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Copyright© Coal
Creek Watershed Foundation, Inc. 2000 through 2021
CELEBRATING OUR 21st YEAR!!
COAL CREEK MOTOR DISCOVERY TRAIL
GUIDE BOOKLET
Then, free miners from Coal Creek found a solution by going to war with the State of Tennessee from 1891 to 1892. Tennessee ended its convict lease system and the rest of the South soon followed suit. Many of the miners who survived the Coal Creek War, died in mine disasters at the Fraterville Mine in 1902 and the Cross Mountain Mine in 1911. These disasters, which killed 268 men and boys in Coal Creek, helped raise public awareness of the dangers of mining. Safety reforms, brought about in response to these disasters and others, have helped save thousands of lives in mines throughout this country.
Relive the history and explore the scenic mountains and streams of Coal Creek by traveling the new Motor Discovery Trail. The
trail is free,
provided by efforts of the Boy Scouts of America, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Trout Unlimited, the Coal Creek Watershed Foundation, local
residents, and students. This trail is dedicated to those miners who lived and died in Coal Creek to improve the quality of life today.
A: Fraterville Miners'
Circle in Leach Cemetery. Eigh |
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B: Shoot-Out at Coal Creek Train Depot. After a strike by miners in Fraterville, mine owners recruited replacement workers from St. Louis and other locations to move to Coal Creek. Firecrackers set off by a group of boys started a shoot-out that ended with nine men wounded and four dead in 1904. | |
C: The Wye.
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D: Fort Anderson on Militia Hill. Free miners started the Coal Creek War in 1891 to abolish the convict labor system. The State militia was sent in to build Fort Anderson on Militia Hill to restore order. After numerous battles where convicts, guards, and militia were captured and released, Governor Buck Buchanan sent in sufficient militia with heavy artillery and Gatling guns to end the conflict in 1892. More info on Militia Hill and Convict Miners. |
Photo of cannon on Militia Hill |
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F: Thistle Switch. During the Coal Creek War, six hundred free miners met with Governor Buck Buchanan to negotiate a settlement. Nothing was decided and the Governor sent in additional militia. Colonel Granville Sevier, grandson of Tennessee's first Governor, and his men were captured by two thousand miners and put on a train back to Knoxville. |
G: Fraterville Mine Disaster of 1902. The Fraterville Mine opened in 1870. On May 19, 1902, an explosion killed 184 men and boys working in the mine. The Fraterville Mine Disaster remains the seventh-worst in the history of mining in the United States and the worst in the South. Powell Harmon left a farewell message telling his sons Henry and Condy never to work in the coal mines. Nine years later, Condy Harmon died in the Cross Mountain Mine Disaster. |
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H: Thistle Mine. The first fatal mine explosion in Tennessee occurred here in January 1891. After the 1911 Cross Mountain Mine explosion, the direction of the Thistle ventilation fan was reversed to remove afterdamp from the Cross Mountain Mine and allow five miners to be rescued. | |
I: Ghost of Drummond Bridge. In August 1891, during the Coal Creek War, a young miner named Dick Drummond was lynched by the militia from a railroad bridge renamed "Drummond Bridge". Some report that the ghost of Dick Drummond still haunts the Coal Creek watershed. |
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J: Battle of Fatal Rock. During the Coal Creek
War of 1891 to 1892, Colonel Kellar Anderson, the commander of Fort Anderson, was captured
by miners. Major Daniel "Old War Horse" Carpenter organ![]() |
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K: Briceville Opera House. Opened on April 20, 1890, the two-story Briceville Opera House, with its elaborate clock tower, challenged the Clinton courthouse for prestige in Anderson County before it burned in the early 1900's. | |
L: Briceville Elementary School
won a Title I Distin![]() |
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M: Briceville United Methodist
(Community) Church. Built in 1888 by Welsh Coal
Miners, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2 |
