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| Successful Mine Rescues in April |
| 1869 |
KY-Yellow Jacket Gold Mine Fire, Gold Hill, Nevada — James Dunlevy was the sole survivor of nine miners on the level where the fire started. He felt himself suffocating and he lay down on the floor of the level and put an overcoat over his head. All his eight companions on the same level were imprisoned by the falling rocks. Their bodies were never recovered. It was hours after Dunlevy had been rescued in the cage before he regained consciousness. Source document 
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| 1875 |
Cayuga Mine Roof Fall, Scranton, Pennsylvania — Frederick Woosnam, a laborer, was crushed to the ground by the fall of roof at Cayuga shaft, and nothing but the timely assistance of the miners saved him from death. He was badly jammed about the head and body, besides sustaining a compound fracture of his left leg. The injured man was placed under the charge of a doctor. Source document 
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| 1879 |
Sugar Notch No. 10 Colliery Cave-in, Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania — Seven miners were rescued after being trapped by a cave-in for 5 days and 15 hours in the Sugar Notch No. 10 Colliery near Wilkesbarre. The men sustained themselves on mine water and the cooked flesh of a mule they killed that was trapped with them. They cooked the meat in the lids of their cans held over three lamps. The men were in good shape when they reached the surface and except for 2 that lived 2 miles away, the other five men walked to their homes. The mine was operated by the Lehigh & Wilkesbarre Coal Company. Source document
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| 1884 |
Abandoned Mine Fall of Person Rescue, Leadville, Colorado — Richard Swan, a mining speculator of Leadville, Colorado, was rescued from a horrible fate, being found in the bottom of a deserted mine shaft, into which he had fallen six days before, and which had been his living tomb. His rescue was by the merest accident. James Barry and Charles A. Dean, two miners, while on their way to work heard the groans of someone in distress. Ropes and mining timbers were procured and Barry was let down the shaft. On reaching the bottom and striking a match he found a man lying face downward just in the entrance of a drift leading from the shaft. The man was unconscious, and his face unmistakably depicted the agonies of death by starvation. The unfortunate man was raised to the surface and carried to the city, where, after restoratives had been applied, he recovered consciousness. From the fall he suffered a sprained ankle and a bruised arm, but was not otherwise hurt. Source document
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| 1896 |
Hope Mine Asphyxiation, Basin, Montana — A party of rescuers succeeded in descending to the 100-foot level of the Hope mine at Basin, Montana. The body of Albert Boulware, who went down the day before and was overcome with gas and unable to climb the ladder to the top and was left for dead. He was still alive, in spite of the fact that he had been in the mine over fourteen hours. Source document
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| 1901 |
Rosebud Mine Cave-in, Aurora, Missouri — Two were rescued alive after an undisclosed period in the Rosebud mine. One was found dead and the other two are supposed to be lifeless. Grant Shard was mangled by falling rocks and earth and undoubtedly died instantly. The two rescued were William Shane and George Foster. A large stone boulder had Foster pinioned by the foot, in which position he had remained for a day. He was nearly famished when reached by the workers but was revived with the aid of stimulants. Shane, who was pinioned by the foot with a dead man underneath him, was scarcely able to talk. His arm was broken, and it was feared that he might lose his mind. Source document
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| 1903 |
Farrel Shaft No. 2 Fire, Butte, Montana — Had it not been for the heroism of Peter Keri, two men working in a crosscut in Farrel Shaft No. 2, of the Pittsburg & Montana Mining Company, might have suffered death as a result of the fire which occurred at the mine. How the fire started was a mystery. Keri came to the surface, and as soon as he discovered the true condition of affairs, ordered the engineer to lower him into the mine again, going to what at the time appeared to be certain death. The engineer demurred and told Keri he was going to his death, but Keri insisted and the engineer began letting him down. One hundred feet from the bottom of the shaft, the engineer driven from his post by the flames, put on the brakes and stopped the cage. Keri, below ground, realized what had happened, but still maintained his wonderful self-possession. Setting the dogs on the cage, the safety devices, he took the extra precaution of lashing the cage as fast as possible to the side of the shaft. He knew the cable would be burned through and feared the cage might fall. Keri crawled through into the other compartment and after making the trip in safety started into the crosscut after his two companions, Nick Frantia and Ike Peterson. They started back at the utmost speed and began the long and tedious journey up the ladder in the pump shaft. At the best this was a terrible task for even a strong man, but with death both above and below them the three men climbed like monkeys toward the surface. At one of the lower levels, the three were met by a rescue party. It was stated by miners that it was one of the bravest deeds ever performed in the history of the many in the list of mining rescues. Source document
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| 1905 |
Cabin Creek Mine Explosion, Kayford, West Virginia — Nine men were still within the mine when the explosion occurred. Of these four reached safety with the assistance of friends. Three of the number were so seriously injured that they are not expected to live. Those rescued were William Jacobs, George Eastman, Morrey Darby and William Robinson. The last three men were seriously injured.
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| 1907 |
Seven miners were rescued after 100 hours in the flooded Mine No. 38 of the Berwind-White Operations at Foustwell, Pennsylvania. Their rescue was made possible by the bravery of Stiney Rodon and Charles Ream who located the men by swimming 50 feet through a water-filled heading. Earlier, four others made a similar attempt, but were unsuccessful and returned half-drowned. Mike Boyla, a mine contractor, took charge of the group of trapped men and led them to the highest point in the heading where they waited for rescuers. Source document 
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| Otto Colliery Cave-in, Pottsville, Pennsylvania — Although burled alive under tons of coal dirt for over half an hour, James Maley of Branchdale was rescued alive at the Otto colliery. He was unconscious for several hours after being dug out, but it was believed his life would be saved. Maley was shoveling at the base of a high culm bank when the top collapsed and fell upon him, completely burying him. Source document
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| Good Enough Stope Fall of Horse, Tombstone, Arizona — A remarkable cave-in occurred near the corner of Fifth and Toughnut streets in Tombstone at 1:00 p.m. on April 21, 1907. A horse and wagon belonging to the Tombstone Improvement Company were suddenly precipitated some 75 feet below street level. The driver had climbed down to see why his horse had stumbled only to find himself standing on the edge of a gaping aperture with his horse and wagon far below. Although considerably bruised, the horse was found to have apparently suffered no serious injury. The animal was found pressed beneath the wagon and some timbers and was rescued before the rapidly descending earth smothered him. The wagon was badly wrecked, both front wheels being broken. By means of ropes the vehicle was pulled out through the opening on the surface, while the horse was taken through the drifts of the old workings and brought to the surface near the old Visna shaft, some distance from where he went under. Source document
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| 1908 |
Hammond Mines Cave-in, Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania — Richard Brown rescued alive after being entombed in Hammond Mines at Mahanoy City for more than thirty-six hours. Brown was unhurt and except for his enforced abstinence from eating, which had weakened him, he was in good condition. Source document
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| 1909 |
M & B Mine Cave-in, Duenweg, Missouri — Thomas Gibbs, the remaining miner of five entombed by the M & B mine cave-in near Duenweg, Missouri was rescued after an undisclosed period, but he died just as he was brought to the surface. His death was the third in this incident along with Charles Evans and George Bennett. Two other miners caught in the cave-in, Albert Winthrop and James R. Jones, fought desperately for their liberty and managed to escape. Source document
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| 1910 |
Nazareth Limestone Quarry Explosion, Nazareth, Pennsylvania — A large force of men made every effort to reach the victims, but it was some time before the first man was found. He was still breathing, but unconscious and that he might die at any moment. All the victims were Hungarians and Italians and were known about the quarry only by numbers.
