1924 — Dec 24, Mathieson Alkali Works “Muck” dam fails, Palmertown, Saltville, VA– 19

–22  The Bee, Danville, VA. “22 Die in Muck Stream.” 1-1-1925, p. 1.

–19  AP. “Held for Saltville Tragedy. Man Blew Up Dam…” The Bee, Danville, VA, 1-19-1925, 1.

–19  Linford. “Remembering the Muck Dam break in Saltville…” SWVA Today, 12-24-2013.

–19  McSpadden. “The Muck Dam Disaster: Christmas 1924,” The Mountain Laurel, Dec 1988.

–14  AP. “Eight Persons Still Missing in Dam Tragedy.” The Bee, Danville, VA, 12-27-1924, 1.

 

Narrative Information

 

Linford: “….what was ‘muck?’ The best explanation I have found comes from an interview with Jim Brown, who was a manager of environmental technology for Olin Corp. The Mathieson Alkali Works commenced operation in 1893. It produced ‘alkalies in the form of soda ash, baking soda, caustic soda and other alkaline commodities.’ In order to ‘hold the waste from its chemical processes, Mathieson built a dam, known as the muck dam because of the nature of its contents.’ According to Brown, the ‘dam was made of slaker waste and fly ash and cinders from the boilers that produced steam at the plant. Mined limestone that had been burned, made into lime and slaked to make hydrated lime was the starting raw material for the process that resulted in soda ash. The mixture inside the muck dam was an ammonia still waste, a ‘slurry’ made of solid particles and liquor, that was pumped out to the pond. The solids settled out and the liquor, which was mainly water, was drained into the river, a process for which the plant had a permit.’….

 

[An] account of the moment the muck dam broke comes from Mr. J.H. Scott. His brother, J.C., was visiting from Roanoke on this fateful night. They heard a ‘roaring’ sound, but dismissed it as some sort of accident at the plant. When they went out to see what was going on, they saw ‘dimly outlined against the sky, great mountains as it were, moving by the house.’ They were hit by an ‘avalanche of water and muck.’ The impact carried J.H. Scott about ‘fifty feet from where he had been standing.’ When he went to look for his brother, he found him, with a cut on his head, ‘lying partly covered with muck, dead.’

 

“The wave of muck was estimated by most accounts to be ‘nearly a hundred feet high and over 300 feet wide.’ It “swept into the river and over a hill and through the village, sweeping houses, barns, trees and everything else in its path, or else burying them to a great depth under its white slime. The dam was holding back about 30 acres of muck and water when it broke. The force of the break caused ‘great boulders weighing fifteen to twenty tons’ to be ‘hurled across the river, over the hill on the opposite side, a distance of over two hundred and fifty yards.’….

 

“A total of 19 people perished in the disaster: Charles Emory Clear, age 5; Opal Jane Pauley, age 10; James C. Scott, age 72; Christena Walk, age 8 months; Lora B. Walk, age 7; Lonnie M. Walk, age 10; Ida Lee Stout, age 24; Mary Louella Stout, age 4; Roy Lee Stout, age 1; Hazel Jackson, age 2; Maxie Jackson, age 18; Nannie Jackson, age 45; Bessie G. Prater, age 10 months; Hiawatha Prater, age 25; J.D. Prater, age 49; Junior Prater, age 1; Leota Prater, age 19; Leslie Prater, age 3; and Mamie Prater, age 36….” (Linford, Margaret. “Remembering the Muck Dam break in Saltville on Christmas Eve 1924.” SWVA Today, 12-24-2013.)

 

Mcspadden: “….On December 24, 1924…. At 8:00 pm, a white Christmas came to Palmertown with stunning velocity…. The cause for such a lamentable memory of woe can be summed up in one word, “muck.” The white blanket which covered the Palmertown country side was not snow, but a thick tenacious substance of causticity consisting of the residue of 16 years worth of accumulated alkaline waste. Since 1908, the viscous refuse had been deposited behind a makeshift dam built by the Mathieson Alkali Works. The wall of the dam was, technically, nothing more than a solidified version of the liquid which it retained.

 

“According to Saltville historian, William B. Kent (1955-69), ‘the retaining wall had gradually heightened without the proper thickness until a great volume of immense tonnage was retained by an inadequate shell.’ That restraint came to an end on December 24, 1924, when the wall of the dam collapsed, allowing a 100 foot high, 300 foot wide, and 30 acre volume of demonic fury to spew forth, inundating the community of Palmertown below. The substance which comprised the deadly white wave had always been referred to by Mathieson employees and local residents as ‘muck.’ The dam itself had informally been christened the Muck Dam. Hence, Christmas 1924 has come to be known as the date of the Muck Dam Disaster….

 

“Along with Henrytown, Allison’s Gap and Chinch Row, Palmertown was…a suburb of Saltville. Most residents of this suburbia usually referred to the entire area as Saltville.

