Blair Mountain Battle Continues

{Blair, West Virginia}…In 1921, some 10,000 coal miners attempting to unionize marched to the southern West Virginia town of Blair and scrambled up the mountain to battle an army of police and hired guns who had homemade bombs and machine guns. At least 16 men died before the miners surrendered to federal troops in what became the nation's largest armed uprising since the Civil War. Residents, environmentalists, history buffs and other activists trying to protect West Virginia's historic Blair Mountain from strip mining are now fighting the renewal of a mining permit that St. Louis-based Arch Coal is seeking from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The public comment period on the Adkins Fork permit ends Friday. Archaeologist Brandon Nida, who said he has found artifacts in the permit area, says the Adkins Fork permit would destroy one of the most important sections of the battlefield.