Layland, West Virginia March 2, 1915 No. Killed - 115
From the Bureau of Mines report, by J. W. Paul, D. J. Parker, H. D. Mason, and W. J. German
The explosion occurred at 8:30 a.m., resulting in the deaths of 114 men inside the mine and 1 outside.
Fifty-four men afterward escaped alive from the mine. Seven came out from 2 to 5 hours after the explosion; 5 more escaped unassisted at 8 a.m. on March 6, and 42 others were rescued an hour later.
Of those killed, 44 died from suffocation. The store porter passing the drift mouth at a distance of 100 feet at the time of the explosion was hurled against a post and killed.
The force of the explosion bursting from the drift mouth shook buildings and broke windows in the vicinity. The drift mouth was wrecked and the fan doors blown off.
The foreman and superintendent immediately called on men that were nearby and patched up the fan doors, started the fan, and patched an overcast a short distance inside the mine.
State mine inspectors, officials from other mines and the Bureau of Mines were called on for assistance, and men and equipment were rushed to the mine.
Organized rescue and recovery work was started with brattice crews; apparatus crews explored ahead of them as soon as they arrived. By direction of the mine officials and State mine inspectors this work was turned to the sections of the mine away from the origin, thinking that in these sections there was a better opportunity of saving lives.
The explosion extended over the major portion of the mine, and progress was difficult and dangerous.
In reestablishing ventilation, it became necessary to reverse the air in No. 3 main entry; on the night of March 5 the fan was stopped and all working parties were withdrawn until morning.
This change in the air cleared the afterdamp from the No. 3 main, which had been on the return, permitting 5 men who had barricaded themselves in 9th left off No. 3 main to open their board stopping and walk out through the entry. They did not know of any other live men in the mine, but rescue parties soon found and brought out 42 other men from behind the gob stoppings they had built on 10th left. These men reached the outside by 11 a.m. on March 6.
The action of these men in barricading themselves off from the deadly gases following the explosion was an example to other miners who might be entrapped.
In 10th left, the leadership of a younger miner, John Whalen, prevailed on many of the starved and sometimes fear-crazed men to stay inside the barricade until help came or the air outside became safe.
Recovery work was completed on March 8, except for bodies remaining under heavy falls.
An accumulation of gas on 4 left off No. 4 mains was thought to have ignited by an open light, which resulted in an explosion propagated by coal dust to other sections of the mine.
Gas was encountered infrequently, and no attention was given to maintaining ventilation on that account.
No fire bosses were employed. Black powder was used, tamped with coal dust and bottom dirt. Top cuts were made by picks. No sprinkling was done.
A text or handbook was issued by the Bureau of Mines in 1916, for instructing rescue crews and disseminating advice and suggestions for the best conduct of rescue and recovery operations. The details of such operations and the Bureau's place in them were explained clearly and carefully.
The efforts of the Bureau were divided between education on saving lives after disasters and in protecting them by preventing disasters. Training of rescue crews, in wearing breathing apparatus and teamwork, had been carried on since 1908.
In 1911, a circular describing the use and care of mine rescue breathing apparatus was issued by the Bureau in connection with this training. In 1912, a pamphlet was published presenting in detail the Bureau's method of training rescue crews.
Source:
Historical Summary of Mine Disasters in the United States - Volume I