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| Amsterdam No. 2 Mine Explosion, Amsterdam, Ohio — Seven bruised and burned men were rescued alive after an undisclosed period from the pit of the Youghiogheny and Ohio Coal Company's mine at Amsterdam where a terrific explosion snuffed out the lives of fifteen other miners.
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| Packer Mine No. 5 Cave-in, Girardville, Pennsylvania — After being imprisoned for 18 hours by a fall of coal at the Packer No. 5 mine of the Lehigh Valley colliery, near Girardville, Robert Metukas was rescued uninjured, but died an hour later from an excess of joy on being taken from the tomb. Source document
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| 1911 |
Banner Mine Explosion, Littleton, Alabama — Following the explosion that would kill 128 miners, forty-five of the miners either reached the outside to safety or got within hailing distance in the shaft and were taken out by rescuers. Scores of volunteers were on hand, brought by the alarm spread through the valley, and many made heroic rushes into the mine to bring out the victims. This work proved effective until the deadly gases reached the main shaft into which the men were headed, and then it meant death for all who entered the workings. Source document
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| 1912 |
Five Points Mine Cave-in, Globe, Arizona — Henry Paryman was rescued after being trapped for 100 hours following a cave-in that occurred in the Five Points Mine of the Manitou Copper Company at Globe, Arizona. Aside from the obvious hardships he was forced to contend with, rising water in the space in which he was confined was an issue throughout his ordeal. Source document
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| No. 8 Colliery Cave-in, Tamaqua, Pennsylvania — After having been imprisoned for 36 hours by a fall of coal at the No. 8 colliery, John Rubicar, a laborer, was rescued practically uninjured. Evan Tonkin, imprisoned at the same time, but rescued shortly after, was fatally injured. Source document
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| Unnamed Tunnel Cave-in, Santa Barbara, California — H. Frank Fizer, 27, motorman, saved Thomas Bowen, 32, foreman, and seven other men from a tunnel cave-in, Santa Barbara, California, April 7, 1912. Fizer, while taking a train of muck cars out of the tunnel, discovered that a cave-in, which would cause water to back to the face of the workings, was imminent at a point about two miles from the entrance. To warn the other men, he waded back in the tunnel over 4,400 feet, through water from 12 to 20 inches deep, against a current of 2.5 m.p.h. All escaped. The cave-in closed the tunnel for three hours after they got out. Frank Fizer was awarded the Carnegie Hero Medal for his bravery.
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| 1913 |
Sixty-seven miners escaped from the Cincinnati Mine following the explosion that claimed 98 lives on April 23, 1913, including one apparatus wearing rescuer. Two miners were rescued after 60 hours. See more. Source document
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| Stanton Colliery Cave-in, Mahanoy Plane, Pennsylvania — Frank Oronosky, employed at the Stanton Colliery at Mahanoy Plane, was buried in his breast early on April 16th by a rush of coal. He was rescued twelve hours later. He was badly scared but uninjured. Source document
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| 1914 |
Eccles Mine Explosions, Eccles, West Virginia — A rescue party was rushed to the scene of the disaster from Beckley, which is only two miles away, but after removing two men from the debris of No. 6 their activities were checked by the deadening fumes of coal gas. Later the party was more successful in bringing forty more men to the surface. Two of the men, P. M. Ellison and N. Jones, were seriously injured.
Supt. Donaldson, an experienced miner, with an expert rescue crew, was lowered down the shaft of No. 6 mine. For a time the steadily growing crowd of frightened women and children waited in suspense, but soon the signal came to hoist away and the cage responded. It bore two men badly hurt, a few of the rescue party, and two bodies.
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| 1915 |
Abandoned Mine Rescue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — After they had gone missing for a week, two small boys were located by searchers in a long-abandoned mine. The boys were in a small 5-foot drop that had several inches of water in it. Albert Tomlinson, age 10, was found barely alive, and hungry. His companion, William Hale, age 5, was dead, believed to have starved to death. The Hale boy was partly submerged in water and his head was held in the lap of Tomlinson. Source document
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| 1917 |
Silver Belle Mine Cave-in, Gleeson, Arizona — Pat Noland was severely injured in a cave-in in the Silver Belle mine when tons of earth came down upon him. He was rescued by his comrades after an undisclosed period and brought to the company hospital, where word today was to the effect that he was not expected to live, owing to the severe injuries. No word was received as to how the accident happened and where the blame lies. Source document
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| 1918 |
Winchester Magnesite Mine Cave-in, San Jacinto, California — After being imprisoned in the Winchester magnesite mine for fourteen hours as a result of an earthquake, Foreman Edward Sexton and Edward Cole, a miner, were rescued. 20 men who had labored frantically to release them. Shut in an airtight, pitchy dark hole, six feet long and four feet high, Sexton and Cole breathed thru a 10-foot pipe that was forced down thru the imprisoning rock and dirt. With lips pressed tight about the ends of the pipe, the two prisoners sucked air from the outer world. That the men were still alive was proved by faint sounds of tapping on the pipe. When released Cole and Sexton were weak from lack of food and anxiety, but it was believed they would be none the worse for their ordeal. Source document
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| 1923 |
Maple Hill Colliery Cave-in, Pottsville, Pennsylvania — Charles McCloskey was trapped for 5 hours after a fall of rock occurred at the Maple Hill Colliery at Pottsville, Pennsylvania. He was uninjured with the exception of slight bruises of the legs. Source document
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| Cactus Mine Cave-in, Globe, Arizona — W. Castanado was rescued 24 hours after he became entombed in the Cactus Mine sixteen miles from Globe, Arizona. He was uninjured when reached by rescuers who had to dig through 30 feet of dirt in the tunnel to reach him. Source document
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| Bovis Salt Plant Bin Entrapment, Lyons, Kansas — D. Lego, a workman at the Bovis salt plant, was buried for nearly ten minutes under a huge mass of table salt in a cave-in at a bin. Although he was rescued alive, it was expected he could not recover. Lego was in a bin, shoveling the salt, when a carload of it was dumped in. The salt, when dumped, usually ran in slowly and gave the workman time to get out of the way, but this time it came down in a large quantity and Lego could not escape. It was almost ten minutes before Lego could be recovered, and he had lost consciousness. He was taken to the Lyons hospital, where it was found his injuries consisted of lungs filled with salt and minor bruises. Source document
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| 1924 |
Black Diamond Mine Cave-in, Seattle, Washington — Stanley Cooney, 24, was rescued alive after being trapped for more than a day in the Black Diamond mine near Seattle, Washington. Two other miners died in the accident. The body of Robert Pouchette was recovered and the search for O. C. Wise was called off. Source document
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| Anthracite Mine Fall of Person Rescue, Centralia, Pennsylvania — John Lavelle had a narrow escape from death while returning to his home from the Germantown colliery shop where he was employed as a laborer, when he fell into a treacherous mine breach and was rendered unconscious for a considerable length of time. The unfortunate miner was homeward bound before daybreak after working on the night shift and was walking along the path from Germantown to Centralia when he veered from the path and walked into the mine hole. He was found several hours later by miners who had occasion to pass that way. He was found to be badly bruised and lacerated and suffered greatly from shock due to his frightful experience. Source document
