January Mine Disaster Anniversaries |
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| Did You Know? | The month of January has accounted for 102 mine disasters in which 1,926 miners were killed; 33 successful rescues (longest - 48 hrs.); and the death of 16 rescuers in 7 incidents. |
| Successful Mine Rescues | Rescuer Deaths | All January Mine Disasters |
| Successful Mine Rescues in January | ||
| 1846 | Following a massive roof fall in the Delaware-Hudson Mine, John Hosey clambered his way through the damaged mine and managed to get out after being confined in the mine for 48 hours. He was not seriously injured, except that his hands were lacerated from working his way through the rocks and slate. | |
| 1901 | Johnson Mine Rescue, Scranton, Pennsylvania — Discovered tottering along a main road in the Johnson Mine, John Zylankus’ six-day odyssey of being lost in the mine ended. Zylankus, 17, became disoriented when he attempted to take a shortcut to his working place in the mine. His troubles were made more difficult after he lost his light. After he was returned to his home, he was examined by a physician who declared the boy would recover all right with proper care. Source document. 
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| 1904 | Severely burned 16-year-old, Adolph Gunia, was brought to the surface still alive after an undisclosed period following the explosion in the Harwick mine in Cheswick, Pennsylvania. He was the lone survivor of the mine blast which took 179 lives. | |
| 1907 | Penco Mine Explosion, Penco, West Virginia — Following the explosion, almost eighty men were still at the bottom of the shaft. Almost suffocated, they huddled closely together and cried pitifully up the shaft for assistance. Several rescuers took possession of the elevator car and quickly ran it down into the shaft. There were accommodations for only about twenty of the men at a time, however, and the foreign miners, who were crazed from fright, fought like demons to board the car, greatly retarding the work of rescue. On the last two trips a majority of the miners were unconscious and had to be carried from the car. | |
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| 1910 | Primero Mine Explosion, Primero, Colorado — After an undisclosed period following an explosion in the Primero Mine, one man, Dio Nardine, was rescued. He was found badly injured beneath a mass of earth and timbers. Source document | |
| 1911 | Carbon Hill No. 1 Mine Explosion, Carbon Hill, Virginia — 6 men who were injured in the explosion at the Gayton Mine at Carbon Hill, Virginia were returned to the surface after an undisclosed period. It is not clear whether all of these men survived their injuries. A total of seven miners died as result of the explosion. | |
| 1914 | Cave-in at Black Diamond Mine, Luzerne, Pennsylvania - Four miners were rescued after seven hours by parties led by company officials. Source document. 
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| 1918 | A cave-in covering approximately 5 acres occurred at the Pennsylvania Coal Company’s Barnum Mine in Pittston, PA. Two men were killed and 15 injured. Five of the men were rescued 10 hours after the accident. Source document.
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| 1924 | McClintock Mine Explosion, Johnston City, Illinois — Nine injured miners were removed by rescuers after an undisclosed period following an explosion in the McClintock mine which killed 33. Eight of the injured were hospitalized. Two were believed fatally hurt. | |
| 1926 | 21 miners managed to escape death's clutches after being trapped for 24 hours in the mule stables following an explosion of the Jamison No. 8 mine in Farmington, West Virginia. 19 miners were killed in the disaster. | |
| Eight negro miners were rescued after an undisclosed period from the No. 21 mine in Wilburton, Oklahoma. And in a truly heroic effort, Julius Graham, one of the first 7 rescued negroes, rushed back in and saved his step-brother, Roy Gray. | ||
| Mossboro No. 1 Mine Explosion, Helena, Alabama — After an undisclosed period following the Mossboro No. 1 mine explosion, twelve men were brought out of the mine alive in one group to be followed by another squad of 13 workers. | ||
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| 1928 | Eight miners were brought out of the Peabody Coal Company Mine No. 18 alive and uninjured. They were: Bill Reed, Alex Hamlin, Tony Strauss, Charles Peebles, Will Allen, Ruel Parks, Charles Mitchell and James Benn. Reed crawled out of an air shaft while Hamlin and Strauss were in another part of the mine and built a protecting wall to prevent the deadly gas from reaching them. W. E. Wade, another rescued miner was suffering from the effects of gas. | |
| 1930 | Lillybrook No. 1 Mine Explosion, Lillybrook, West Virginia — After an undisclosed period, the bodies of eight men, six of whom were Negroes, were recovered. R. L. Meadows, one of the injured men, was found lying with the dead. He was considered by physicians to have a chance for recovery. | |
| 1931 | Seven miners were rescued after an undisclosed period following an explosion in the Little Betty Mine at Dugger, Indiana. The men who were rescued had barricaded themselves in an entry off one of the main corridors. Those rescued included Locie Hale, William Bedwell, Ben Snyder, Herman Brown, Charles Love and Charles Centers, all of Linton, and Jule Wellington of Sullivan. | |
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| 1939 | Nineteen miners were rescued from the Clinton Coal Company’s Crown Hill No. 6 Mine Fire near Clinton, Indiana after being trapped there for 10 hours. Rescuers waded water waist-deep through another tunnel, abandoned for 20 years, broke down a barrier and reached the men from behind. | |
| 1941 | John Ryan, 28, died shortly after he had been rescued from a "bootleg" coal mine near Pottsville, Pennsylvania in which he had been trapped for 48 hours. Joseph Slane, 30, who was trapped with Ryan was rescued after a third miner, Vincent Burns, had spread the alarm. Source document. |
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| 1942 | Wadge Mine Explosion, Mt. Harris, Colorado — Four miners who were working nearer the entrance were rescued after an undisclosed period. These men included Joe Gall, Bill Fickle, Elmer Everson and Mike Atansoff. | |
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| 1950 | Joseph Burda was rescued after being trapped for 40 hours in a "bootleg" anthracite mine near Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. He and his brother, Edward, became trapped following a cave-in. Rescue attempts carried on for Edward, however, it is unknown if they were successful. Source document.
