#mining disaster

[scotianostra]

On 28th October 1939, an ignition of firedamp and coal dust caused a devastating explosion in Valleyfield Colliery, killing 35 men.

Many others working deep underground in the early hours of the fateful morning were injured.

It was one of the worst mining tragedies in Fife and came just eight years after 10 men had perished due to carbon monoxide poisoning at Bowhill pit.

News of the explosion brought anxious families from around the west Fife village’s footprint, desperate for news of their loved ones. High and Low Valleyfield bore the brunt but communities from all around were devastated by the scale of the loss. The King and Prime Minister sent messages of condolence and the manager of the colliery and agent of the coal company were later prosecuted and fined.

There were many family connections between the men who lost their lives. Thomas Kerr, of Abbey Crescent, High Valleyfield, was working in the Culross section, and his 27-year-old son, Thomas, was at the coal face where the explosion occurred. The younger man must have been killed instantly, and this news accelerated the death of his father in hospital. “There was no doubt that the shock had this effect,” said a local doctor who arranged for Kerr senior to be sent to hospital. ‘His injuries were only slight, and not sufficient to cause death. He was quite cheerful and smoking his pipe when we took him to hospital. But the news that his son was dead brought about his own death.“

The Dead;

Archibald Anderson, 46, brusher, 44 Abbey Cres, High Valleyfield

David Baillie, 35, brusher, The Ness, Torryburn

Alexander Banks, 65, transport, 6 East Ave, Blairhall (died in hospital)

John Brown, 23, brusher, 8 Bowmont St, Low Valleyfield

David Cairns, 35, brusher, 39 Preston St, High Valleyfield

Thomas Campbell, 56, brusher, Main St, Newmills

Alexander Christie, 61, supervisor, Culross

Thomas Clark, 47, brusher, 34 Abbey Cres, High Valleyfield

William Devlin, 37, machineman, 12 Woodhead St, High Valleyfield

Arthur Doohan, 39, brusher, Burn St, High Valleyfield

Duncan Ewing, 27, brusher, 22 Dundonald Terrace, Low Valleyfield

Aubrey Gauld, 34, brusher, Mid Row, Hill of Beath

Peter Gilliard, 23, brusher, 39 Abbey Cres, High Valleyfield

Edward Glass, 27, transport, 14 Dundonald Ter., Low Valleyfield

David Hogg, 49, packer, Hawthorn Cottage, Carnock

James Irvine, 37, packer, West End, Low Valleyfield

Bert Keegan, 52 brusher, 61 Woodside St, High Valleyfield

Thomas Kerr, 58, 36 Abbey Cres, High Valleyfield (died in hospital)

Thomas Kerr jun, 26, fireman, 36 Abbey Cres, High Valleyfield

Robert Lang, 23, engineer, 6 Preston Cres, High Valleyfield

Alexander Lawrie, 31, brusher, 147 Baldridge Burn, Dunfermline

Edmund Link, 24, transport, Braeside Cottage, Low Valleyfield

James McFadzean, 28, transport, 33 Preston Cres, High Valleyfield

Robert McFarlane, 41, repairer, Main St Newmills

John McIntyre, 22, electrician, 21 Preston Cres, High Valleyfield

Peter Martin, 42, brusher, 5 Abbey Cres, High Valleyfield

Colin Morrison, 51, fireman, 18 Woodhead St, High Valleyfield

Michael Murray, 33, brusher, Burn St, High Valleyfield

Robert Nicholson, 32, brusher, North Rd, Saline

Alexander Paterson, 32, brusher, 19 Abbey Cres, High Valleyfield

William Ramage, 52, brusher, Blairwood Ter, Oakley

James Spowart jun, 29, machineman, Tinian Cres, Newmills

Michael Tinney, 35, transport, 3 Woodhead St, High Valleyfield

Henry Toal, 29, machineman, 26 Preston Cres, High Valleyfield

Robert Wright, 48, brusher, 1 Dunmarle St, High Valleyfield.

More info and news reports on the Scottish mining web site here http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/33.html

[sheeps-eye]

June 11, 2019.

Taken in an old catholic cemetery somewhere near the small mining towns of Blairmore and Coleman, just west of the Frank slide, the turtle mountain disaster of 1903 (70-more than 90 deaths) as well as the Hillcrest mining disaster of 1914 (189 out of 228 workers killed) , which happened to be the worst mining disaster in Canadian history. This area is hauntingly beautiful, adorned with abandoned mines and brick buildings and some of the best thunderstorms I have ever seen (basically a guarantee). A general melancholic feeling that sits stagnant in the air, you can’t help but think of all the people that lost their lives, buried under rock, one way or another.