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| 1925 |
Eagle Hill Colliery Cave-in, Pottsville, Pennsylvania — After being buried several hours, Norman Lavenberg, a miner at Eagle Hill colliery, was rescued alive. Lavenberg was imprisoned when a big mass of coal blocked him off from his fellow miners. Miners worked frantically to rescue him before he became a victim of mine gas and when rescued he was taken to the Pottsville Hospital without any apparent serious injuries. He was suffering severely from shock. Source document
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| Hecla Mine Fire, Burke, Idaho — Fourteen men, trapped by fire in the lower working of the Hecla silver-lead mine at Burke, seven miles from Wallace, put into commission a pump within the mine, fought the flames for more than twelve hours and came out alive and well. They had been imprisoned in the Star workings of the Hecla, about two miles from the shaft. Mine rescue crews had poured water down the shaft of the mine upon the blaze that had broken out in the pump station of the 2,000-foot level. The fourteen men, turned back by smoke and fumes when they sought the shaft after discovering the fire, had gone into the Star tunnel and obtained a pump. Then it was simply a matter of pumping water on the fire and waiting for the smoke to clear. Source document
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| 1926 |
Grizzly Mine Cave-in, Oroville, California — Thomas B. McDermott was rescued after being entombed for 72 hours in the Grizzly mine near Oroville, California. He was the lone survivor of the cave-in. Two others, Billy Cope and Horse McBride, did not last to be rescued. Source document
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| Jones-Laughlin Mine Cave-in, Iron River, Michigan — Imprisoned for 10 hours behind a wall of debris following a cave-in at the Jones-Laughlin mine near Iron River, Felix Norman was brought out alive. Norman was kept alive by air which surface workers pumped down into the cavity where he was entombed. Matt Coronski, who was with Norman in the portion of the mine where the cave in occurred, was killed by falling rock and earth. Miners recovered his body while chopping through the wall to release Norman. Source document
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| 1927 |
Federal No. 3 Mine Explosion, Everettville, West Virginia — Nine men were cut off in the south main section until one came out through the smoke and returned with a party wearing self-rescuers. The eight men who had barricaded themselves in a room were supplied with self-rescuers and walked out after an undisclosed period.
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| Gimlet Colliery Cave-in, Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania — Joseph Dragon and Steve Kieski were rescued from their 20-hour entrapment in the Gimlet Colliery of the Shipman Coal Company. The two miners became trapped when a squeeze closed the manway. After a span of 25 feet of heading was opened, rescuers worked night and day to drive a pillar hole 50 feet up the pitch. Source document
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| Wise Mine Inundation, Henryetta, Oklahoma — Nineteen miners were rescued after an undisclosed period from the flooded Wise mine near Henryetta, Oklahoma. Two mules had also been trapped and the men. Knowing what it meant to be imprisoned underground, the rescued miners volunteered to work without pay to man the pumps and free the mules. Source document
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| 1929 |
Frisco Mine Cave-in, Wallace, Idaho — Oscar Johnson and John Amonson were rescued 48 hours after a cave-in occurred at the Frisco mine at Wallace, Idaho. The cook of the Frisco mine was the chief hero of the rescue party. At 2-hour intervals, food was carried up the mountainside including great bowls of savory smelling soup and warm milk which were passed through a pipe to the trapped miners. Source document
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| 1930 |
Carbonado Mine Explosion, Carbonado, Washington — 16 miners were rescued from behind a barricade several hours after an explosion in the Carbonado mine in Carbonado, Washington. Source document
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| 1931 |
Tunnel Ridge Colliery Cave-in, Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania — After being entombed in a gangway at the Tunnel Ridge colliery for about eight hours, rescue crews found Charles Walaconis uninjured. Twenty feet of debris separated Walaconis from freedom. When the entombed man responded to tapping signals on a pipe line that ran through the debris, the rescue party worked faster in the hope of reaching the man before serious injury or death could occur. He was guided by instructions carried over the pipe line and was finally taken to his home without a scratch. Source document
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| 1932 |
Mary Ann Lead and Zinc Mine Shaft Entrapment, Picher, Oklahoma — Toddling after his workbound father, Gerald Collins, age 3, fell into a 250-foot drill hole and became wedged in the hole about 20 feet down. He remained trapped there for 11 hours until rescuers dug a parallel shaft to reach and free the child. Source document
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| Lehigh Navigation Co. No. 8 Colliery Cave-in, Coaldale, Pennsylvania — Buried up to his neck in coal and debris since up for an undisclosed period, John Slavy, a miner, was rescued. Slavy was trapped in the No. 8 Colliery of the Lehigh Navigation Co. when a rib in a gangway collapsed. Taken to the Coaldale State hospital, his condition was reported as good. Source document
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| Midway Mine Fire Asphyxiation, Picher, Oklahoma — Marked improvement was reported in the condition of Garfield Gray, who was overcome by gas at the Midway mine while extinguishing fire among timbers underground. Gray was dismissed from Picher hospital, where he was taken after being gassed. When taken to the hospital he was in a semi-conscious condition, and it was several hours before he fully regained consciousness. In becoming overcome by the gas he fell to the ground, being discovered by fellow-workmen within a few minutes. Source document
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| Hammond Collieries Cave-in, Girardville, Pennsylvania — Four imprisoned miners were rescued after 15 hours behind a fall of coal in the Hammond Collieries near Girardville. The four were rescued after a crew of 20 men had worked cautiously all night lest their boring loosen more coal. They kept up communication with the imprisoned miners through a compressed air pipe. Source document
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| 1934 |
Sinclair Mine Fire, Switz, Indiana — Five miners escaped death in the Sinclair mine after fire broke out there. They walled themselves into a space 24 by 12 feet for an undisclosed period more than 100 yards away from the blazing wooden shaft, and awaited rescue. The rescued miners were Jack Hineman, Dennis Combs, Thomas Barnett, Henry Johnson, and Roll Himebrook. Source document
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| 1935 |
U. S. Gold Mine Cave-in, Butte, Montana — Trapped nine hours beneath 25 feet of rock in the U. S. mine near Butte, Harvey Konen, 45, had suffered only a few scratches and bruised when rescued by a crew of 20 men. Konen descended the 60-foot shaft of the gold mine shortly before 9:30 a.m. After hearing dangerous rumblings above him, he was ascending a ladder when the timbered shaft crashed in ahead of an avalanche of rock. Workers at the shaft rushed to Butte and recruited veteran miners who were taken to the property where an opening was made in the caved-in shaft and Konen was brought to the surface. Source document
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| Abandoned Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Newtown Hill, Pennsylvania — Roy Gauntlett, 32, was rescued from an abandoned mine working at nearby Newtown Hill, where he was held trapped by a fall of coal for eight hours. Gauntlett was taken to a hospital to be treated for exposure and exhaustion. A score of men tunneled through the fall to the spot where he was buried, while he directed the rescue. Source document
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| 1936 |
