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Monongah Mining disaster explained

The Monongah Mine disaster of Monongah, West Virginia took place on December 6, 1907 and has been described as "the worst mining disaster in American History". The explosion was thought to have been caused by the ignition of methane (also called "firedamp"), which ignited the coal dust in mines number 6 and 8.

Rescue workers could only work in the mines for 15 minutes due to the lack of breathing equipment. Some of those workers also perished due to the poisonous gas.

In all, the lives of 362 boys and men were lost in the underground explosion, leaving 250 widows and over 1000 children without support.In October 1964 Reverend Everett Francis Briggs stated that "a fairer estimate of the victims of the Monongah Disaster would be upward of 500"[1] .The victims were actually 956, the vast majority of them (171) were Italians who had migrated from San Giovanni in Fiore, San Nicola dell’Alto, Falerna, Gizzeria, Civitella Roveto, Duronia, Civita d’Antino, Canistro, Torella del Sannio and other villages in Calabria, Abruzzo and Molise. The exact death toll remains unknown.

A morgue was set up in the bank building to accommodate the victims. Hundreds of coffins lined Main Avenue in front of the building. U.S. Congress reacted to the disaster at Monongah and mining laws were passed and toughened.

The ruins of the coal mines have been sealed shut with bricks. Many of the original mining homes were built on the hillside above the mine.

Father Briggs (Fitchburg, Mass., Jan. 27, 1908 - Monongah, Dec. 20, 2006) was the head of a Committee that recently (2007) erected a statue as a tribute to the widows of the 1907 mining accident and to coal miners’ widows everywhere.The statue Monongah Heroine is made of Carrara marble and is located near the Town Hall in Monongah [2] .

The sole survivor of the blast was Peter Urban. He found a little fox hole to climb out before the toxic gases got to him. Some historians believe that several other men escaped with him, but there is little evidence to support that. He had a twin brother Stanley who was killed in the disaster. Peter Urban was killed in a mine cave-in 19 years later.

Victims

List of miners killed at Monongah - Annual Report of the Department of Mines, West Virginia, 1908 [3] .
No. 6 Mine

No. 8 Mine

References

  1. Science, vol. 146, 2 Oct. 1964
  2. In 2006 the town of Falerna (Italy) contributed with 150,00 euro (Comune di Falerna, decision n. 186 of May, 16th 2006)
  3. after West Virginia Division of Culture and History
  4. "La[y]ne", "Negro" and "Scotch" in original text
  5. "La[y]ne", "Negro" and "Scotch" in original text
  6. "Slavish", "La[y]ne", "Negro" and "Scotch" in original text

External links

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