Engleville, Las Animas County, Colorado
May 19, 1907
No. Killed - 5
Colorado Inspector of Coal Mines ReportDescription: Fire first started in May, 1906. Stoppings built. Fire fought almost continuously. Fire rekindled and reversing of current which had previously escaped through old workings of adjacent Starkville Mine force fumes upon the 5 men.
Old Fire in Mine Cause of Five Deaths
Anaconda Standard, Montana
May 21, 1907
Trinidad, Colo., May 20. -- Five miners, including Stephen Alexander Jacobs, and Guiseppi Battu, 23, were burned or suffocated last night in the Engleville mine at Engleville, Colorado. The bodies were recovered during the day.
The men went to work last night, and as they did not come out this morning an investigation was started. It was discovered that the fire that broke out in the mine a year ago, and was still burning in some sections, had suddenly spread and swept across the incline tunnel, cutting the men off and preventing them reaching the outside.
The point where the flames crossed the tunnel is fully three miles from the opening, and it was necessary to dig a temporary tunnel around the fire in order to reach the bodies of the miners.
The Engleville mine is one of the oldest coal producers in Colorado, having been operated for 30 years.
Description: Fire first started in May, 1906. Stoppings built. Fire fought almost continuously. Fire rekindled and reversing of current which had previously escaped through old workings of adjacent Starkville Mine force fumes upon the 5 men.