Clyde Westcott Mine Fall of Person, Mt. Sterling, Ohio — Raymond Blackstone, 28, was injured when the coal car which he occupied fell down a 35-foot shaft of the Clyde Westcott mine, three miles south of Mt. Sterling. He was reported in critical condition in Bethesda hospital. Blackstone suffered a fractured skull and a broken jaw. Portions of wood driven into his brain and skull by force of the fall were removed yesterday by the attending physician. He was found unconscious at the foot of the shaft by Robert Lane, a pony-driver in the mine. After an undisclosed period, fellow workmen assisted in bringing him to the surface where first aid was given. He was taken to the hospital in the Bateman ambulance. The injured man had been employed at the mine for three years. Source document
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| Bootleg Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania — Anthony Treskoloski was rescued after 48 hours from a cave-in near Shenandoah by fellow-workers who tunneled through the hillside beneath him. His condition was not serious. Source document 1 Source document 2
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| Modern Sand and Gravel Company Cave-in, St. Louis, Missouri — Herbert Thimm, 37, an oiler for the Modern Sand and Gravel Company, was buried in a sand cave-in at the company's plant at the foot of Rutger street for more than an hour but was rescued uninjured by police and firemen. Thimm entered an opening in a loading station when a sand slide started from a large pile. He grasped the sides of the opening to keep his head from being buried and fellow workmen put a steel cylinder about his head to prevent suffocation. Police and firemen put ropes under Thimm's armpits, and he was dragged out. Source document
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| 1937 |
Unnamed Bootleg Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Tamaqua, Pennsylvania — Anthony Vinscavage, 48, entombed for 27 hours by a cave-in in a "bootleg" coal hole on Pitch Mountain was rescued and taken to Coaldale Hospital where physicians said he was uninjured but suffered from shock. Vinscavage was engaged with his son, John, 19, in placing timbers in the coal hole when the cave-in occurred. The son escaped and summoned help. Contact with Vinscavage was established by rescue squads who were able to give him a coat, food, and stimulants. When brought home from the coal hole, Vinscavage wanted to walk home to Tamaqua but yielded to the advice of his rescuers that he go to the hospital for examination. Source document
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| Unnamed Independent Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Eagle Hill, Pennsylvania — Independent miners, Stanley Pushka, 45, and Anthony Gristitus, 50, became entombed by a cave-in in their mining operation at Eagle Hill. Working on opposite sides of their shaft, 60 feet from the surface, the two men had plunged into openings on either side when they heard the roar of the fall. Grititus, it is believed, fell into water-filled workings of an old mine vein below the surface of his own shaft. While rescue workers, laboring In cramped positions, dug and timbered their way ever nearer the spot where Gristitus body was believed to be, those who were directing their efforts expressed the opinion that the dead miner would not be reached for some time. Meanwhile, Stanley Pushka, 45, had been removed alive by rescue workers at 6 a.m., after being trapped for nearly 24 hours suffering only from shock and bruises. Pulled to the surface, Pushka walked away from the hole and said he didn't want to go to a hospital. Friends persuaded him to enter the Pottsville Hospital ambulance which had been on the scene since early the day before. Source document
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Fleck Coal Company Mine Cave-in, Carnegie, Pennsylvania — His face still marked by the grit that had pierced his flesh when he was buried under tons of coal and shale in the cave-in of an abandoned mine near Carnegie, Jacob Wright yesterday lay on his hospital cot and painfully told the story of the entombment that nearly cost him his life. Fearful for the health of his three-week-old son, Jacob, Jr., Wright set out yesterday morning to get coal to warm the ramshackle wind-swept dwelling on Hope Hollow Road in which he and his family make their home. Dragging a pick after him, Wright wormed his way into a small tunnel angling into the shaft of the abandoned Fleck Coal Company mine, from which poverty- stricken families in the little valley settlement obtained their fuel.
"I was crouched low, picking away at the roof, and I must have cracked one of the supporting ledges of coal," Wright said. "The first thing I knew the whole roof of the tunnel had caved in, smashing me to the ground." "My arms got pinned, but I kept trying to work them loose, so I could poke some air holes through the rock and dirt. I don't know whether I was hurt or not. I only knew that I had to get air. "Then I lost consciousness. When I came to, they were working on me out on the hillside."
The rumbling of rock down the steep slope above the mouth to the tunnel first apprised neighbors of the accident. Hearing the noise, Homer Phillips, a neighbor of Wright, exclaimed, "I wonder if that's at the mine?" He and his wife rushed to the tunnel and saw Wright's legs protruding from the debris that cluttered the entrance. Their cries aroused others, and a rescue crew soon was working feverishly to free the entombed man. Twenty minutes after he had been trapped by the cave-in Wright was dragged, unconscious, from the tunnel. A neighbor revived him by artificial respiration. He was rushed to Mercy Hospital, and X-rays taken to determine the extent of his injuries.
Source document
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| 1939 |
Lehigh Valley Coal Company Cave-in, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania — One man was killed, and another seriously injured in a bootleg mine cave-in at Franklin stripping of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company in Wilkes-Barre. Jacob Wasnaias was buried in the cave-in and killed. A volunteer crew of 20 men worked eight hours to free Wasnaias and his companion, Paul Zianas, who was taken to a Wilkes-Barre hospital. Source document
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| Bootleg Anthracite Mine Asphyxiation, Kulpmont, Pennsylvania — Dominick Pabulis, 21, of Kulpmont narrowly escaped death and was taken to the Shamokin State Hospital suffering from the effects of gas fumes as the result of having been overcome while at work in a bootleg mine near Kulpmont. Pabulis was felled when he inhaled carbon monoxide fumes generated by an old automobile engine used to operate a pump in the mine. He was found in an unconscious condition by fellow workers and although his condition was for a time serious, he later showed improvement. Source document
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| 1940 |
Bootleg Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Shamokin, Pennsylvania — Edward Forbes, 29, suffered multiple injuries after having been buried by a rock fall for more than two hours in a bootleg coal mine. Forbes, who was buried about 50 feet from the mine entrance, was treated for shock, body contusions, possible rib fractures, and lacerations of the hands and feet. Source document
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| Bootleg Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania — Anthony Dziezyk, 24, was rescued alive from a perilous position in a collapsed bootleg mine working 300 feet below the surface of the Turkey Run Mountain, south of Shenandoah. The youthful miner was working 300 feet down the slope when the rib pushed out, trapping him under debris and covering him to the waist. Dziezyk was alone in the slope, engaged in loading a wagon when the rush occurred. Yanking hard on the signal wire to apprise fellow workers on the surface that all was not well, the signal was misunderstood, and Joseph Michalkewicz, in charge of the engine — An improvised automobile motor — Tried to hoist the wagon. When he was unable to do so he realized something was wrong and descended half-way down the slope to learn from Dziezyk that he was trapped and threatened with death. For nearly five hours rescuers worked cautiously as they held back the rock with timber until they were able to release the young miner, who was in constant pain and suffering greatly from shock. After the timbers had been installed and rock lifted out of the slope to release young Dziezyk, he was placed in a wagon and hoisted to the surface. An ambulance and physicians from Locust Mountain Hospital were in waiting, gave first aid and hurried the accident victim to the hospital, where examination revealed severe abdominal injuries, extensive contusions of both legs and the patient in severe state of shock. The hospital indicated the youth was expected to recover. Source document