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| 1953 | Gilberton Coal Company Drill Hole Entrapment, Gilberton, Pennsylvania — Five-year-old Laura Mae Helser was freed from her 90-minute confinement after falling 10 feet into an 11-inch test hole at the strip mine owned by the Gilberton Coal Company. Rescuers ingeniously fashioned a make-shift vertical stretcher to free the child from her entrapment. Source document.
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| 1954 | Unnamed Mine Cave-in, Sidney, Kentucky — James G. Thornsbury rescued Frederick J. Pinson from a cave-in, Sidney, Kentucky, January 23, 1984. Pinson, 31, was seated in the operator's cab of a mining machine when a large section of the ceiling of the mine in which he was working collapsed atop the machine, trapping him. Thornsbury, 25, miner, who had been working nearby, fled the area of the fall. Hearing Pinson's cries for help, Thornsbury returned to the edge of the collapsed ceiling, under which there was a narrow space. Despite additionally falling rock, Thornsbury crawled into the space and proceeded to clear a path to Pinson. Upon reaching Pinson, Thornsbury assisted him from the cab, then crawled with him from beneath the fallen ceiling. Pinson suffered bruised ribs but fully recovered. Mr. Thornsbury was bestowed the Carnegie Hero Award for his bravery. Source document.
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| 1956 | Unnamed Coal Mine Cave-in, Carmichaels, Pennsylvania — On January 31, 1956, when a section of roof fell in a coal mine 550 feet below the surface, Percy A. Hooper, 33, was buried between a loading machine and a coal pillar. During an arduous rescue in a space 18 inches wide and 20 inches high, and working with handtools, John W. Blazek, Jr. managed to free Hooper enough that the pair were able to be pulled to safety by assisting miners. Hooper, who had been buried an hour and a half, was hospitalized for four days from shock and bruises. Blazek, who had been in the tunnel 30 minutes, was nervous and sustained minor cuts. Both recovered. For his bravery, Mr. Blazek was given the Carnegie Hero Award. Source document.
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| 1959 | River Slope Mine Inundation, Port Griffith, Pennsylvania — One miner, Amadeo Pancotti, age 50, was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism for leading 32 miners to safety. As the flood waters rose, Pancotti scaled a 50 foot sand-stone wall which rose generally at an angle of 75 degrees making his way to the surface. Once there, he summoned others, who raised Louis Randazza, John Elko, and Joseph Soltis from the shaft. A rescue team entered the mine through the shaft and found James LaFratte, Jerome Stuccio, and Pacifico Stella. Twenty-six other men later were located and removed. Twelve miners perished and their bodies were never recovered. | |
| 1960 | Joseph Mismash was rescued after being trapped 15 hours in a U. S. Steel Corporation iron mine near Ely, Minnesota. Mismash was trapped in a walled-in cubicle blocked by a 14 foot-thick block of ore. Source document. |
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| 1961 | Rescuers saved 15-year-old, Larry Dacek, after falling down an airshaft of the abandoned Sutro Tunnel silver mine near Virginia City, Nevada. He was trapped for 11 hours there. Mining experts said Dacek escaped certain death by coming to rest on a rock layer supported by a few rotten timbers. Below him was a straight 1,400 foot fall. Source document. |
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| 1964 | Stanley Johnson was rescued after his 27-hour entrapment following a cave-in at a MacKay, Utah lead and copper mine owned by Empire Copper Mines. Johnson suffered only a bad cold following his ordeal. He was rescued by workmen who found an unused and uncharted back entrance to the mine. The rescue operations had nearly been halted by frozen ground and cold temperatures just before the old tunnel was found. The rear entrance led workers to within six feet of the cubicle where Johnson was trapped. There were no others killed or injured in the accident. Source document. |
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| 1967 | Two miners, Virgil Williamson and Harry Silman, became trapped after a roof fall in the Shannopin Mine of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation. Williamson was found dead early on January 24 and Silman was rescued after 2 hours. Taken to the hospital, he was listed in fair condition, suffering from shock and bruises. Source document. |
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| 1969 | Twelve miners were rescued after being trapped more than six hours after a fire at the Christopher Coal Company, Humphrey No. 7 mine near Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. Eleven of the miners were walked out by rescuers, one man was removed by stretcher. Source document. |
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| 2003 | Injured miner Aaron Meyer, three Sheriff's Deputies and a Paramedic clambered into an oversized bucket attached to a crane following the McElroy Mine Shaft Explosion at Cameron, West Virginia, which lowered them to the injured miners below. They successfully rescued Benjamin Bair, 23, and Richard Brumley, 51. On September 29, 2005, the five men were awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism. Included were Aaron Meyer, Jack Cain, Pat Mull, Brent Wharry and Steve Cook. | |
| 2006 | One miner, Randal McCloy Jr., is found alive after 40 hours following the Sago Mine Explosion in West Virginia. Twelve miners died in the accident. This disaster prompted the creation of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act). | |
| 2010 | Three Missouri miners were rescued from a DPOS after being trapped more than 5 hours in the No. 29 mine of the Doe Run Company near Viburnum on January 21, 2010. Their escape was cut off when a 30-ton haul truck caught fire. The trapped miners were: Robert McClain, truck driver; Michael Byers, loader operator; and Timothy Yount, scaler operator. See more. | |
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| 2015 | Keystone No. 1 Abandoned Mine Rescue, Keystone, West Virginia — In January 2015, a McDowell County man had to be rescued from the Keystone No. 1 mine after entering it to steal copper, officials said (see page 2). The injured man and his partner became separated after entering the mine. The partner made his way out, but the injured man did not. According to a source with knowledge of the incident, the trespasser survived 20 hours in 12 percent oxygen in a rescue effort lasting 6-8 hours. Source document.
