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The Monongah Mine disaster of Monongah, West Virginia took place on December 6, 1907 and has been described as "the worst mining disaster in American History". Monongah is a town in Marion County, West Virginia along the West Fork River. West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Events 1060 - Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary 1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The explosion was thought to have been caused by the ignition of methane (also called "firedamp"), which ignited the coal dust in mines number 6 and 8. Methane is a Chemical compound with the molecular formula. It is the simplest Alkane, and the principal component of Natural gas. Firedamp is a Flammable Gas found in coal mines. It is actually the name given to a number of flammable gases including Methane.

Rescue workers could only work in the mines for 15 minutes due to the lack of breathing equipment. Some of those workers also perished due to the poisonous gas.

In all, the lives of 362 boys and men were lost in the underground explosion, leaving 250 widows and over 1000 children without support. WIDOW is a full-length Album recorded by British rock band Ritual released in 1983 In October 1964 Reverend Everett Francis Briggs stated that "a fairer estimate of the victims of the Monongah Disaster would be upward of 500"[1]. Rev Everett Francis Briggs (Jan 27 1908 - Dec 20 2006 was a Catholic priest and miners' activist The victims were actually 956, the vast majority of them (171) were Italians who had migrated from San Giovanni in Fiore, San Nicola dell’Alto, Falerna, Gizzeria, Civitella Roveto, Duronia, Civita d’Antino, Canistro, Torella del Sannio and other villages in Calabria, Abruzzo and Molise. San Giovanni in Fiore is town and Comune in the Province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Falerna (Phalerne is a town and Comune in the Province of Catanzaro, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Gizzeria is a Comune and Town in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy. Civitella Roveto is a Comune and Town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy Duronia is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Campobasso in the Italian region Molise, located about 20 km northwest of Canistro is a Comune and Town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy Torella del Sannio is a town and commune in the Province of Campobasso ( Molise, Italy) Calabria ( Latin: Brutium) is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of Molise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions The exact death toll remains unknown.

A morgue was set up in the bank building to accommodate the victims. Hundreds of coffins lined Main Avenue in front of the building. U. S. Congress reacted to the disaster at Monongah and mining laws were passed and toughened.

The ruins of the coal mines have been sealed shut with bricks. Many of the original mining homes were built on the hillside above the mine.

Father Briggs (Fitchburg, Mass. Rev Everett Francis Briggs (Jan 27 1908 - Dec 20 2006 was a Catholic priest and miners' activist , Jan. 27, 1908 - Monongah, Dec. 20, 2006) was the head of a Committee that recently (2007) erected a statue as a tribute to the widows of the 1907 mining accident and to coal miners’ widows everywhere. A mining accident is an Accident that occurs in the process of Mining minerals The statue Monongah Heroine is made of Carrara marble and is located near the Town Hall in Monongah [2].

The sole survivor of the blast was Peter Urban. He found a little fox hole to climb out before the toxic gases got to him. Some historians believe that several other men escaped with him, but there is little evidence to support that. He had a twin brother Stanley who was killed in the disaster. Peter Urban was killed in a mine cave-in 19 years later.

Victims

List of miners killed at Monongah - Annual Report of the Department of Mines, West Virginia, 1908 [3].
No. 6 Mine

No. 8 Mine

References

  1. ^ Science, vol. 146, 2 Oct. 1964
  2. ^ In 2006 the town of Falerna (Italy) contributed with 150,00 euro (Comune di Falerna, decision n. 186 of May, 16th 2006)
  3. ^ after West Virginia Division of Culture and History
  4. ^ a b c "Lane", "Negro" and "Scotch" in original text

External links

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