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| Mattie Gold Mine Cave-in, Idaho Springs, Colorado — Imprisoned 13 hours by a cave-in at the Mattie Gold Mine, Jack Ward, 25, was rescued uninjured. Ward was made a prisoner in a six-foot-square hole when a 20-foot wall of rock and dirt crashed down from the tunnel's celling while he and two others were replacing old timbering yesterday. He was trapped about 600 feet from the entrance of the mine. When the cave-in occurred Ward jumped one way and his fellow workers, Albert Harrison and Oscar Hyman, jumped the other. They escaped imprisonment and gave the alarm. A rescue crew of 20 men worked in relays, three at a time, to reach Ward in the narrow tunnel. Source document
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| Bootleg Anthracite Mine Powered Haulage Accident, Joliett, Pennsylvania — Paul Lengel, 34, was transported to the Pottsville Hospital suffering with internal injuries received in an accident in a bootleg coal hole at Joliett. Lengel was squeezed between the frame and a dump cart, and a section of props fell on him. He was rescued by fellow workers after an undisclosed period and removed to the hospital, where his condition was critical. Source document
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| 1941 |
Bootleg Anthracite Mine Asphyxiation, Branchdale, Pennsylvania — Albert Gudinas, 26, was rescued alive after an undisclosed period from a gas-filled coal hole at Branchdale by the heroic effort of his brother, Joseph. The brothers were engaged in pumping water from their slope when Albert entered the mine to replenish the supply of gasoline in the engine operating the pump. When the brother failed to reappear, Joseph entered the mine to find him unconscious, victim of carbon monoxide. Summoning other miners, it was with difficulty they made their way into the gas-filled operation and conveyed the unconscious Albert Gudinas to the surface and eventually to the Pottsville Hospital. Surgeons at the hospital administered oxygen and stimulation and after a time revived Gudinas. Source document
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| Kehoe-Berge Coal Mine Cave-in, Duryea, Pennsylvania — Shock was believed to have contributed to the death of Stephen Olenik, 45-year-old Duryea miner. Olenik died at Pittston Hospital from injuries suffered April 30 when he was trapped for twelve hours in a cave-in at the Kehoe-Berge Coal Company mine. Source document
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| Bootleg Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Centralia, Pennsylvania — Trapped 52 hours in a coal hole 60 feet below the surface, 18-year-old Joseph Loftus dug his way out with his hands after rescue workers had given up hope of saving him and a priest stood by to administer last rites. The youth, who had been unconscious for a time after a slide blocked the shaft opening and filled the 40-foot horizontal gangway in which he was working, pushed his head through an opening made by astonished rescuers and was dragged to the surface. He had several bruises, and his fingers were scratched open to the bone. Rescue workers estimated he had dug 20 feet in darkness. Lawrence Burns, 45, trapped with Loftus in the gangway of their makeshift anthracite mine, was rescued earlier. The cave-in occurred on Friday, April 4th. Rescue crews started a new hole Saturday, behind where they expected to find the younger miner. Late Sunday, two of the workers returned to the original hole. After a few minutes of digging, the ground moved beneath them, and Loftus stuck his head out. He thought it was still Friday. Source document
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| Lehigh Navigation Coaldale Colliery Cave-in, Coaldale, Pennsylvania — Work was resumed at the Coaldale Colliery of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company after a general suspension as employees unsuccessfully attempted to rescue a miner trapped at the bottom of shaft Number Nine. The body of Joseph Bennis, 51, finally was recovered by rescue workers. Bennis and Alex Petroskey, 61, were trapped by a chute cave-in. Petroskey was rescued an hour later and taken to Coaldale Hospital, where he reportedly was recovering from a pelvis fracture. Although they worked in continuous relays, the rescue squad was unable to reach Bennis in time to save him. Source document
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| 1942 |
Bootleg Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Tamaqua, Pennsylvania — Charles King, 48, one of two miners rescued from a bootleg mine after being trapped 12 hours following a cave-in, died from injuries at the Coaldale Hospital. His death resulted from internal injuries, a broken arm and shock. His partner, Raymond Herring, 40, sustained only minor injuries. Both had been pinned from the waist down by coal and debris 125 feet below the surface and had watched helplessly as rescuers dug toward them. Three other men were working in the tunnel of the old Dunkelberger colliery working when a set of supporting timbers collapsed, causing the cave-in. They escaped and spread an alarm. The working was abandoned about 50 years ago. Ten miners from the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company and an equal number of volunteers worked throughout most of the night to save the men. Source document
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| 1946 |
Great Valley Mine Explosion, McCoy, Virginia — A rescue squad from Radford donned gas masks and made its way to the site shortly after the explosion. Eleven were found dead of burns. The twelfth miner, Paul Price, was brought to the surface but died without regaining consciousness at a hospital here.
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| 1947 |
Schooley Mine Explosion, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania — The Schooley mine explosion killed nine anthracite diggers, and injured nine others as they worked 350 feet underground. The explosion, so terrific that it splintered supporting timbers and crumpled mine chamber walls, came soon after the day work crew reported at the shaft of the Knox Coal company. Dust and smoke rose from the pithead, as rescue forces rushed into the operation near Wilkes-Barre. Two bodies were removed immediately. Injured were speeded to nearby Pittston hospital where doctors said some had been burned, others overcome by fumes. Source document
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| 1950 |
Old Pine Hill Mine Cave-in, Lonaconing, Maryland — Rescue workers clawed their way through 40 feet of rock and dirt to free a trapped coal miner. He was still alive when they reached him although he had been pinned down for six hours by heavy timbers which had collapsed on him and buried all but his head in heavy dirt. After clearing away the heavy dirt, the rescuers had to saw through the timbers to free him. The trapped miner, 43-year-old Harry Spiker, was rushed to Miners' Hospital in Frostburg where he was reported to be in good condition. He had leg wounds and injuries around the pelvic region, but no fractures were diagnosed immediately. Spiker was trapped in the nearby Old Pine Hill mine, which he ran for the Georges Creek Coal Company when tunnel timbers gave way. His brother Raymond also was caught by the sliding dirt, but another brother, Charles, was outside the mine at the time and was able to pull Raymond out quickly. Raymond suffered only minor injuries. Thirteen jobless miners from the Lonaconing area formed the rescue team. A second fall shortly after they had started digging almost wiped out the rescue effort, but the men pulled themselves out and continued their digging. By the time Spiker was freed some 200 persons had gathered around the mine lending a hand when required. Source document
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| 1951 |
Unnamed Coal Mine Cave-in, Shaft, Pennsylvania — Henry W. Eckley, Sr., 61, coal miner, died as the result of attempting to rescue Anthony Woznicki, 46, coal miner, from a cave-in. During the course of the rescue, a large quantity of debris fell from near the ceiling and partially buried Eckley, who sustained severe internal injuries and a broken leg. Eckley and Woznicki were removed from the entry by other miners and were taken to the surface. Woznicki was disabled six months. Eckley succumbed to injuries three days later. Posthumously, Henry W. Eckley was awarded the Carnegie Hero Award for his bravery.
