachian History Series Cave Run Lake sits in the northern hills of Bath County, Kentucky, a broad ribbon of water bordered by the Daniel Boone National Forest. The lake exists because the federal government spent four decades planning and nearly a decade building an earth-and-rockfill dam on the Licking River to curb floods, secure water, and welcome recreation.

Appalachian History Series A hillside resting place with county roots Rest Haven Cemetery sits on a ridge above Baxter and Keith in Harlan County, Kentucky. Its story begins at the end of 1929, when the Harlan County Fiscal Court voted to purchase 1,827 burial lots at “Rest Haven” for a county graveyard serving both “colored and white” paupers.

Appalachian History Series A Small Lake With County-Wide Importance In 1969 the Martin County Water District finished an earthen dam above Inez and created Curtis Crum Reservoir, a small but strategic pool that feeds the county’s drinking water system. From the start, managers paired the lake with pumps on the Tug Fork River to keep levels stable, then sent raw water to the treatment plant on Turkey Creek for household use.

Appalachian History Series The Middle Fork Setting and Purpose Where the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River cuts through steep country in Perry and Leslie counties, the federal government built Buckhorn Lake Dam to tame dangerous floods and stabilize low flows. The site sits above the confluence where narrow ridges funnel runoff into quick crests.

Appalachian History Series Kentucky on a Knife-edge In May 1861 Kentucky declared neutrality. That fragile stance crumbled in early September when Confederate forces seized crossings on the Mississippi at Columbus and moved through Cumberland Gap into the southeastern mountains.