HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 123
(By Delegates R. Phillips, Caputo, White, Tomblin,
Swartzmiller, Eldridge, Marcum, Boggs, Barker)
Requesting the Division of Highways to name the portion a West Virginia Route 17 from the city limits of Madison, Boone County, to the peak of Blair Mountain in Logan County, the “U.M.W.A. Memorial Road.”
Whereas, Blair Mountain stands at the center of United Mine Workers’ and American labor history; and
Whereas, After facing fights against organizing for many years, the United Mine Workers continued, in 1921, to fight for miners’ basic civil liberties in the coalfields; and
Whereas, During the Battle of Blair Mountain, ten thousand miners fought the forces of Sheriff Don Chafin and the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, who had machine gun emplacements on top of the ridge; and
Whereas, Miners risked and, in some cases, lost their lives in order to better provide for themselves and future miners; and
Whereas, It is fitting to honor the miners who fought on Blair Mountain by naming West Virginia Route 17 after the United Mine Workers; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Legislature hereby requests the Division of Highways to name the portion a West Virginia Route 17 from the city limits of Madison, Boone County, to the peak of Blair Mountain in Logan County the “U.M.W.A. Memorial Road”; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to have made and be placed signs identifying the road as the “U.M.W.A. Memorial Road”; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation; and the United Mine Workers of America’s District 17 office.