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| 1953 |
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Mine Cave-in, Coaldale, Pennsylvania — Steve Oblas, 26, was set free after a 9-hour entrapment in the mine at Coaldale, Pennsylvania operated by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. Thirty miners participated in the rescue. Source document
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| Monarch Mine Fire, Harlan, Kentucky — Fifteen miners were rescued without injury after an undisclosed period at the Monarch Mine of the Blue Diamond Coal Company. The State Department of Mines and Minerals said it understood a locomotive reel cable caught fire and the motorman was unable to shut off the power. Source document
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| 1954 |
Abandoned Anthracite Mine Fall of Person, Shamokin, Pennsylvania — An 8-year-old boy was rescued from an abandoned coal hole at Shamokin through the combined efforts of a police officer and volunteers. Little Denny May fell 75 feet into the hole and had to spend an hour there before he was brought to the surface. Denny was playing in the vicinity of his home with some other children when he fell into the mine located on North Mountain, just north of Shamokin. Source document
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| 1955 |
Bootleg Anthracite Mine Cave-in, Pottsville, Pennsylvania — Thomas Margelavage, 44, was buried in a bootleg mine up to his neck in a pile of coal for six hours before rescuers could set him free. The Mine Inspector said a wall of coal collapsed and buried Margelavage. He was set free only 20 hours after the body of another miner had been recovered from a nearby mine. Margelavage was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was treated for cuts, bruises and shock. Source document
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| Fall of Person Rescue, Aurora, Colorado — Two-year-old David Mark Counterman was raised to safety after spending nearly four hours at the bottom of an eighteen-foot well shaft. The shaft was eighteen inches in diameter. Workers drilled a parallel shaft, then angled under the child. Three rescuers made their way to the bottom of the rescue shaft and dug through to the boy. They pulled him headfirst into the new shaft and then to the surface as his mother and nearly 1,000 neighbors and other onlookers cheered. David tumbled into the shaft when his father, Charles, 24, turned away to rest from working a hand-operated auger he was using to dig a water well in the rear yard of his home. Source document
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| 1956 |
A roof fall at the Kaiser Coal Company mine near Sunnyside, Utah occurred trapping 4 miners. Three of the miners were rescued after 44 hours. The rescued were Lavell Golding, Joe Archuletta and Lloyd Allen Heath. Deceased in the accident was Joseph Otterstrom. Source document
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| 1957 |
Buttonwood Colliery Explosion and Fire, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania — Two miners, trapped while working 1,500 feet underground at the Buttonwood Colliery of the Glen Alden Corp., were rescued after a perilous 12-hour wait. Walter Olshefski, 41, and Earl Hill, 33, were examined by a company physician and reported in good condition. The miners were working at the bottom of an anthracite vein when an explosion and fire broke out. A rescue party penetrated an auxiliary shaft to the 200-foot level and heard the trapped men about 800 feet further down in the mine. The rescuers then dropped bucket seats down, and the two miners were hauled to safety. Source document
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| 1959 |
Abandoned Mine Cave-in, Ironton, Ohio — Bob Russell, 17, was lucky to be alive after his rescue from a mine shaft cave-in. Authorities said the boy and a companion, Jerry Thacker, 10, were exploring a deep mine shaft when a rock fall occurred, trapping the two. Thacker freed himself, but Russell was buried up to his neck. The younger boy ran for help and four men, two of them from a nearby coal company, rushed to the rescue. Source document
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| 1960 |
Hope Tunnel Asphyxiation, Basin, Montana — Basin experienced another exciting day with all the miners and businessmen gathered about the entrance to the Hope tunnel. Albert Boulware, who went into the mine Saturday with a rescue party and who was overcome by the gas, was not dead as believed. John Berkin and the two Jarve Brothers made the descent, found Boulware and brought him to the surface this morning. Previous attempts at a rescue of
the badly gassed man had proven fruitless. John Berkin and John Webber were much affected by the gas. Boulware was down in the mine in the gas nearly 19 hours, but doctors said his chances for recovery were good. Source document
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| 1963 |
Old Sparks Well Entrapment, Rupert, Idaho — Two amateur gold prospectors were rescued from a 600-foot deep dry well 12 hours after they became trapped. Floyd Gambrell and Darnell Hamilton were imprisoned when a bucket being lowered to lift them to the surface broke loose, dropped halfway down the shaft and became wedged in the narrow hole. With their communications severed and their exit block, their companions on the surface summoned help to free the men. This shaft, known as the "Old Sparks Well" claimed the life of another prospector 25 years earlier when a bucket of tools fell on him in a similar incident. Source document
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| Box Mine Cave-in, Hamilton, Alabama — Rescuers removed two brothers from a coal mine where they had been trapped for three days deep in a cave-in. Bobby Gene Johnson, 23, and Lewis Ray Johnson, 20, were unharmed by their ordeal. They were taken to a Winfield hospital for rest and observation. Officials said rescuers bypassed a rock and tunneled through coal to reach the trapped men. A rock slide pinned the brothers more than 2,000 feet in the Box mine. Officials said the men were removing rock deep inside the mine when the cave-in trapped them. Source document
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| 1965 |
Shamrock Mine Shaft Fall of Person, Hinkley, California — John Poulson, veteran miner who lay nearly three hours in the bottom of a 250-foot mine shaft in the Superior Valley north of Hinkley, was in the San Bernardino County Hospital, "not in critical condition" but suffering from a fracture of the lumbar spine. Barstow firemen, sheriff's deputies and members of the Barstow Rescue Squad were over two hours getting Poulson out of the old shaft. The mine shaft is owned by Walter Hutchins, and Elmer Kelsoe. Hutchins said the mine was known as the Shamrock and he and his partner had been planning to reopen it. Source document
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| 1967 |
Abandoned Mine Fall of Person, Concord, California — A 17-year-old Concord high school boy, out hiking with friends, fell into an abandoned coal mine shaft and had to be hauled to safety after an undisclosed period by Concord firemen. The youth, Charles Frederickson, was able to strap himself into a stretcher firemen lowered and was pulled the 30 feet to the top. He was under treatment for back injuries at Concord Community Hospital. Source document
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| 1968 |
Two Carlsbad, New Mexico miners trapped over 34 hours were rescued by workers using their bare hands and chisels. They became trapped when a 50-foot potash slab collapsed in the Southwest Potash Company mine. The two miners rescued were Fred Crabtree and Arnold Delso. Source document
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| 1978 |
Clinchfield Coal Company, Moss No. 3 Portal A Inundation — William Joe Arden , and Willis Ison , and Richard L. Shelby died attempting to save fellow workmen from suffocation, April 4,
1978. Strickler Mullins helped to save Charles L. Breeding in the same incident.
Arden, 25, Shelby, 56, Service Manager from National Mine Service, and Ison, 45, Mine Safety and Health Administration subdistrict manager, entered the tunnel to give aid but, before reaching any of the men, were overcome.
One of the three men was removed from the tunnel and revived; but Arden and the others died. Messer's Arden, Shelby, Ison and Mullins were posthumously awarded the Carnegie Hero Award for their bravery.
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| Jersey Miniere Zinc Mine Equipment Fire, Gordonsville, Tennessee — Miners trapped underground by a fire in a zinc mine shaft were rescued after the flames were brought under control. The miners were trapped for several hours by the fire, which occurred some 600 feet down the mine shaft. A company official said there were no injuries. The mine manager for Jersey Miniere Zinc Company said the fire was believed to have started when some hydraulic oil spilled from a piece of loading equipment in the mine shaft, called a load-haul dump unit. The accident occurred at about 2:30 p.m., trapping miners farther down the shaft. It was estimated about 20 men were involved. The men were never in any danger, but they were unable to bypass the fire and get out of the shaft and into refuge chambers along the mine shaft, which are equipped with air, water and first aid supplies. Source document
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| 1980 |
Clyde Waddell was rescued 13 hours after a roof fall at the Florence Mine near Huff, Pennsylvania. The mine was owned by the Florence Mining Company. Source document
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| 1981 |
Dutch Creek No. 1 Mine Explosion, Redstone, Colorado — Seven miners working in other areas of the mine at the time of the explosion survived. Three were injured and were rescued; the other four were not injured and escaped unassisted to the surface. The injured miners were admitted to Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs for treatment of burns, bruises and shock. Source document.
