The mine that blew up twice – in 1954 and 1968

Sunday, November 13 will be the 62^nd anniversary of the 1954 explosion that killed 16 men in the Jamison Coal and Coke Company No. 9 mine in Farmington.

14 years later, in 1968, there were 78 killed in the SAME mine, which by then was owned by Mountaineer Coal Company, a division of Consolation Coals.

Among the 21 miners rescued from the Mountaineer Coal Company's No. 9 mine was Matt Menas, Jr., whose father was killed in the same mine 14 years earlier.

Congress had enough. It passed the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 to tighten safety regulations in coal mines. U.S. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall said: “The people of this country no longer will accept the disgraceful health and safety record that has characterized this major industry."

Others rescued in 1968 besides Menas were Byron Jones, Nathaniel Stephens, Charles Biafore, Nick Rose, Roy Wilson, James Herron, Paul Sabo, Walter Slavikosky, Henry Conway, Nezer Vandergrift, Ralph Starkey, Lewis Lake, George Wilson, Alva Davis, Raymond Parker, Robert Bland, Robert Mullen, Gary Martin, Charles Crumm and Brad Hillberry.

Last year, 28 coal miners died. That’s the lowest total in history.

362 was the official death toll for the Monongah mines explosion December 6, 1907. That’s still the worst coal mining death total in American history. 3,242 miners died in our country in 1907 in coal mining explosions. More than 100,000 coal miners have died underground. That doesn’t include surface mining.

1,549 coal miners died in 1942 in a China coal mine explosion in the Benxihu Honkeiko mine.