50th Anniversary of the Knox Mine Disaster
- Pauliewog
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Hi neighbor! I'm less than 500 yards from the Knox and it seems like yesterday I was standing on on the 8th street bridge with my mom and dad watching the rail cars being sucked into that whirlpool. Some sights stay with you forever.Richard S. wrote:I live just about 2 miles upriver from where that happened.
You're lucky it's only mine waste. If there wasn't houses in the way you could see the Butler mine tunnel from my porch. Some Jackass had a garage about 2 or 3 miles from the river and they were dumping all kinds of toxic waste into a borehole on the property. they got caught and it was only a short time later that waste made it's way into the river discharged from the tunnel. That was back in the late 70's early 80's. Hasn't been any major events in a decade or two that I'm aware of but they still monitor it 24/7.Theres a drainage tunnel (Jeddo tunnel) in the valley that drains flooded undergrond coal mines in the Hazleton area
.
On the upside.............. Unlike me, your a bit above the Butler but I'm downstream.
Richard , are you up near Dick Woods?
Paulie
- Richard S.
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Doesn't sound familiar, in any event my house burned back in early 2010. I'm in Harding now at the top of Apple Tree.Pauliewog wrote:
Richard , are you up near Dick Woods?
Paulie
- Flyer5
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Funny I grew up in Port Griffith. We used to play on the old coal car that was upside down on the riverbank. Not much left to it now. I still buzz the area on the jet ski once in a while.
- McGiever
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Most of the links are broken...here are some that still work:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=knox ... e+disaster
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=knox ... e+disaster
- Pauliewog
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- Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
- Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite
Where about in Port Griffith did you live?Flyer5 wrote:Funny I grew up in Port Griffith. We used to play on the old coal car that was upside down on the riverbank. Not much left to it now. I still buzz the area on the jet ski once in a while.
Paulie
- Flyer5
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Friend stPauliewog wrote:Where about in Port Griffith did you live?Flyer5 wrote:Funny I grew up in Port Griffith. We used to play on the old coal car that was upside down on the riverbank. Not much left to it now. I still buzz the area on the jet ski once in a while.
Paulie
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If any of you can get PCN-TV, they are airing two programs this afternoon: The Knox Mine Disaster (interview/lecture with authors), and "Anthracite Miners & their Hollowed Ground". These will be periodically rebroadcast and are available for purchase
- Pauliewog
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- Posts: 1824
- Joined: Mon. Dec. 02, 2013 12:15 am
- Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Dual Paddle Feed
- Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
- Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite
Thanks for posting !Belgianburner wrote:If any of you can get PCN-TV, they are airing two programs this afternoon: The Knox Mine Disaster (interview/lecture with authors), and "Anthracite Miners & their Hollowed Ground". These will be periodically rebroadcast and are available for purchase
I don't get PCN-TV but I was able to see this in time enough to call my son who is recording all three of them now.
I live less than 1/4 mile from the Knox site, and still vividly recall standing on the Wyoming Bridge with my parents for hours watching the rail cars being swallowed up by the raging whirlpool, in an attempt to plug the hole.
Paulie
That incident had far reaching consequences.
Du Pont had a black powder manufacturing facility at Moosic. In 1972 the facility and business was sold to Gearhart-Owens. GOEX normally used Moosic municipal water to manufacture their black powder. Each 100 pounds of powder going into a wheel mill required 10 pounds of water added to wet the mixture at the start of the milling cycle. In times of drought GOEX was not permitted to use the municipal water in the powder manufacturing process. Then then took water from an on-site well. Water badly contaminated with mine waste water, Highly acidic, rich in water-soluble iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria. The result of adding sulfur loving bacteria to a composition containing elemental sulfur had serious results in the finished powder. By 1974 the U.S. military was having serious problems with large caliber artillery that used black powder as an intermediate primer in the loads. Drought period black powder production had chemical stability problems. This gave erratic ignition in the artillery. The U.S. Army blew up a 155mm howitzer in a cold weather exercise. The Navy had problems with "breech blows" in 5 inch and 7 inch naval guns. Aberdeen Proving Ground spent 10 years redesigning loadings around the problem and never really grasped what the problem was in the powder.
Du Pont had a black powder manufacturing facility at Moosic. In 1972 the facility and business was sold to Gearhart-Owens. GOEX normally used Moosic municipal water to manufacture their black powder. Each 100 pounds of powder going into a wheel mill required 10 pounds of water added to wet the mixture at the start of the milling cycle. In times of drought GOEX was not permitted to use the municipal water in the powder manufacturing process. Then then took water from an on-site well. Water badly contaminated with mine waste water, Highly acidic, rich in water-soluble iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria. The result of adding sulfur loving bacteria to a composition containing elemental sulfur had serious results in the finished powder. By 1974 the U.S. military was having serious problems with large caliber artillery that used black powder as an intermediate primer in the loads. Drought period black powder production had chemical stability problems. This gave erratic ignition in the artillery. The U.S. Army blew up a 155mm howitzer in a cold weather exercise. The Navy had problems with "breech blows" in 5 inch and 7 inch naval guns. Aberdeen Proving Ground spent 10 years redesigning loadings around the problem and never really grasped what the problem was in the powder.