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| U.S. Steel Zinc Mine Equipment Fire, Jefferson City, Tennessee — Gene "Yoggi" Carey and Cecil Wallen spent more than four hours trapped deep in a U.S. Steel Corp. zinc mine in this East Tennessee city 30 miles from Knoxville. Mine supervisor Joe Miller refused to release details of the ordeal, which began when the engine of a 22-ton truck used to haul zinc ore from the mine caught fire, trapping the men behind it. The men, who were in an air pocket, were uninjured, officials said. The two miners, filthy when they emerged from the mine, were greeted by 70 co-workers, family members and, friends when they stepped off a tractor at a mine office building. Source document
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| 1985 |
Trapped for 37 hours following a roof fall accident, Curtis Sanders, age 32, was rescued and walked out of the Powderhorn Coal Company's Roadside mine in DeBeque Canyon, Colorado. Sanders had been hunched over and nearly waist-deep in water in the cab of a large mining machine during his period of entrapment. He was taken to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, where nurses in the emergency room said he was in good condition. Source document
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| 1986 |
Lewis No. 2 Mine Roof Fall, Harlan County, Kentucky — One miner was killed and another miner was trapped for more than 2 hours by a roof fall in the No. 2 mine of the Paul and Robert Lewis Coal Company at Cumberland, Kentucky. The trapped worker, Terry Rigney, was rescued unharmed. The body of the other miner, Paul Lewis, was recovered after Rigney was freed. Source document
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| Abandoned Quicksilver Mine Rescue, Guerneville, California — Rescue crews pulled a tired and thankful teenager from a 150-foot abandoned mercury mineshaft Saturday night where the luckless explorer was trapped for more than six hours. Rick Gloege, 18, of Sebastopol was hoisted with rope and harness by firefighters and the Sonoma County sheriffs rescue and search team from a carved room 150-feet down the mercury mineshaft where he had been stuck. The youth, who described himself as a professional tree climber now working at a pizza restaurant, said he was stranded in the shaft at the old Quicksilver Mine when he was unable to find the footing and strength needed to pull himself 30 feet to a ledge. Neither Gloege nor his 19-year-old friend Jeff Brown, who didn't enter the mineshaft, were injured in the incident. Gloege spent about three hours trying to pull himself out of the mineshaft Saturday afternoon before Brown drove into town for help at the Guerneville firehouse. Source document
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| 1997 |
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Strip Mine Rescue, Coaldale, Pennsylvania — Heroic overnight efforts by about 70 people saved two Lansford teen-agers stuck in a 500-foot stripping pit for up to 11 hours Wednesday and Thursday. John Urso, 18, and a 13-year-old boy escaped with minor injuries. The two, along with Howard McLaughlin, 20, of Lansford and another boy apparently entered the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company property in Coaldale. All four were walking around and climbing the walls of the Springdale mining pits. Trouble started when Urso and the 13-year-old became stranded around 4:30 p.m. The pit is about a quarter-mile wide and 500 feet deep and consists of a number of narrow, descending ledges spaced 50 to 60 feet apart. McLaughlin and the unidentified boy climbed out of the pit, while Urso was stranded on a ledge about 200 feet from the top and 300 feet from the bottom. The 13-year-old was 300 yards away, on a ledge 400 feet down. "Urso was holding onto a tree so he wouldn't fall farther down." Rescuers with spotlights stationed on one side of the wide pit illuminated the opposite side, where others worked their way down ledges to the 13-year-old and placed him in a basket. He was raised to safety at 1:49 a.m. The boy was treated for minor scrapes and ankle injuries at Miners Memorial Medical Center, Coaldale. Urso refused medical treatment. Source document
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| 1998 |
Mine Shaft Rescue, Acton, California — A man was rescued after being trapped for nearly six hours on a ledge 150 feet down a mine shaft. He was trapped after falling in the 800-foot vertical mine shaft prompting an effort by more than 60 rescuers. He had fallen off a ladder, but details about what he had been doing were unavailable. Source document
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| 2000 |
Unnamed Abandoned Noncoal Mine Rescue, Utah County, Utah — Randy Gatton, 26, of Provo, was riding a motorcycle with a friend when he fell approximately 30 feet down a mine shaft and landed with the motorcycle atop him. He suffered a sprained ankle, scrapes and bruises. He was in the mine for three hours before being rescued. Source document
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| 2002 |
Abandoned Lead Mine Entrapment, Thida, Arkansas — Volunteers digging by hand rescued two young brothers, their teen-age cousin, and a dog from an abandoned lead mine more than 24 hours after they had become trapped while searching for gold. The trio — ages 9, 11, and 19 — were pulled out of a small pocket about 250 feet inside the Civil War-era mine. They were cold and wet, but otherwise appeared OK, said the teen-ager's father, Terry Foster. "I thought they were going to bring them out dead," Foster said. "I thought they were going to lose their air. I thought for sure the little one would be history." Some people in area believe there is gold in the mine. There was no basis for the local legend that there was gold in the hill in Thida, about 90 miles northeast of Little Rock. Source document
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| 2003 |
Cave Rescue of Lost Persons, Harrisburg, Illinois — Following an eight-hour rescue effort, three teenagers made it safely out of a cave at Cave Hill, just west of Glen O. Jones Lake southeast of Harrisburg. The three boys, including Josh Myogeto, 15, Garrett J. Mousey, 19, and Garrett R. Decoursy, 18, told deputies they had been walking, apparently in circles, in the cave between 4 pm Monday and 3:30 am Tuesday. After walking in circles, they determined they weren't going to get out, and sat down to wait and save batteries in their flashlights. In the beginning of the journey the boys had used string to find the way back out but had decided to journey farther than the string could reach. The three were on the brink of falling asleep when they heard the voices of rescuers calling their names, and they immediately yelled back. A rescue team from the Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals arrived about 3:13 am and split up to spread the search out. Finally, at 6:32 am, a mine rescuer radioed out they had found the three and were coming out. Once out of the cave the boys were thirsty tired, cold, and shivering, but none were injured. Source document
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| Ruby's Pit Slate Entrapment, Castleton, Vermont — A quarry worker was rushed to the hospital after being pinned beneath nearly 6,000 pounds of slate on Friday afternoon. The worker, whose name could not be determined, was helping to unload four large slabs of slate from the back of a trailer when the accident occurred. He was on the trailer bed when the slabs fell on him. The severity of the man's injuries could not be determined. He was unconscious and seemed to have trouble breathing when rescue workers carried him on to the ambulance. Each 1-inch-thick slab, 4 feet wide by 10 feet long, weighed about 1,600 pounds. By the time the fire department reached the gravel quarry known as Ruby's Pit, quarry workers had broken the slabs apart with hammers and freed the man. The Regional Ambulance Service took the man to Rutland Regional Medical Center for treatment. The slate apparently was being trucked into the gravel pit for milling. Since the accident occurred in a quarry, the investigation fell to the federal Mine, Safety and Health Agency rather than Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Source document
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| 2019 |
Abandoned Mine Shaft Fall of Person, Cave Creek, Arizona — A woman who fell into a mine shaft while out for a run north of Phoenix was rescued. Authorities said the woman appeared to have no serious injuries after being pulled from the abandoned mine overnight in Cave Creek. The woman said she went for a run and got lost. She then came across the mine shaft and fell 20 feet. The woman's father became worried when he hadn't heard from her and called the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Deputies tracked her cellphone and heard her yelling. She was hoisted out by a rope. Authorities said she was expected to recover. Source document
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| 2020 |
Isaban Mine No. 3, Gilbert, West Virginia — Timothy Kennedy, 26, who had been missing for more than a week, was located by MHST, West Virginia State Police, MSHA personnel, and a Southern Pocahontas Mine Rescue Team in the closed Isaban Mine No. 3 of Frasier Creek Mining, LLC. Besides having to wade through some water, the rescuers did not encounter extreme adverse conditions and did not need to turn on their breathing devices. They did find evidence of copper removal during their search. The man was brought to the surface and examined by Elite Care Ambulance personnel before being taken to a hospital by life-flight for an evaluation. Source document
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| 2022 |
Abandoned Eureka Copper Mine Shaft Rescue, Corinth, Vermont — Police responded to a call someone had fallen in an abandoned copper mine shaft at the Eureka Mine on Pike Hill. The man, who officials said was about 30 years old, tumbled down about 150 feet. Firefighters assembled a twin-tension rope rescue system and lowered two paramedics into the shaft. They then packaged and pulled up the patient in a basket. After his three-hour confinement, the man was transported by ATV to a nearby helicopter, which took him to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. There was no word on his injuries or his identity. Officials said the entire rescue took less than one hour. Source document
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| Rescuer Deaths in April |
| 1887 |
Old Savanna No. 2 Mine Explosion, Savanna, Oklahoma — Twelve miners were overcome by toxic gas and suffocated while attempting to rescue the 6 victims of an explosion which occurred in the Old Savanna No. 2 mine near Savanna, Oklahoma.