This is one of my favourite areas to visit, and I will always think back to Crowsnest Pass very fondly. If I could ever afford it, I would run away for 2 months and hermit away to write a record here. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamt of doing so.

Blessed be.

[ribzinc]

Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada

Part of the former town of Frank was entombed in 1903 by a landslide. Historically the Blackfoot and Kutenai didn't camp there due to the slope's instability.

The scale is difficult to communicate but the larger boulders are building sized.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"The bill's fate was clear evidence of the impenetrable nature of the Alabama legislature when major interests were at stake. Martin was a conservative and not at all imbued with crusading zeal. His bill had made no change in the operation of the system. Yet what Martin had done was to attack the very vitals of the institution-he wanted to change where the money went. From the recipients' view, that was the most important matter of them all. Whatever the state did with its prisoners was its own business, but county convicts should be dealt with by the counties.

The merest thought of Martin's changes must have caused fear and trembling (and steely resolve) in every courthouse ring in the state.It was obvious that reform sentiment on the convict lease system was hardly a match for the deeply entrenched status quo. The issues of society often seem to rest on a seesaw, now heavily weighted at one end and skewed in that direction, now slowly rising as some added pressure moves the issue into equilibrium or on to reversal and change. In early 1911, there were no weights causing the side of reform to rise. The newspapers and the public pressure that they fueled were silent. Crusades are episodic; the attention span for reform is incredibly short as new sensations rise to replace the old.

With the tilt toward inaction, the explosion that ripped the Banner Mine threw the heavy weight of shock and surprise on the side of change. Disaster created an air of immediacy. Reopening the question, a Republican newspaper repeated Moulthrop's arguments and called for a change: "It should not be part of the sentence to put inexperienced men in places of danger. The State cannot afford to take the risk of having its convicts killed. Nor is it a square deal to the experienced miners to be forced into competition with convicts." H. M. Wilson, editor of the Opelika Times and a member of the convict board, believed that the sentiment of Alabamians "is overwhelming against the working of convicts in mines." Another editor wrote that "the spirit of commercialism has eaten too far into the system of dealing with our criminal classes. " The voices of change were in the air.

Even so, invoking the arguments of justice, compassion, and every instinct of humanitarianism was plainly not enough. Echoes of former governor Comer's speech still reverberated within the capitol walls: if the convict lease system was abolished, what would take its place? To confine state and county prisoners to a penitentiary would eliminate the lucrative revenues that leasing provided and would place a continuous burden on the state treasury. The progressives were advocates of putting the prisoners to work on public roads and highways-an answer that satisfied their social consciousness with practical results. The state would receive the full benefit of their labor, and-a most naive thought-the convicts would be better protected because their treatment could be scrutinized by the general public. The lines were drawn between the supporters of convict leasing (and their allies, the doubtful and the undecided) and the reformers. The question was whether the balance would change-or could be changed."

- Robert David Ward & William Warren Rogers, Convicts, Coal, and the Banner Mine Tragedy. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1987. p. 82-84.

[abercynonhistoryblog]

The 23rd of June marks the 130th anniversary of the Albion disaster in Cilfynydd. Claiming the lives of 290 men and boys, it is one of the largest colliery disasters in Welsh history. At the time of the disaster work was underway to sink the Dowlais Pit at Aberdare Junction (Abercynon). In anticiption of this, Abercynon was already growing rapidly. A number of men in the area were employed in…

[dougielombax]

IMC Hazmat Miners: Alright, payday! Here we go! Should be a routine job. Nothing to worry about.

The Shambling Horrors that Lie Within: GNAWINGBITINGBREAKINGHACKINGBURNING! BURNINGBITINGBREAKINGHACKINGGNAWING!!!!!!!!!

[brainrotcharacters]

The moment Wade handed Mary Puppins to Logan and Logan had no protest beyond groaning, I knew

[3uhedral]

Skeleton girl!

[mewdoodles]

*I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!!

Day 5 - Puzzling

[mimikyuno]

okay but can we talk about when ena initially heard students A-C mocking mizuki going like “haha akiyama is cute as ever” with a cruel tone and laughing her first thought wasn’t “what the hell are they implying” but it was “well yeah mizuki has a really cute face” like. girl. i cant

[scotianostra]

Tragedy struck Midlothian on September 5th 1889 when Sixty-three miners, some as young as thirteen, died in an underground fire at Mauricewood Pit, at Penicuik, Midlothian.