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| 2016 | Cargill Salt Elevator Incident, Lansing, New York — Rescue crews freed 17 miners in upstate New York after they spent a terrifying 10 hours down in one of the world's deepest salt mines. The first four of the Cargill Salt miners emerged to the surface in a basket around 7 a.m. The rest were rescued from the salt mine over the next two hours. | |
| Rescuer Deaths in January | ||
| 1904 | Harwick Mine Explosion, Cheswick, Pennsylvania — Of 175 mine workers underground at the time, the single survivor was the severely burned 16-year-old, Adolph Gunia. Other casualties included Daniel A. Lyle and the mine engineer, Selwyn M. Taylor, who both gave their lives in rescue attempts after responding to the scene. Greatly touched by Taylor's and Lyle's sacrifice, Andrew Carnegie had medals privately minted for their families, and within two months had established a $5 million Carnegie Hero Fund as a result. | |
| 1906 | Haverstraw Clay Pit Collapse, Haverstraw, New York — After a house was toppled into a pit cut by clay diggers in Haverstraw, NY, five men went to the rescue to aid their neighbors. After the first house fell, twelve other houses went crashing over the precipice. The wreckage quickly caught fire, and those who were in the mass were either crushed or burned to death. Nineteen persons were killed. | |
| 1909 | Zeigler Mine Explosion, Zeigler, Illinois — During recovery operations following a fire at this mine, an explosion occurred and three men were killed instantly. | |
| Northwestern Mine Asphyxiation, Ashford County, Washington — After a miner fired shots in the Northwestern coal mine, an explosion occurred. Another victim (Dinkler), with others, went to rescue the shotfirer, but was overcome by afterdamp before he could. | ||
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| 1912 | Cherry Valley Mine Fire, Cherry Valley, Pennsylvania — John Ferrell of the U.S. Bureau of Mines was killed while exploring a mine in which a fire was raging. Ferrell had been in charge of the Bureau of Mines Rescue Car No. 5 since October 1911. At a mine rescue a few weeks earlier at Briceville, Tennessee, Ferrell rescued five men. It is unknown if any others were killed or injured in the Cherry Valley Mine Fire. | |
| 1914 | Boston Mine Fire, Bingham, Utah — Three of the deceased in the Boston mine fire were Austrians, who on hearing that two of their countrymen were in the smoke-filled workings rushed in at 9 o'clock a.m. to attempt a rescue. Their bodies were brought out at 10 o'clock that night by three rescuers wearing oxygen helmets. The three attempting the rescue were Mike Osich, Josep Stemich, and Robert Duich. | |
| 1943 | Pursglove No. 15 Mine Fire, Pursglove, West Virginia— During the fire at the No. 15 mine of the Pursglove Mining Company, an act of heroism cost the life of Guy Quinn, 38-year-old night-foreman, who escaped after the fire but returned to open two ventilating doors in an effort to save his trapped comrades. He had managed to open one door but was overcome while working on the other. | |
| Mine Rescue Research Documents | |
| Successful Mine Rescues (MS Word format) Listed in descending chronological order, this file contains hundreds of successful rescues in the United States. See more. |
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| Incidents of Rescuer Death (MS Word format) Listed in descending chronological order, this file contains more than 100 incidents of rescuer death in the United States. See more. |
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| Carnegie Hero Award Recipients (MS Excel format) Inspired by the bravery that Daniel A. Lyle and Selwyn M. Taylor  displayed at the Harwick Mine Disaster in 1904, Andrew Carnegie started the Carnegie Hero Fund . The file linked here includes awardees associated with mining along with additional resources which you may find interesting. |
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