Coal Mine Explosion

UNITED MINE WORKERS JOURNAL Vol. LXIII, No., 1; January 1st, 1952

"119 Perish in West Frankfort Gas Explosion, Lewis at Scene Demands Congress Act"

Bulletin: After a two day underground investigation in the Orient No. 2 mine federal authorities said in a preliminary report released by Interior Secretary Chapman December 28 that they believed the explosion was caused by the ignition of methane gas by an electrical source. Investigators said it was "obvious" that large accumulations of coal dust were present in the affected area and that sufficient rock dust had not been applied. The original ignition of gas in turn raised and ignited clouds of coal dust, propagating sections of the mine. They further disclosed the fact that a large amount of electrical equipment capable of igniting gas was in operation in air returning from the vicinity of "abandoned worked-out areas known to contain explosive gas."

Another has been added to the dark and shameful record of coal mine catastrophes which have taken a toll of more than 100 lives. In the mining community of West Frankfort, IL, Orient Mine No. 2 of the Chicago, Wilmington and Franklin Coal Co., was rocked by a gas explosion December 21 which claimed a staggering toll of 119 lives. The blast occurred about 8:30 p.m. on the last shift before the Christmas Holiday.

Rescue work was begun almost immediately and proceeded slowly under extremely difficult conditions for three days. Equipped with breathing apparatus, and with miners' cap lamps providing the only illumination, the rescue teams penetrated two to three miles through the underground passageways and carried out bodies one by one. Medical evidence indicated that most of the men died almost instantly, though one survived a 60 hour ordeal.

President Lewis of the UMWA, accompanied by Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, flew to West Frankfort early Sunday in a government plane for a first-hand inspection of the mine and the entire disaster scene. Both Lewis and Chapman entered the mine briefly in the early stages of the rescue work. Lewis went down again Wednesday, December 26, with the Federal and state investigators, together with the UMWA district and local officials and remained eight hours. He entered the mine a third time on Thursday. Heading the investigators was John J. Forbes, director of the US Bureau of Mines. On this trip into the mine, the party of some 40 investigators discovered what was believed to be the last body remaining in the mine.
Cause of the disaster was determined to be an explosion of methane gas but what ignited it or why so much was allowed to accumulate was undetermined pending completion of the various inquiries. The most recent Federal inspection report had disclosed 31 violations of the Federal Safety Code, of which 21 were uncorrected from earlier inspections. Presence of gas was detected with safety lamps in working places and also in numerous abandoned entries, which were not sealed off.

The most recent state inspection of the mine completed only nine days preceding the explosion had found no violations of state law and proposed no corrective actions. The Illinois law, as in other mining states differs in many respects from the Federal Code. It does not, for example, require sealing off of worked out areas where gas often accumulates.
Again, this terrible slaughter of coal miners by explosion of gas, re-centered attention on the failure of Congress to enact pending amendments to the Federal Mine Inspection Act which have been repeatedly sought by the UMWA for the purpose of clothing the Federal inspectors with enforcement powers. Action on this legislation has been stalled for years in Congress, although there was a flurry of activity after the Centralia, IL, catastrophe in 1947 in which 111 miners were killed by a similar explosion.
Stirred anew by the tragedy at West Frankfort, a Senate Labor Subcommittee announced it was sending a representative to the area with " full investigative powers" and said it was determined to make a thorough inquiry and report to Congress. The UMWA-endorsed bills introduced by Senator Matthew Neely (D., W. VA), and Rep. Melvin Price (D., IL), are pending in Senate and House Labor Committees.

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"My God, if members of Congress could only see this"
Those were the words of President Lewis as he stood, face drawn with grief and emotion, over the rows of battered, broken forms, charred beyond recognition, by the searing flames which followed the Orient No. 2 mine blast.
Accompanied by Secretary of Interior Chapman, Lewis visited the improvised morgue in the West Frankfort Junior High School were children of the victims will never be able to lose the memory of those blanketed mounds which were the blackened remains of their dads.
From there Lewis and Chapman visited the disaster-struck mine, once the pride of the area because it was hailed as the world's largest shaft mine. It was 12 miles square and one of the best mechanized in the industry. Donning miners' clothes and equipment, Lewis accompanied the party of nearly 40, which undertook the task of inspecting the blast-torn passages and working faces. The UMW chief, after eight-hours of tramping over the rubble, withheld comment but he told reporters he "reached very definite conclusions".
****While searching for the cause of the unexplained blast the inspection party stumbled on the crouching form of J. O. Cantrell, highest boss in the mine on the fatal night, and last of the 119 victims to be located in the black ruins. Lewis returned the next day for a further examination of operations.