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Wyoming County, West Virginia |
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MINERS ENTOMBED BY BLAST; 23 SAFE This is, by no means, an exhaustive list of the numbers of men and young boys who have died in the the mines. On any given day you hear about another West Virginia coal miner who perished. All coal mines are widow makers... A good place to look for mining statistics is at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, also the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). There are some excellent old photos out there of the result of strip mining and timbering in Wyoming County. - Candace J. Robinson
In West Virginia, the worst mine explosion next to the national record one at Monongah was at Eccles on April 28, 1914, when two blasts roared through the Raleigh County operation, wrecking the mine and taking a ghastly toll of 183 men. There was a second major disaster at Eccles on March 8, 1926, when the fatalities numbered 19. At another Raleigh County mine, McAlpin, six men were killed in an explosion on Oct. 22, 1928. Raleigh County has had a number of major mine disasters, but not as many as Fayette County has suffered. Fayette has the unenviable record of having 13 major mine disasters, beginning with the Red Ash mine explosion on New River on March 6, 1900, when 46 lives were snuffed out. Wyoming County has had its share of mining fatalities, with Glen Rogers heading the list. Fairly good trace has been kept of mine fatalities in West Virginia since 1869. From 1869 to 1963, about 770 miners lost their lives in West Virginia pits. Records show that the largest one-year toll of miners in West Virginia coal mining history was a 12-month period in 1925- 26, when 686 deaths were recorded. More men have met death in West Virginia mining mishaps than the number of West Virginians slain in battles on land, at sea, or in the air. Those who claim to know about such things say that every mine fatality has resulted from a violation of a mine safety rule. Even back in 1906, when the Summerlee blast occurred, state law required two outlets to a mine. Summerlee, 685 feet deep, and Lochgelly, 585 feet deep, were supposed to be connected at the bottom, but they weren't. As a result, coal company officials were indicted following the 1906 Summerlee explosion, but nothing came of it. There were not two outlets to the Summerlee (Parral) mine, as state law required, but Judge W. R. Bennett held that the state was unable to sustain its case, so there it ended. (Beckley Post-Herald. December 11, 1968) Coal Reserves Found In 1742 by Paul Ray Blankenship John Peter Salley first discovered coal along West Virginia s Coal River in 1742. So the knowledge of western Virginia s massive coal reserves was widespread before 1799 when the first settlement was made in Wyoming County. The earliest coal mines in Wyoming County were the small coal banks those naturally-exposed outcroppings of coal uncovered by ions of erosion which the early settlers found at various locations. Often the pioneers merely took buckets or barrels to the banks and gathered up the loose lumps of coal. Sometimes it was possible to get a horse and sled near enough to a coal bank, and with pick and shovel, to haul a sizable load at one time. And sometimes the adaptive pioneer chose the spot to build his cabin home because it was in close proximity with a coal bank. For the single-room pioneer cabin, with its log-and-clay chimney situated on a large stone hearth, the lumps of coal gathered from the coal banks provided a longer-lasting source of warmth than did the seasoned logs gathered from the forest. And in many instances the use of coal was considerably less work than chopping trees and splitting trunk blocks. One of the principal reasons that Argelyn Lewis (1847-1924) and Elizabeth Cooke Lewis (1839-1919), the author s great grandparents, built their log cabin home on a hill near the very top of Huff Mountain, north of Oceana, was the nearness of a coal bank which they used for heating fuel for all the years they lived there. Interest in coal as a potential source of wealth was existent in southern West Virginia as early as the 1850s, probably earlier. Thomas Dunn English (1819-1902), the poet, doctor, lawyer, and politician who lived at Logan between 1852-57, had financial interests in several coal corporations which bought up extensive acreage for mining. Accessible transportation was, without doubt, the single factor which hindered and prevented the earlier industrial development of the coal fields of southern West Virginia. The early attempts to build railroads to transport coal from Logan and Wyoming counties, though sanctioned and in some cases incorporated, those early railroads never materialized. The earliest written record concerning coal mining around Oceana appears to be statements of C.D. Wells, editor of The Wyoming News, who wrote the following in his promotional booklet, Something About Wyoming County, in 1889: The coal is cannel, splint, coke and bituminous a combination rarely found in the same district. The attention of parties representing that great adjunct of development capital is gradually drawing hither, and a new era of prosperity will dawn upon our county ere the lapse of many years. The largest resident individual landowner of the county is Mr. Lewis B. Cook, of Oceana, who has 20,000 acres of valuable timber and mineral lands in different districts... The best coal mines in the vicinity of Oceana are owned by him, and his fine forests of timber extend along the Clear Fork above and below town... According to Wells written narrative, the first attempt to develop the coal reserves of Wyoming