Lest we forget in WV Traditional Cache
redhandruthie: Thanks to everyone that got to visit this cache. I no longer live in the area and am disabling after so many DNFs.
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Quick park and grab along WV Route 2 at the Labor Workers Memorial. Small log only -- bring your own pen or pencil.
This memorial was erected for the workers that lost their lives erecting the nearby power plant. It is a reminder that sometimes, even us "ordinary" folks are placed in harms way.
*****NOTE POSTED BY CODGE_WV***** I wanted to put it up here where all folks could see it as they looked up this cache. Thank you for the facts on this matter!!!!
I worked ‘next door’ at the time of the accident…still remember saying to co-workers one minute after the first ambulance passed going to the site; “..what happened to the safety netting…?”
Shortly after 10 am on April 27, 1978, 51 workers were killed when the top portion of a reinforced concrete hyperbolic cooling tower (#2), being constructed at the Pleasants power station, collapsed with the formwork and scaffolding it supported.
The tower had reached 200 ft of its planned 430 ft final height. Construction was underway on the 29th ‘lift’ using a scaffolding system supported by the concrete of the 28th lift which had been placed the previous day.
The investigators concluded that the most likely cause of the collapse was insufficient concrete strength. At the time of the failure, the previous lift of concrete in the shell was only one day old and had been exposed to an estimated average ambient temperature less than 50 deg F.
In February 2004, Anthony Lauer, then 15 of Belmont, was named a West Virginia’s top 2004 Prudential Spirit of the Community Award winner. Lauer, a sophomore, nominated for the award by St. Mary’s High School, had several family members that were killed in the accident. Through his efforts, nearly $70,000 was raised to construct a community monument and park memorializing the 51 men who perished.
Lauer organized the efforts to secure a site and construct the Memorial Park. When completed, he coordinated the 25th Anniversary remembrance ceremony. Anthony had several family members that were victims of the accident and he wanted to make a memorial for all the men that were killed and their families.
The disaster was the worst construction accident in the history of the United States at the time. A bronze plaque affixed to the ‘tower’ monument, lists the names of those who left home that morning for work – never to return.
Tower #2 stands closest to WV State Route 2. If one stops along the berm adjacent to the tower and looks carefully, the jagged horizontal seam can be seen, marking the point of the collapse - for as long as the tower stands…
Additional Hints
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