Southern West Virginia is a playground for hikers, cyclists and rock climbers, but in the heart of that lush landscape rests the site of what many consider the worst industrial disaster in American ...

GAULEY BRIDGE — For the first time since 1936, no water flows through the 3.1-mile long Hawks Nest Tunnel, leaving the hydroelectric turbines at the power plant it serves idle. On Sept. 8, the gates ...

Spangler’s recently-released book, “The Hawks Nest Tunnel,” explores the tunnel construction in the 1930s that culminated in the diversion of water from the New River through Gauley Mountain for ...

GAULEY BRIDGE, W.Va. (AP) - A West Virginia tunnel where hundreds of construction workers died from silica-choked passageways is set to undergo its first inspection in more than 80 years, its owner ...

One of the worst industrial disasters in American history is a forgotten example of the dangers of silica, the toxic dust behind the modern black... Before Black Lung, The Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster ...

One of the worst industrial disasters in American history is a forgotten example of the dangers of silica, the toxic dust behind the modern black... Before Black Lung, The Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster ...

In the photo above, dust circles a worker during the construction of the Hawks Nest Tunnel in 1930. Workers on the project were exposed to toxic levels of silica dust; hundreds ultimately died.