Logan County, West Virginia was being soaked with a steady drizzle of rain as a crowd gathered to wait for news at the entrance of the Macbeth Mine. At about 1:30 in the evening on September 2, 1936 the Macbeth Mine of the Hutchinson Coal Company blew killing ten men. It was considered a major […]
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble Read More »
Only six months after the first Macbeth explosion on March 11, 1937, the Macbeth Mine blew again killing eighteen men. As a March rain fell, scenes from September past were being replayed. Some of the men who helped carry out bodies in the first explosion were now mangled corpses in the same entries they had
A Gaping Black Mouth – MacBeth 1937 Read More »
On Tuesday, March 8, 1960 the Holden Mine at Island Creek No. 22 in Logan County, West Virginia, caught fire in the coal seam and created a carbon monoxide gas which killed eighteen men by asphyxiation. The men were trapped shortly after entering the mine at seven in the morning.
Dark as a Dungeon – Holden, March 8, 1960 Read More »
When death came knocking at the door of Hanna Coal Company’s No. 10 Mine at Willow Grove, its icy fingers entombed more than seventy men in a matter of seconds at eleven o’clock on Saturday morning, March 16, 1940.
Death Comes a Knocking – Willow Grove, Ohio 1940 Read More »
LITTLE EGYPT LOST WRECKAGE OF HAVACO MINE – JANUARY 15, 1946 McDowell County, West Virginia is the most southern county of the state, and they hold the record for the largest number of explosions in the state. The mining town of Jed, located two miles north of Welch, lost eighty-three men when the mine blew
Little Egypt Lost – Havaco Mine – JANUARY 15, 1946 Read More »
At the time of the accident 45 men were inside the mine, however the explosion was confined to only one section. Thirteen men were working in the section that blew, and eleven men were killed Shortly after the explosion, a motorman delivering a trip of empty cars near the site noticed smoke and dust in the haulageway. He immediately notified the outside mine office of his findings, and Superintendent T. L. Lambert, went underground to investigate.
Tragedy at Burning Springs – Kermit 1951 Read More »
On Wednesday, January 10, 1940, the Pond Creek No. 1 Mine at Bartley, West Virginia owned by Pocohontas Coal Corporation, exploded at exactly 2:30 in the afternoon killing ninety-one men.
A Time to Weep – Bartley 1940 Read More »
REV. ARCHIE CONWAY Photo by: Dolores Riggs – 1958 LYBURN MINE FIRE On Sunday morning at seven o’clock on August 14, 1932, four men entered the Croaton Coal Company Mine at Lyburn. The mine was empty, and they were cleaning up slate so Monday’s shift could start on time. At approximately ten o’clock that morning
Dying under those grim circumstances, some have written tender, assuring words to their mothers, vowing to see them again in Heaven. Some have scribbled terse notes declaring how and where they should be buried. Others have penned short but intense love letters to their wives.