Coal Creek War

The Coal Creek War was an armed labor uprising that took place primarily in Anderson County, in the American state of Tennessee, in the early 1890s. The struggle began in 1891 when coal mine owners in the Coal Creek watershed attempted to replace free coal miners with convicts leased out by the state government. Over a period of just over a year, the free miners continuously attacked and burned prison stockades and company buildings, hundreds of convicts were freed, and dozens of miners and militiamen were killed or wounded in small-arms skirmishes. One historian describes the conflict as "one of the most dramatic and significant episodes in all American labor history."

The Coal Creek War was part of a greater struggle across Tennessee against the state's controversial convict-leasing system, which allowed the state to lease its convicts to mining companies to compete with free labor. The outbreak of the conflict touched off a partisan media firestorm between the miners' supporters and detractors, and brought the issue of convict leasing to the public eye. Although the uprising essentially ended with the arrests of hundreds of miners in 1892, the publicity it generated led to the downfall of Governor John P. Buchanan, and forced the state to reconsider the convict-leasing system. In 1896, when its convict-lease contracts expired, Tennessee's state government refused to renew them, making it one of the first Southern states to end the controversial practice.

Coal Creek

Coal Creek may refer to:

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Coal Creek (Washington)

Coal Creek is a creek in Bellevue, Washington, USA, on Seattle's Eastside. It is named for the coal mining industry prominent in the area in the 19th century. There is a popular trail which parallels the creek, allowing views of defunct coal mining equipment and even some bits of coal sitting on the ground in spots.

The source of Coal Creek is 1,400 feet above sea level on Cougar Mountain. It flows approximately 7 miles to the northwest, emptying into Lake Washington at Newport Shores.

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Coordinates: 47°32′16″N 122°07′44″W / 47.537717°N 122.129002°W / 47.537717; -122.129002

Coal Creek (Clinch River)

Coal Creek is a tributary of the Clinch River in Tennessee, approximately 10.3 miles (16.6 km) long.

Coal Creek flows northward along the southeastern base of Cross Mountain, slicing a narrow valley in which the communities of Briceville and Fraterville are located, to Lake City, a town formerly named Coal Creek, at the base of the Cumberland Plateau. The creek's confluence with the Clinch River is east of Lake City and below Norris Dam, near the Interstate 75 highway bridge across the river.

The creek drains a watershed area of about 36 square miles (93 km²). Beech Grove Fork is its largest tributary stream. Coal Creek's water quality is affected by coal surface mining, municipal wastewater discharges, and channelization.

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