Coalpail.com Forum

I volunteer in a tour mine an these are recorded deaths the week of the death .30000 deaths from mine injurys .Generally roof falls were most prevalent .Next gas explosions .Now how about the miner who was injured say Jan . 2 went to hospital then home but died 3 months later .Not recorded.Here are some names from turn of the century.Ray .Pencare miner Dynamite explosion.
John Pulshar miner 3/27/1910 died in gas explosion.
John Postava labor crushed between coal cars 7/25/1910
John Schauff miner 9/3/1910 died in a dynamite explosion
Ignatz Boutsch miner 4/17/1914 died in a rock fall
Harold Richards 6/1935, the breast of the mine caved in & smothered him
Joe Marcavage miner 4/1915 head crushed up shute by falling coal
Richard Morgan slate picker hit by coal car 7/1887
The worst I heard was a 7 year old slatepicker fell into breker breaker machinery killed .His mom for years came at quitting time ashing miners Have You Seen My lil Johnny.She had lost her mind with grief . Around 1956 6 men were killed at no.6 one guys wife begged hin to go on vacationin Canada.He listened to her an survived.This is a smidgeon of my hobby I wont say enjoy but I will post again if anyone wants more history ,..Jack

All industrial occupations were terribly dangerous back then & mining was right up there with the worse ones. I'm guessing there were a whole lot that were just left in those mines.

Thanx for that post Jack---RIP Old Timers

Sure makes my average day look pretty easy. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Jack

How about checking out the post on the Red Ash #2 . It was posted about 2 days ago.

The OP is trying to gather information on their great grandfather killed in a gas explosion in 1916

I'm thinking he may have worked at the Harry E . or maybe the Laurie. He was from Pringle and both shafts would be in walking distance............At least in the good old days it was.

PS .. I'm still looking for the info you requested.

Paulie

Paul I pm him to try and meet .Most of my info is from the Southern field .However I I pointed him to the Ant.Museum at Ms Dade park .Keep in tousc jack

To completely understand history you have to study the good and the bad. Jack, by you posting these names it gives them a kind of honor. It's too bad how much has been lost to time. I wish I could have had a few conversations with my great aunt. Just found out my dads uncle owned a Italian bakery in Lawrence, Ma. Another great uncle ran a shoe factory. Another example of dangerous work places would be railroad brake men that use to walk (actually more like run) the tops of rail cars applying hand brakes to stop trains. Thank God for George Westinghouse and his automatic air brake. Another dangerous job was dropping connecting pins in by hand between rail cars. Before automatic couplers. Another example would be the mill girls that use to work in the textile mills. Early American manufacturing was dangerous, but look at what it did. It got people off the farms and spawned a era of unprecedented growth and invention. I think these men can rest easy knowing that the coal they mined helped fuel a great nation. We have come a long way since the 1800's. For better or worse. Sorry I went off topic. Passionate subject. Jack next time I'm in PA I would like to take a tour of your mine. RIP to all the past and present industrial workers and pioneers. Think I'll go make myself a cup of coffee and go sit by a 1899 product of the industrial revolution.
Matt

samhill wrote:All industrial occupations were terribly dangerous back then & mining was right up there with the worse ones.

I agree, in those times safety wasn't very high on the totem pole, they relied on common sense. Unfortunately it seems that today safety is rode so hard that a lot of times people become accustomed to the safety mechanisms in place and don't use or have any common sense.

When I look back at old video and pictures of operators and their machinery and the conditions they worked in. Kids no less... I'm quite amazed more weren't killed or worse more often.

Yes there is an increase in attention to safety on the construction sites I'm on. It is a good thing. The company now has to supply hard hats, safety glasses, and cut resistant gloves. I didn't like wearing any of it at first but now feel almost naked without it when I work at home. The glasses are great for all the grinding and occasional wood chip. The cut resistant gloves, well my hands are not a battle field of cuts and abrasions anymore. All that stuff works too. What I don't miss is all the accidents there used to be on the jobs. There isn't anybody much getting hurt on these jobs with 4-5000 guys working.