 

“Saltville was, and is, located in the heart of Southwest Virginia. Nestled among the foothills of the Clinch Mountain Range, the town is positioned in a valley which came to bear the name of its patron town. Hence, the Saltville Valley came to be the geographical designation of the area…. the valley is laterally traversed by the North Fork of the Holston River….

 

Determining The Cause

 

“….According to all sources, that is newspaper accounts and personal interviews, six theories have been offered over the years. Two of the reasons are based on several reports of an explosion heard about eight o’clock on the evening of the disaster. One theory is that a gas formed underneath the muck and exploded for some unknown reason. A second theory is that some misguided vagrant maliciously and intentionally planted explosives on the wall of the dam, either as a practical joke or as a way of taking out vengeance upon the Mathieson plant for some perceived act of injustice. Neither of these theories were ever very popular. More popular and more feasible theories speculate that the dam structure experienced a severe weakening as a result of heavy precipitation, accumulating gasses in the substructure, disturbances in the subterranean strata or stress fractures produced by years of consistently applied and consistently growing pressures exerted by megatons of ‘muck.’

 

“In the midst of all this theorizing, it is surprising that the finger of responsibility has never been pointed at the Mathieson plant. The disaster relief and service offered by Mathieson was, at least ostensibly speaking, voluntary. It apparently was not intended as a strategy to squelch bitterness and animosity which might have been harbored by area residents. In this day of intense concern over determining the parameters and jurisdictions of responsibility, it is difficult to imagine a disaster situation characterized by a seeming lack of concern for engaging in an aggressive inquiry regarding the negligence and/or guilt of potentially responsible parties. Perhaps it should be said here that determining responsibility has limited value from the angle of  ‘hindsight.’….” (Mcspadden, Mary Frances. “The Muck Dam Disaster: Christmas 1924,” The Mountain Laurel, Dec 1988.)

 

Newspapers

 

Dec 25: “Saltville, Va., Dec. 25.–Nine known deaths and six or seven missing, together with 21 persons injured, such is the total of the ‘muck-dam’ disaster at the Matheson Alkali Works as nightfall enveloped the stricken area tonight. The injured laid in an improvised hospital here. Four or five of them are not expected to live, many having contracted pneumonia from their immersion in the icy waters and virtually all of them were severely burned by the alkali in the muck. Many others, who escaped injury when the crash of the watery flood came down together with numbers of the rescue parties who toiled all night and all day in the lime muck, sustained burns and were treated at emergency hospitals. A call has been issued for Eye and Nose Specialists to treat those suffering from severe burns.

 

“All of the dead have been identified. A revised list issued tonight gave the following names:

 

Mrs. Luther Clear, and her son, Charles Clear;

Opal Cauley;

Mr. and Mrs. Harry Clayter;

Leslie Clayter, their son;

Mr. and Mrs. James Clayter;

Major James Scott.

 

“Several of the bodies were recovered in Tumbling Creek, six miles from the dam. It was feared that some of the missing were buried…in white muck that spread throughout the valley.

 

“Haggard with exhaustion, burned with strong alkali solution…their clothes white with the muck lime, the rescue worker volunteers did not end their vigil when night fell. For 24 hours, a constant search has been maintained, the men examining the water and mud which at times was waist high.

 

“Bristol, Va., Dec. 25.–With the death list variously estimated at 5, 6, 15 and 23 in the disaster at Palmertown, Va., last night incident to the breaking of the ‘Muck Dam,’ crossing the Holston River, details of the crash were slowly coming into news channels today.

 

“The latest authoritative statement from Saltville, the nearest point of communication to the scene of the flood, was this afternoon when Mr. Sandland, of the Matheson Alkali Works, told the Associated Press that five bodies had been recovered last night were known to be dead, making a total death list of 23.[1]….In addition, Mr. Sandland said that 85 persons, some of whom are in a serious condition, had been injured and were suffering from exposure. Thirty-five of these are being cared for in an emergency hospital set up in a lodge room at Saltville. The other 50, he said, were being taken care of in private homes in that town….

 

“The disaster was like the Johnston Flood. The dam at the North Fork of the Holstein river near the plant of the Matheson Alkali Works, broke and a wall of water rushed down, washing away many houses in the path of the deluge. Heavy rains of he past few days, and the consequent increased pressure on the dam, are said to have been responsible for the disaster. Those caught by the swiftly moving deluge had no warning and were picked up and carried down the stream in their homes. As a result of the break of the dam, the north fork rose rapidly and many homes further down the river were washed away or damaged.

