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united states mine rescue association
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Tank's Poetry |
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1917 Annual Report Narrative
Mine Fatalities List .gif){kind=small}
Mine Fatalities List from the Annual Report
Hastings Mine Explosion MonumentLocation: 37° 20.33′ N, 104° 37.518′ W. Marker is in Ludlow, Colorado, in Las Animas County. Marker is at the intersection of County Road 44 and County Road 51, on the left when traveling west on County Road 44. Monument is on the south side 2.4 miles west of the Ludlow Memorial, also on County Road 44. Marker is in this post office area: Trinidad CO 81082 Photographed by Mark Hilton Source: Historic Marker Database See more mine disaster markers, memorials, and monuments.
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(From Bureau of Mines Report, by D. Harrington) The workings are reached by a rock slope. The coal is undercut by hand, except that an electric cutting machine is used in slope entries. All workings are gaseous, and firebosses are employed. Prior to the explosion all places were reported "clear" unless tests with a flame safety lamp gave a cap greater than 5/8-inch in height.
A continuous current is used for ventilating the mine. Non-permissible electric cap lamps are used by all miners, inspectors carry key-locked flame safety lamps, and firebosses carry magnetic locked Wolfe lamps. The mine is generally quite damp. Two firebosses made their rounds preparatory for the day shift on that morning and made written reports that the mine was clear of gas. A trip of cars on the rope going in after 9 o'clock had reached a point 1,300 feet inby the mouth when the explosion occurred. The trip rider neither heard nor felt anything unusual, but the explosion caused the signal wires to cross and rang the bell to stop the trip. He then saw smoke coming up the slope and ran out to give the alarm of fire. He was the only man in the mine who escaped. Smoke issued from the main slope and the south manway, and an investigating party of officials followed fresh air until the affected area was reached. Oxygen-breathing-apparatus crews were then required, as practically all stoppings in the "B" seam were totally wrecked and heavy falls had occurred. Gas and dust had spread the explosion to every section of the mine. One apparatus man died under the severe strain, and another collapsed from overexertion but recovered. 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. Recommendations were made for adequate ventilation, competent inspection, permissible electric equipment, cap lamps and safety lamps, exclusion of matches and smoking materials, and regular sprinkling or rock dusting.
Rescuer Death Kerr, while assisting other members of an apparatus crew in carrying a body, suddenly left his crew and was later found dead in a crosscut at the face of a pair of entries. Detailed information concerning this occurrence is not available; however, while there apparently was some idea that the apparatus worn by Kerr might have been defective, an autopsy disclosed that he had a defective heart, that overexertion caused heart failure under the strain of wearing apparatus, and that a defective heart condition existed previous to his death. This case again emphasizes the need for a careful physical examination before a man wears an apparatus under actual mine conditions. As described in the 1917 Colorado Annual Report: May 6 - Walter Kerr, American, miner, age 27 years, married, three children, member of the Berwind Colorado Fuel & iron Company s Helmet Crew; took part in the rescue work at the Hastings explosion. While carrying a body out of the mine, he suddenly left his crew and was later found dead in a cross cut at the face of the seventh north entry. It was found that he had a defective heart, and over-exertion caused heart failure.Source: Loss of Life Among Wearers of Oxygen Breathing Apparatus (April 1944)
Hundred Twenty Men Perish in Mine Explosion The Ogden Examiner, Utah April 28, 1917 Superintendent Cameron tonight said he had little hope of saving any of the men who were in the mine when the explosion occurred. If the men are alive behind the fire, it is a miracle, he said. The exact number of men caught in the mine still is undetermined. The company has compiled a list of the names of men known to be in the mine but it is asserted that the list is not complete. Late tonight only meager reports of the progress of the rescue work had been received here. The only means of communication between Trinidad and Hastings is a single telephone wire which has been crowded with official messages relating to the organization of the rescue work. Hundred and Nineteen Missing A list containing 119 names of missing was given out by company officials tonight. It included David Reese, mine inspector; David Williams, pit boss; H. J. Millard, fire boss; twenty-five company men and 91 miners. The company men follow:
The disaster is one of the greatest in the history of the southern Colorado mining district, and although the rescue work was unabated tonight, company officials hold out little or no hope that any of the men will be taken out alive. The few, if any, who escaped the flames that swept the interior of the mine, are believed to have been suffocated. Helmet Parties Working Ahead The helmet parties are working 400 feet ahead of the rescue crew and tonight had penetrated to the "fifth north," one of the main partings, where the cars are gathered for the long drive to the surface. One body, that of Jim Lochhart, a negro, has been discovered half buried under fallen rock. The rescue parties are working constantly to reach the innermost recesses of the pit, but are hampered by lack of air and by falls that have torn down the brattices in important places and make ventilation almost impossible until the breaks have been repaired. All lumber and canvas for this repair work has been carried by the men on their backs for more than three-quarters of a mile. At 11:30 o'clock tonight it was reported that five bodies had been found. Rescuing crews, working continuously in short shifts, expect to reach the remaining men before daylight tomorrow. No hope is held out that any of them will be rescued alive. Spontaneous Combustion All of the bodies found were badly burned, it was said, indicating that a sheet of flame swept through the mine after the explosion, probably killing all of the men in the mine instantly. The Hastings mine is situated three miles up Hastings canyon from Ludlow, which stands at the entrance to the Hastings and Berwind canyons, 20 miles from Trinidad. The main slope of the Hastings Mine is driven straight into the mountain, with only a slight pitch, to the present workings which are back some 3,600 feet from the entrance. The mine normally employs about 100 men to a shift and has a capacity of 1,000 tons a day. In holding out hope that the men caught in the mine might have escaped instant death, company officials asserted that the explosion apparently was slight. It apparently was not sufficient in force to be heard on the surface, they said. The first indication of trouble was a cloud of black smoke which billowed from the mouth of the slope. Superintendent Cameron hastily organized a rescue force of five men and entered the slope but the smoke and heat from fire within was so intense that they soon were forced to retreat. Another rescue force was organized and equipped with oxygen helmets. These men, eight in number, again led by Mr. Cameron, reentered the mine determined to reach the imprisoned men. Whether debris from the explosion was blocking the slope farther back had not been determined at last reports. Listing of the Fatalities:
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