Pennsylvania Mining Accidents 1869 - 1916

              PENNSYLVANIA MINING ACCIDENTS
1869 - 1916
By
Gerald E. Sherard
(March 2007)
During the earth’s Carboniferous Geologic Period, 250 to 400 million B.C.,
material was deposited that eventually transformed to anthracite coal. At that time most
of Pennsylvania was a flat, hot, moist plain covered with steaming swamps thick with tall
trees and wide spreading ferns. In 1762, Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley
discovered the anthracite coal seams. At that time, the estimations are that 16 billion tons
of coal lied within the anthracite seams in northeastern Pennsylvania. Exposed anthracite
coal outcrops surfaced along the banks of the Susquehanna River. In 1820, the first
recorded anthracite coal company was the Lehigh Coal Mining Company. By 1900, the
historical total fatal and nonfatal accident count in anthracite mines was estimated to be
over 13,000 men, women and children. By 1914, annual employment at anthracite mines
had reached 180,000 workers. In 1917, anthracite coal production peaked at over 100
million tons. Since 1870, the Pennsylvania Annual Reports reflect over 51,483 deaths
from mining accidents, over 31,113 deaths in anthracite mines and over 20,370 deaths in
bituminous mines (12).
In the United States, the first reported mine explosion was in 1810 in Virginia.
Prior to 1920, mining was an unhealthy and dangerous occupation. There were no rules
to ensure safety in the industry, whether in the mine, mill, or smelter. In the early 1900s,
laws to improve and monitor mine safety were enacted by both states and later by the
federal government. It took many years for the companies to implement regular reporting
of the accidents, but the number that was reported were impressive. In the early 1900s,
over an eighteen month period, a mine worker’s chance of being crushed, asphyxiated,
burned, blasted, drowned, or similarly maimed or killed was more than one in a hundred.
If you worked in the mines for twenty years, your overall risk increased to more than one
in five. Since 1900, more than 104,000 miners have died in accidents in the U.S. with
most of these fatalities occurring from 1900 to 1978. The peak year for U.S. fatalities
was 1907 with 3,242 fatalities. In addition many more miners suffered disabling and
lifelong injuries in nonfatal accidents.
Accidents sometimes occurred on the way to and from work. Courageous, was
the miner who rode the huge ore wagons to and from work, often fully loaded and
picking their way along steep shelf “roads” hugging the sides of steep hills. Once the
miner got to the mine, he was lowered down a poorly lit shaft in an ore bucket or cage,
often several hundred feet, to his working level. How would you like to ride up an ore
bucket or wait for a ride if you and your co-workers had to suddenly escape from a mine
shaft several hundred feet down? Once down to his working level, the miner had to
contend with moving tram cars, steam lines, electric wiring, machinery of various types,
and the heavy, hot, and massively vibrating drills. Supporting timber if poorly
positioned, or if the wood became water-soaked and rotten, or with minor shifts in the
earth’s crust, tons of rock would suddenly fall, trapping or crushing the miners. The
mine’s structures and supports were wood, and fire was a constant threat.
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