 

“Roanoke, Dec. 25.–Authorities of the county are engaged in checking up the damage done last night when the walls of the ‘muckdam’ connecting the Matheson Alkali Works at Saltville and the mountains about 18 miles from Marion, Va., gave way, and what was described as a ‘wall of water’ descended on the north flank of the Holston River, inundated the lowland and sweeping the territory….” (Associated Press. “Big Dam Breaks; 5 to 23 Die in a Xmas Eve Flood.” Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg, VA, 12-26-1924, pp. 1 and 6.)

 

Dec 27: “Saltville, Va., Dec. 27.–With fourteen bodies now recovered, search of the muck lime deposit that overspread a score of acres in the Holston river valley near here was continued today to account for eight persons still missing after the disastrous dam break of Christmas Eve.

 

“More than two hundred men kept up the search today while Saltville completed plans for the burial of its dead. Half of the army of searchers are employes of the Mathieson Alkali Works, the plant at which the dam break occurred to release a great wall of lime-laden water and mud on the little settlement of workers below.

 

“Six bodies recovered in yesterday’s search brought the total of known dead to 14 and is believed th final death list would reach more than a score. It appeared there were some bodies buried under the deposit of lime refuge that might nevr be recovered.

 

“In addition to the body burns from which most of the more than twenty-injured are suffering as a result of lime in the flood waters, a number have received injury to the eyes that threatens blindness in several cases.

 

“The emergency hospital for the injured, set up over a drug store, continued to be besieged today by anxious relatives and friends of the victims.” (Associated Press. “Eight Persons Still Missing in Dam Tragedy.” The Bee, Danville, VA, 12-27-1924, p. 1.)

 

Jan 1: “Twenty-two persons were suffocated to death when a great mass of alkali muck swept through the village of Saltville, Va., when the muck dam of the Matheison alkali works gave way under pressure of flood waters. The muck covered the village like a stream of lava…A score of houses were demolished and many who were able to escape death were seriously burned by the alkali.” (The Bee, Danville, VA. “22 Die in Muck Stream.” 1-1-1925, p. 1.)

 

Jan 19: “Bristol, Va.-Tenn., Jan. 19.–Roy Patrick, in the Smyth county jail at Marion, Va., on the charge of having dynamited the dam and causing it to give way Christmas eve near Saltville, this morning maintains his innocence and states that he will be able to prove an alibi. The authorities claim that they have evidence that leads them to believe Patrick, who has a wife and two children, used several sticks of dynamite to dislodge the mountain of lime much stored in the huge dam back of Saltville which claimed a toll of 19 lives and did tremendous property damage. It is alleged that he made threats against the Mathieson Alkali Works because of failure to secure employment there. The prisoner is held on the second floor of the jail in Marion and carefully guarded.

 

“The evidence in detail is not disclosed by the representatives of the Mathieson Alkali Works. It is known that several sticks of dynamite were discharged on the dam about 8:30 o’clock Christmas eve and in an hour or so thousands of tons of lime refuse poured from its moorings, engulfing a wide expanse in the river bottom and sweeping human beings, homes and outbuildings into the north fork of the Holston river nearby. Suspicion first rested on Patrick, it is said, when several persons reported he had made threats against the alkali works.” (Assoc. Press. “Held for Saltville Tragedy. Man Blew Up Dam…” The Bee, Danville, VA, 1-19-1925, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Big Dam Breaks; 5 to 23 Die in a Xmas Eve Flood.” Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg, VA, 12-26-1924, pp. 1 and 6. Accessed 1-13-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/harrisonburg-daily-news-record-dec-26-1924-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Eight Persons Still Missing in Dam Tragedy.” The Bee, Danville, VA, 12-27-1924, p. 1. Accessed 1-13-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-dec-27-1924-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Held for Saltville Tragedy. Man Blew Up Dam Which Killed 19 Persons, Charge.” The Bee, Danville, VA, 1-19-1925, 1. Accessed 1-13-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-jan-19-1925-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Overnight Features.” The Bea, Danville, VA, 12-26-1924. Accessed 1-13-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-dec-25-1924-p-3/

 

Linford, Margaret. “Remembering the Muck Dam break in Saltville on Christmas Eve 1924.” SWVA Today, 12-24-2013. Accessed 1-13-2019 at: https://www.swvatoday.com/opinion/columnists/article_41a800a2-6c18-11e3-aab4-0019bb30f31a.html

 

Mcspadden, Mary Frances. “The Muck Dam Disaster: Christmas 1924,” The Mountain Laurel, Dec 1988. Accessed 1-11-2019 at: http://www.mtnlaurel.com/history/1506-the-muck-dam-disaster-christmas-1924.html

 

The Bee, Danville, VA. “22 Die in Muck Stream.” 1-1-1925, p. 1. Accessed 1-13-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-jan-01-1925-p-1/

 

Additional Reading

 

Catron, Jerry W. The Great Saltville Disaster. Self-published, 1991, 24 pages.

 

[1] Typed in here as appears in the paper.