The Monongah Mining Disaster

Skog, Jason. The Monongah Mining Disaster. 2008. 48p. ISBN 978-0-7565-3513-1. Available at 363.11 SKO on the library shelves.

Mining has always been a dangerous profession. Digging underground in hard conditions has been a fact of life ever since humans understood how to use minerals to create useful objects. West Virginia of the early 1900s is coal country. Coal powers steam engines, machines, and even nascent electric grids. It is used to heat homes and to cook. Coal is the backbone of the industrial revolution.

Monongah is a small town in West Virginia where two coal mines operate. Everyone either works for the mine, or in the businesses that support the mine. Every day, husbands kiss their wives goodbye before heading off to work, and it’s considered bad luck not to do so. On December 6, 1907, little do they know their lives are about to change.

Around 10 am, an explosion shakes the ground near mine #8, and the entrance to the underground tunnels collapse. Thus begins a race against time, trying to rescue the miners caught in the collapse of the mine. In all, more than 360 people died, and only one was saved. What became the worst mining disaster in U.S. history led to changes in practices at mining operations around the country, and increased safety.

This short book discusses the disaster, and the impact that it had on the coal industry specifically as well as on mining in general.