|
| 1890 |
Spring Valley Shaft No. 2 Mine Fire, Spring Valley, Illinois — Following efforts to extinguish the fire, John Eustice, the foreman of the mine, along with two volunteers, entered the mine to examine the extent of the damage. When they did not return, others commenced the difficult task of finding the three men amid the smoke and gas given off by the fire. The three were found within 130 yards of the shaft where they became victims of asphyxiation. The two volunteers assisting Eustice were N. P. Akeyson and Jacob Williamson.
|
| 1905 |
Zeigler Mine Explosions, Zeigler, Illinois — 49 miners died as a result of two explosions in the Zeigler Mine. In an effort to recover the entombed men, five rescuers were overcome by afterdamp. The rescuers were let down by hand. In two instances, the men above were nearly overcome by gas. Source document 1 Source document 2
|
| 1911 |
Price-Pancoast Mine Fire, Throop, Pennsylvania — Two pipeline men noticed smoke coming from the direction of the shaft and discovered that the North Slope engine room was on fire. When the fire in the engine room was under control, the crew noticed that the timbers and a large number of mine cars on the passing branch were also burning.
Victims included 69 miners and four rescue worker who fell victim to poisonous gas, including Joe E. Evans, who was the Foreman of Federal Rescue Car No. 1. Also killed while attempting to help others were: Walter Knight, mine foreman; Isaac Dawe, fire boss; and John R. Perry. These men rushed beyond the flames to warn others farther in the workings.
|
| 1913 |
Cincinnati Mine Explosion, Finleyville, Pennsylvania — An explosion occurred in which 97 men were killed and subsequently one of the rescue party wearing breathing apparatus lost his life. About 167 men were in the mine at the time of the explosion. About 67 escaped uninjured through old workings, and three were rescued alive — one by the first rescue parties and 2 some sixty-hours later by exploring parties.
|
| 1917 |
Hastings Mine Explosion, Hastings, Colorado — On May 6, 1917, Walter Kerr, a member of a mine rescue team of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, died wearing a Drager 2-hour oxygen breathing apparatus, while helping to recover bodies, after an explosion in the Hastings mine of the Victor-American Fuel Company, Hastings, Colorado, in which 121 men were killed. The explosion was caused by a mine inspector striking a match to relight his safety lamp about 120 feet from the face of 7 South entry.
|
| Mountain King Mine Asphyxiation, Mariposa County, California — Two men obtained permission from the mine foreman to investigate the results of blasting on the 1,400-foot level. When they did not return, the foreman went to investigate, returned, and with two others climbed down to the 1,400-foot level, where all three were overcome. Before proper supervision could be obtained and rescue work begun, three others had attempted to help by going to the 1,400 foot level (all at different times). Only one was able to return to safety. Seven men lost their lives from asphyxiation.
|
| 1922 |
Almena Mine Roof Fall, Morgantown, West Virginia — Gabrielle Pascuzzi, 20, and H. L. Wallace, 23 were killed and two others were injured when they were crushed under a fall of slate while searching for the bodies of 2 miners who met death in a cave-in several days earlier in the Strum Coal Company's Almena Mine. Source document
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| 1927 |
Connellsville By-Product Company Mine Asphyxiation, Morgantown, West Virginia — Two mine rescue men sacrificed their lives in a fruitless effort to save a fellow rescuer from deadly gas in the Connellsville By-Product Company mine near Morgantown, WV. The three victims were part of a crew from Parnassus, PA. Crews of helmet men were sent in to explore sealed workings to determine whether flooding of the mine had extinguished a fire. C. Roy Rushton, Frank Burns and William Heagy formed this crew. For some unexplained reason, Rushton removed the mouthpiece of his breathing apparatus. He soon collapsed, a victim of carbon monoxide.
|
| 1951 |
Unnamed Coal Mine Cave-in, Shaft, Pennsylvania — Henry W. Eckley, Sr., 61, coal miner, died as the result of attempting to rescue Anthony Woznicki, 46, coal miner, from a cave-in. During the course of the rescue, a large quantity of debris fell from near the ceiling and partially buried Eckley, who sustained severe internal injuries and a broken leg. Eckley and Woznicki were removed from the entry by other miners and were taken to the surface. Woznicki was disabled six months. Eckley succumbed to injuries three days later. Posthumously, Henry W. Eckley was awarded the Carnegie Hero Award for his bravery.
|
| 1971 |
Barnett Complex H2S Poisoning, Rosiclare, Illinois — Two brothers, William and Philip Long, entered an area of the mine and were subsequently overcome by Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) gas. An additional 5 employees made several attempts to reach the Long brothers and bring them to fresh air. After finally reaching the downed brothers and loading them onto a locomotive to bring them out, they too were overcome and killed by the toxic gas.
|
| 1978 |
Clinchfield Coal Company, Moss No. 3 Portal A Inundation — William Joe Arden , and Willis Ison , and Richard L. Shelby died attempting to save fellow workmen from suffocation, April 4,
1978. Strickler Mullins helped to save Charles L. Breeding in the same incident.
Arden, 25, Shelby, 56, Service Manager from National Mine Service, and Ison, 45, Mine Safety and Health Administration subdistrict manager, entered the tunnel to give aid but, before reaching any of the men, were overcome.
One of the three men was removed from the tunnel and revived; but Arden and the others died. Messer's Arden, Shelby, Ison and Mullins were posthumously awarded the Carnegie Hero Award for their bravery.
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