According to The Associated Press, as the marchers started down the street, State Police troopers told them not to display signs urging motorists to slow down. Such signs, the troopers said, can only be used by law enforcement and the Division of Highways. They also warned the group to march single-file when they got beyond city limits.
"Today, you will march into the pages of history," Kenney told marchers.
Ellie Smith, from Australia, decided to come to West Virginia and participate in the march after reading about the Blair Mountain March on Facebook.
"I have been interested in mountaintop removal mining for three years. I have studied its history and the present threat to Blair Mountain."
Smith became interested in coal issues in Queensland, in northeastern Australia, where she lives.
"We are the biggest coal exporter in the world - 80 percent of our coal is exported," Smith said. "We are working to stop the expansion of the coal industry at home."
Most Australian mines are huge "open pit mines," like those in Wyoming, isolated from most of the population, she said.
"I am astounded by the human impact of the coal industry here," Smith said.
In March 2009, Blair Mountain was briefly placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nine months later, it was removed after coal industry pressure on state agencies.
Today, several environmental groups and the UMW have a pending federal lawsuit seeking to restore Blair Mountain to the National Register.
Hundreds of more people are expected to join the march during the week.
Saturday's closing rally will feature singers Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea and Ashley Judd. Environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and author Denise Giardina will be among the speakers.
More information is available at: http://appalachiarising.org and http://marchonblairmountain.org.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
MARMET, W.Va. -- On Monday morning, hundreds of people began a weeklong, 50-mile trek to protest mountaintop removal mining and defend labor rights.
Nearly 250 marchers and supporters of the Appalachia Rising March on Blair Mountain gathered at the Marmet Baseball Field for a rally on Monday morning. An hour later, shortly after 10 a.m., they headed toward Blair, a town near the Boone-Logan county border, where their march will end on Friday.
As the marchers began, several people driving through Marmet honked their horns in support of the marchers. Two small groups of counter-demonstrators held up signs including "Friends of Coal" and "I Love Coal."
The marchers plan to walk the same route more than 10,000 coal miners took between Aug. 24 and Sept. 4, 1921, marching to Logan County to organize non-union miners.
The 1921 March on Blair Mountain was the biggest armed conflict in American labor history. After several days of battles, federal troops arrived and ended the conflict.
"We need to preserve Blair Mountain. It represents the movement that laid the foundation for our middle class, said Joe Stanley, a retired miner from Matewan in Mingo County. "We are marching in memory of those miners."
Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources, which bought Massey Energy last week, now own much of Blair Mountain. Some anti-mining activists have tried to get the mountain put on the National Register of Historic Places to preserve it.
Representatives from the coal companies have not commented on this week's march.
Larry Gibson, a longtime local activist against mountaintop removal mining, said, "This is not about coal. It is about saving Blair Mountain."
Chuck Keeney, great-grandson of Frank Keeney -- president of the United Mine Workers District 17 during the 1921 March on Blair Mountain -- spoke at the ballpark rally.
"We wish to honor a history some would like to see destroyed," Keeney said.
"If you stand for more jobs instead of fewer jobs, you stand for Blair Mountain. If you stand for preserving our cultural heritage instead of destroying it, you stand for Blair Mountain."
Blair Mountain's coal reserves, Kenney said, can all be mined in underground operations, which would also create twice as many jobs.
Sara Lynch-Thomason, who grew up in Nashville, Tenn. and lives in Asheville, N.C. today, said, "My family is very good about keeping its own history. I am a Hatfield. Blair Mountain is an opportunity to honor people who fought before.
"We are marching not only for the workers and their families, but also for the land they live on," she said.
According to The Associated Press, as the marchers started down the street, State Police troopers told them not to display signs urging motorists to slow down. Such signs, the troopers said, can only be used by law enforcement and the Division of Highways. They also warned the group to march single-file when they got beyond city limits.
"Today, you will march into the pages of history," Kenney told marchers.
Ellie Smith, from Australia, decided to come to West Virginia and participate in the march after reading about the Blair Mountain March on Facebook.
"I have been interested in mountaintop removal mining for three years. I have studied its history and the present threat to Blair Mountain."
Smith became interested in coal issues in Queensland, in northeastern Australia, where she lives.
"We are the biggest coal exporter in the world - 80 percent of our coal is exported," Smith said. "We are working to stop the expansion of the coal industry at home."
Most Australian mines are huge "open pit mines," like those in Wyoming, isolated from most of the population, she said.
"I am astounded by the human impact of the coal industry here," Smith said.
In March 2009, Blair Mountain was briefly placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nine months later, it was removed after coal industry pressure on state agencies.
Today, several environmental groups and the UMW have a pending federal lawsuit seeking to restore Blair Mountain to the National Register.
Hundreds of more people are expected to join the march during the week.
Saturday's closing rally will feature singers Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea and Ashley Judd. Environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and author Denise Giardina will be among the speakers.
More information is available at: http://appalachiarising.org and http://marchonblairmountain.org.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
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