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N: Cross Mountain Mine Disaster of 1911. On December 9, 1911, an explosion and the resulting afterdamp (noxious gases formed from the explosion) caused the death of 84 men and boys. Five men were rescued. Mouth-breathing, self-rescuer equipment, demonstrated at Cross Mountain, became standard equipment for miners and is still in use today. The Cross Mountain Mine Disaster was the thirty-sixth worst in the history of mining in the United States. When considered in conjunction with the Fraterville Mine Disaster, Coal Creek is the third worst mine disaster site in the history of mining in the United States. | |
O: Air Force Radar Base Station. In the late 1940's, the Federal government decided that an early warning station was needed in case of enemy attack on Oak Ridge. A radar station was built on top of Cross Mountain. U.S. Air Force barracks were built at the base of Cross Mountain. A 10,000-foot long tramway was built to move men from the barracks to the radar station. | |
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Q:
Blue Hole of Coal Creek. A
deep pool has formed at the confluence of Nunn Hollow
with Coal Creek. Blue Hole has been a local gathering
spot for generations of Coal Creek residents. Many have
been baptized in the cold water of Blue Hole.![]() ![]() |
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R. Minersville and Tennessee Mine Camps. Tennessee Hollow was the site of mine camps that expanded from Briceville during the late 1800's and are now ghost towns. | |
S: Native Americans. Arrowheads found at the
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T:
Three Forks Hollow. To
experience the wonders
of![]() |
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U: Cross Mountain Summit. After the radar station opened in 1951, the area suffered a drought and some folks blamed it on the new radar station. Military cutbacks closed the radar station because it was found to be too high in elevation (3500 feet) to detect low flying aircraft. |
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W:
Beech Grove Falls. Prior
to the adv![]() |
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X: Beech Grove Mine Camp. Many of the homes in this community were built during the height of coal mining in the early 1900's. | |
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Z: Coal Refuse Pile. Another objective of CCWF is to reclaim abandoned coal waste deposits that were abandoned before the enactment of stringent SMCRA Standards. Abatement of abandoned mine land problems, to improve Coal Creek water quality and thereby enhance the Clinch River trout fishery, is another goal of CCWF. | |
Mine Reclamation Lessons |
More history about the Coal Creek watershed can be found at the Briceville and Lake City libraries. Some of the applicable history books include:
Briceville: the town that coal built by Marshall McGhee and Gene White (1991)
Briceville...Through the Years by Gene White (1994)
Reflections in the Water: Coal Creek to Lake City by David Rogers (1976)
Memories: A Folk History of Briceville School by Marshall L. McGhee (1987)
Circling Windrock Mountain by Augusta Grove Bell (1998)
We need help from you historians. We need volunteers to summarize the history
of the area to include on this web page. Please email us at bthacker2@coalcreekaml.com
or send us information by mail to CCWF, P.O. Box 31707, Knoxville, TN
37930-1707. Old photographs with captions and dates would be great, even if you
are not a history expert. Photographs of old mining activities in the Coal Creek
watershed are of particular interest. We will recognize the authors and
providers of the photographs where possible.
[Home]
[SCHOLARSHIPS]
[RESTORING THE GREAT AMERICAN CHESNUTS]
[Master
Plan] [Map] [Photo
Gallery]
[Bank Stabilization Projects]
[Deadwood Removal Days] [Discovery Day 2000] [Scrape,
Paint
& Clean Day 2000]
[Historic Fraterville Mine Disaster Field Trip
2001] [Fraterville Mine Disaster 100th
Anniversary]
[Coal Creek War and Mining Disasters] [Mine
Reclamation Lessons]
[CMD] [Economic Benefits]
[Motor Discovery Trail] [Historic
Cemeteries]
[Partners] [Schools in Watershed]
[Mark the Trail Day]
[Awards]
[Coal Creek Health Days]
[Briceville School History Field
Trips] [Ghost Stories]
[Trout Stuff] [Join
Us] [Eastern
Coal Region Roundtable]
[Articles in the News] [Dream Contest]
Copyright© Coal
Creek Watershed Foundation, Inc. 2000 through 2021
CELEBRATING OUR 21st YEAR!!