This was the worst mining disaster in the history of the Lothians and the cause was never discovered, or at least disclosed.

The following is extracted from “The Mauricewood Braves” one of Wilsons ‘Mining Lays, Tales and Folk-lore’ published 1916.

“The Mauricewood Pit, at Penicuik, near Edinburgh, took fire on September 5th, 1889, and sixty eight men and boys lost their lives. The principal product from the pit was ironstone, although coal in small quantities was also produced. The pit had a vertical shaft of 480 feet then a level roadway eastwards of 180 feet and this was followed by a one in eight dip decline of 960 feet (Deaths Incline). Halfway down the decline a steam engine had been erected and another steam engine did duty at the bottom. The steam pipes traversed this route, and it was at the 800 ft slant that the fire broke out among the support timbers. The wood was tinder and inflammable, and it was soon apparent that the conflagration would spread and become disastrous. There were no other outlets to or from the lower level, and unless the men below received a warning note to give them a chance of escape, they must inevitably perish. Three trapper and pony boys – Robert Hook Tolmie (my own surname but no relation) , aged 14; Michael Hamilton, aged 15; and Thomas Foster, aged 17 years, volunteered to go round the mine and warn all the men below of their danger, but the only shiftman there, his mate was away in another district of the pit- pleaded with the boys not to go away and said that he would go himself to warn the other men of the fires danger, but the boys in unison shouted as they ran “No, we’ll go” ….. And they went. The brave boys never came back alive. “They died to save” The bodies of the boys were afterwards recovered (surrounded by over twenty other bodies) near a trapdoor that had got blocked up in the meantime cutting off the avenue of escape. The mine was subsequently flooded to quench the fire that was raging in the workings, and over a year elapsed before the last body was brought to the surface.

The heroism and self-sacrifice of the three lads aroused sympathetic expressions and admiration throughout the mining world, and a monument marks their last resting place in the Penicuik’s KirkHill Cemetery.

Names of Dead

The alphabetical list of names below is from a report in the Scotsman. Among the names is a Robert Tolmie, I wonder if he was some sort of relation to my family, although I did know of some Penicuik Tolmie’s who were not related to us.

Thomas Adams, 7 Manderston Place David Anderson, 1 Manderston Place T Bennett, 4 Lindsay Place William Brockie, 13 Walker Place William Brown, 1 Lindsay Place William Brown, Glebe William Daly, 3 Fieldsend J Davidson, Edinburgh Rd Robert Dempster, father, 6 Lindsay Place R Dempster, son, 6 Lindsay Place William Dempster, 19 Walker Place Robert Dickson, 13 Fieldsend Thomas Foster 13 Leslie Place John Fraser 27 Napier St John Glass, Pryde's Place William Grieve, 5 Leslie Place C Hamilton, son, Greenlaw Cottages Mitchell Hamilton, father, Greenlaw Cottages Mitchell Hamilton, son, Greenlaw Cottages Robert Hamilton, 4 Leslie Place - uncle of Richard Hamilton, brother-in-law of Robert Tolmie Richard Hamilton, 4 Leslie Place - nephew of Robert Hamilton Robert Hunter, Roads farm William Hunter, 8 Walker Place- father-in-law of David Penman Thomas Hunter, Pike James Irvine, 10 Leslie Place David Kinnimont, father, Roslin Robert Kinnimont, son, Roslin William Lamb, 5 Walker Place - son of Robert Lamb, Leven, Fife George Livingstone, 22 Fieldsend Alex McInlay, 12 Leslie Place David McKenzie, 10 Lindsay Place Hugh McPherson, father, 12 Lindsay Place Peter McPherson, son, 12 Lindsay Place Thomas Meikle, 5 Lindsay Place William Meikle, father, 6 Leslie Place William Meikle, son, 6 Leslie Place Walter Meikle, 6 Leslie Place Robert Millar, 3 Fieldsend - stepson of William Daly William Miller, 3 Fieldsend - stepson of William Daly Martin Morgan, Pryde's Place G Muir, Greenlaw Cottages David Penman, 8 Walker Place - son-in-law of Wm Hunter George Pennycuik, father, 12 Walker Place George Pennycuik, son, 12 Walker Place D Porterfield (brother of Robert Porterfield) Robert Porterfield (brother of D Porterfield) James Porteous, 5 Walker Place J Purves, 10 Lindsay Place John Sinnott 7 Fieldsend James Somerville, 18 Napier St Alex Stewart, John Street James Stark, nephew, Pike M Stark, uncle, Pike Thomas Strang, 2 Walker Place Robert Tolmie, brother-in-law of Robert Hamilton William Urquhart, Eskbridge John Walker 4 Fieldsend John Walker, James Place Andrew Wallace, brothers, 2 Lindsay Place David Wallace, brothers, 2 Lindsay Place James Wright, brothers, 9 Lindsay Place William Wright, brothers, 9 Lindsay Place Matt Wright, 8 Leslie Place

