Hicks seeking verifications, more names
Mitchell Hicks was presented with a request soon after he became director of the Ducktown Basin Museum in September 2022.
Diane Rose and Darlene Bigham met with Hicks to ask him about the possibility of creating a memorial for all the miners who had lost their lives working in the mining industry in the Copper Basin.
Their father, Tom Hickey, was one of the four miners killed in what was known as the Four-H disaster. Hickey, along with Ulas Luther Hawkins, Clarence Huffman and Joseph Winston Hughes, were being brought up from the mine in a bucket when somehow the bucket overturned and dumped all four out.
Diane and Darlene were two of the three children left for their mother to raise in 1951.
Hicks said it turned out, “The museum has always been in favor of the idea” of a memorial. But the fear of leaving someone’s name off and creating hurt feelings had stopped any progress.
That changed in January. Hicks, with the help of his wife, Sherry, began diligently combing through old company records, newspaper clippings and anything they could find that would name and verify the death of someone working on the job. The Hicks looked for the name of anyone “killed in the mining industry,” whether below or above ground, Hicks said.
The search has not been easy. The company records the museum has are limited. “We only have the records we were given,” Hicks said.
A total of 238 names have been collected of men believed to have been killed, with 178 of those verified through some kind of written record. Hicks feels confident the other names are legitimate, too.
The next step in the work to memorialize these men is underway. A spot has been picked out in the museum to hang a plaque with all 238 names. Last week, the Hicks were in the process of getting the price for the plaque with a goal of having it installed by the end of September.
Hicks said the fear someone will be left off the memorial still exists, but with so many names the time has come to move forward. The plaque will have space for more names to be added if the need arises.
Hicks says it is not too late to submit a name and encourages anyone with information about someone not included on the accompanying list, or with documentation for those included but not shown as verified, to contact him as soon as possible. He can be reached by calling the museum at 423-496-5778 or by email at mhicks.dbm@gmail.com. Anyone with information is invited to stop by the museum in Ducktown during regular business hours Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Spring through Fall.
To read through the list of names published in the July 19 edition of The News Observer, click here.