County for industrial purposes took place about 1880 when New York industrialist Colonel Jesse Ramsey Irwin purchased some 480,000 acres of land, the Robert Morris grant, in Wyoming County for development. About Colonel Irwin, Wells wrote: Soon after effecting the purchase Colonel Irwin came here and took possession of his estate. Returning to New York, he sailed soon after for Europe... In 1885, he returned to this country and has since made his home in Wyoming County. Between 1885-89, Colonel Irwin opened up at least seventeen seams of coal in Oceana District. One of these coal seams was known as the Oceana Big Vein, which was a seam of bituminous coal that measured fourteen feet high and extended beyond the borders of Oceana District into Boone and Logan counties. (Wyoming County Report, Mar 14, 2011. From Cabins To Coal Mines, 1799-1999, Volume I. Pt. 1, Mining Black Gold and Suffering Railroad Fever. ) RAVENCLIFF (RNS) - This week brings a new experience to a Ravencltff man. Lacy A. Dillon. The first printing of his book, "They Died in Darkness." leaves the printers Monday with delivery expected in Ravencliff by the end of the week. For Dillon, whose fluency of words, and the uniqueness of putting them together has long been known in Wyoming County, the delivery of the volumes will be the culmination of some 15 months in research and the actual writing of the book. His trips over West Virginia have taken him Into every segment of the stale to the exact location of the 44 disasters that have "snuffed out" the lives of men in coal mine explosions. In his travels he has talked to old-time residents of the areas, listening to the stories they tell. Some happened so many years ago that now many exist because of a mouth to mouth preservation. Dillon's interest in mine explosions stems back to 1923 when he was a boy in the Glen Rogers area at the time of the Glen Rogers explosion that took the lives of 24. He chose the title, "They Died In Darkness" because to him the words are the most realistic he could think of. Going to work before dawn and returning home after sun down, the early rniner of West Virginia, saw little of the sun. His long day under ground was illuminated only by the light of his cap. When such catastrophies happened, darkness was everywhere underground. The grim reaper many times crept in to claim his toll. Beckley artist, Mrs. Martha Atha of Dry Hill Road, has captured this on canvas and Is reproduced in the book, In the 292 page volume the 4.3 mine explosions and one mine fire. West Virginia's worst, are portrayed in all their horrors. From Newburg in 1886 to Farmington In 1968 those events are retold depicting how it looked and felt when the earth jarred, followed by flying debris, a spurt of flame, and smoke billowing from the pit below. Scenes of the rush of frantic relatives, their screams, wailing, and prayers as they wait for some news from underground, are vividly described by Dillon. Details of rescue, the removal of the mutilated bodies, the bodies of others caught in the aftermath of carbon monoxide gas, or perhaps inhalation, shocks the reader. Every man who perished in each disaster are listed. There are many human interest and side-line stories. Dillon's research shown that such has been the late of some 2,400 West Virginia miners. Although he talked with many old timers and even eye witnesses, the bulk of Dillon's information has come through newspaper accounts of the day. In Southern West Virginia much of the information was taken from files of the Raleigh Herald, the Fayette Tribune and the Raleigh Register. The retired transportation head of the Wyoming County School System, a former Glen Rogers High English teacher and principal, also spent weeks at the West Virginia Department of History and Archives where most of the facts and figures were obtained. The explosions of 1914 and 1925 in Eccles are retold in detail with the list of victims included. The Layland Explosion of 1915 when 47 men were entombed for five days, Is also related as told the author by the only two living survivors of the tragedy. In all, 31 pictures of people and events are depicted. The longest chapter of the 43 chapters constitute the volume, tells the solemn story of.the 1907 Monongah catastrophe. Four hundred fifty seven names were found. The first chapter relates Newburg In 1886 and the last chapter, Farmington in 1968. Dillon found that Fayette County rates second to McDowell in the number of major blasts listed in the book. All in all, those who previewed parts of the original copies, are agreed that historically the book is of value. It portrays the inner character of the average miner, whose out ward emotions often mis lead the bystander, or whose sense of economic values and tastes often make him the subject.of those who describe him as a happy-go-lucky type of individual, not often possessed of life's finer attributes. Life in a mining camp has taught many that life is one of sharing the bitter with the sweet and to share with each other the joys of living and at the same time the sorrows that come through mine "mishaps" and other misfortunes they always have. (Beckley Post-Herald and Register, Beckley, W. Va., Sunday Morning, May 16. 1976) Would Probe Coal Strike Situtation (odd but exact wording) A resolution proposing congressional investigation of the West Virginia coal strike, including armed violence, was introduced in the senate today by Senator Johnson, of California. It was referred to the senate labor committee without debate. (Wyoming State Tribune, Cheyenne Wyoming. Mon. Feb 7, 1921) |
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Genealogy Trails National Site
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