[moonwoodhollow]

New pottery courses available this spring (beginner and advanced level) at the private studio of Britta Wilson (2nd on the Great Pottery Throw Down S4) in Henford-on-Bagley. There are only 5 spots, so enroll now!

[awesomehistoryloverblog]

The Worst US and UK Coal Mining Disasters in History

The two worst coal mining disasters in history, one in US and one in the UK, took place only six years apart – in West Virginia in 1907 and Wales in 1913. 

Two of the worst coal mining disasters in history, one in US and one in the UK, took place only six years apart – in West Virginia in 1907 and Wales in 1913.  Let’s take a closer look at them both. December 6, 1907 – Fairmont Coal Company, Monongah, West Virginia – 361 Dead Fairmont Mine Disaster, Monongah, WV, 1907 On the 6th of December 1907, a massive explosion ripped through the Fairmont…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"By Sunday morning the rain had ceased, and the sun shone brightly. Now the scene around the Banner Mine became one of bustle and excitement as crowds of the curious began to arrive. These "excursionists" came on the trains of the L & N and the Southern; they came by automobile, jarring along the dirt roads; the less affluent and more practical arrived by wagon and "on horseback and mules." One observer was repelled by the scene and reported that the

sights outside were enough to tum a heart of stone. The day being Sunday, the crowds flocked to Banner by the hundreds, and a holiday spirit seemed to possess the most of them."

There

clustered about on the hills and under the trees were the crowds of sight-seers. The air was filled with jokes and ribald jests, while the air also was heavy with the odor of mean whiskey.

Deputy Sheriff Dave Kennybrook and his guards strung up rope and patrolled their lines with rifles and shotguns in an overzealous effort to enforce order and to keep a way clear for the rescuers. The guards dispersed neighboring free blacks who were searching through the castaway clothes of the dead - they were unaware that the prisoners had no valuables. Through it all photographer Bert Covell of Birmingham took pictures of the crowd and of the yawning mine mouth - its darkness a testimony to mystery and fear and tragedy.

Inspector Hillhouse's strategy of reversing the fans to clear the mine gradually proved successful, and the rescue teams were able to penetrate farther into the galleries. Now tram car loads of bodies began to arrive at the surface, and a rush order was made to the Green Coffin Company of Birmingham for one hundred coffins. Other coffins and shrouds came from the John's Undertaking Company in Birmingham, but the supply was soon exhausted, and a special shipment was obtained from Nashville, Tennessee. After being cleaned in the prison washhouse, the bodies were embalmed by Echols and Angevin of Ensley. Their task was so great that the morticians had to be assisted by some of the surviving convicts. Unless families or next of kin called for the bodies, they would be buried on the mine's premises. A gang of twenty convicts began the process of digging "a long trench in the convict cemetery."

If there was curiosity and the compelling ambience of tragedy, there were few signs of bereavement and loss. One elderly black woman cried for her dead nephew. Another sorrowing black woman wept for her husband in the prison morgue. (There was mistaken identity here, and she was led away still crying.) People expected friends and relatives to appear on the scene, and the ambulance chasers of the legal profession were on hand to suggest a claim against the company. But there was little business to be done at the Banner. (Also, Pratt Consolidated's own lawyer, R. B. Watts, was there to safeguard the company from the dangers of litigation.) The locale contrasted sharply with the event. As the sun sank behind the Alabama hills, soft green with the beauty of spring, the observer who had been critical earlier was reinforced in his cynicism. "The crowds began to divide," he wrote.

Food was scarce, and so was whiskey, and the crowds left with the feeling of having had a good time. The blind-tigers [illegal liquor stands] did a land office business and so did the Pratt commissary, where a thin slice of ham and crackers cost ten cents.

- Robert David Ward & William Warren Rogers, Convicts, Coal, and the Banner Mine Tragedy. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1987. p. 22-24

[riickgrimes]

SALTBURN (2023) dir. Emerald Fennell

[obsob]

making and weaving and loving! like we have done for millennia!!