Pocahontas, Virginia March 13, 1884
No. Killed - 112
From the U. S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 20, pp. 20, 29
The night shift was in the mine at 1 o'clock in the morning when the explosion shook the ground and dwellings for
half a mile around the mine. Non of those in the mine survived. The mine consisted of five openings from the outcrop
in a ravine into the hillside.
Cars, timbers, and debris were hurled from the openings with awful force. The fan, the mine
buildings, and surroundings on the surface in front of the
openings were demolished. Fire succeeded the explosion in the mine, and all that could be done was to seal the openings as the fire and smoke rapidly
increased.
After the sealing, steam was conveyed into the mine from five boilers. The mine was flooded, them opened, and the bodies were recovered in April. It
was thought that dust, with possibly some gas, was fired by blasting. Gas could not be found in the mine after the explosion, although some claimed to
have found it while working there before the disaster. The mine was considered non-gassy, and no safety lamps were used. Ventilation was of
a low order. Blasting was done at the end of each shift. Shooting was "off-the-solid," using excessive amounts of black powder. The mine was
very dry and dusty.
For months after this explosion, its causes and possible preventive measures were argued in newspapers, and technical journals. This disaster,
with those at Crested Butte, Colorado and West Leisenring, Pennsylvania caught public attention; a mine inspection bill was introduced in the Virginia
Legislature but failed to come to a vote. Several committees investigated the circumstances, and the published conclusions stated that fine coal dust
in mines was a serious explosion hazard when coupled with firing of heavy charges of black powder without first undercutting the coal.
The question of whether the coal might be ignited without any gas being present was not clearly answered, although experiments had indicated
that it might occur (48, pp. 28, 29).
Source:
Historical Summary of Mine Disasters in the United States - Volume I
