For the first time in several years, a literary classic that documents a southern West Virginia tragedy is again in print. The book, Buffalo Creek: Valley of Death, has been revised and reprinted by state publisher Quarrier Press.

The title, penned by the late Dennis Deitz and Logan County native Carlene Mowery, tells the heart-wrenching story of an ominous day in February 1972, when 125 people lost their lives to a 25-foot tidal wave of water, sludge, and debris running through the narrow 17-mile Buffalo Creek Valley. The wave was released when an impoundment dam—owned by Pittston Coal and used to filter the black waste water—burst. Buffalo Creek was the worst mining and community disaster in West Virginia's history, and was on the national nightly news for over a week.

In this book that relives the day the impoundment damn crumbled, the authors compile a fascinating and historically significant collection of first hand accounts from 98 of the disaster's survivors. Buffalo Creek: Valley of Death contains very personal accounts of what the town's citizens were doing immediately before the flood, and the anguish and pain they experienced watching loved ones and neighbors perish. Reading the survivors' accounts is both heart-breaking and spellbinding.

"The photographs of the people and property that accompany each story begin to bring home the immense loss suffered by this group of people, a group whose lives were changed forever in just a few terrible moments," said Bill Clements, publisher of the volume. In addition to the writers' personal interviews with the flood victims, a section in the back of the book contains testimonials from the Senate Subcommittee's investigative interviews in the weeks and months following the disaster. It also includes the telling testimony given by a panel of Pittson Coal Company officials.

"This revision has an all-new full color cover, featuring the never-before-published photographs of Logan County resident Charles T. Murphy," Clements added. "Additional photos are included inside the book from Murphy's personal collection. He was a federal employee at the time and was temporarily assigned to assist in the area after the Buffalo Creek tragedy. It was then that he took these images of the terrible destruction."

In the days preceding February 26, 1972, rain had fallen almost continuously in the Buffalo Creek area, although experts later claimed this was typical late winter weather. Buffalo Mining officials, concerned about the condition of the highest dam, measured water levels there every two hours on the night before the disaster. Although a Pittston official in the area was alerted to the increasing danger, the residents of the hollow were not informed. When two deputy sheriffs were dispatched to Buffalo Creek to assist with potential evacuations, the company sent them away.

Despite the lack of warning from company officials, some residents sensed the danger and moved to higher ground; unfortunately many did not. Just prior to 8:00 a.m. on February 26, heavy-equipment operator Denny Gibson discovered that the water had risen to the crest of the impoundment and that the dam was "real soggy." At 8:05 a.m., the dam collapsed. The water obliterated the other two impoundments and approximately 132 million gallons of black waste-water rushed through narrow Buffalo Creek. In a matter of minutes, 125 were dead, 1,100 were injured, and over 4,000 people were left homeless. One thousand cars and trucks were destroyed. The flood demolished 502 houses and 44 mobile homes, and severely damaged 943 houses and mobile homes. Property damage was estimated at $50 million.

Buffalo Creek: Valley of Death is currently available locally at Logan Regional Medical Center Gift Shop, Aracoma Drug, Logan County Chamber of Commerce office, and online at: www.woodlandpress.com