"A Look Back"

The Stories presented here are about people and events during the early days when this corner of Colorado was first settled.

Tragedy At Wadge Mine Part 4
By Compiled by Chuck Mack

(Newspaper Articles from the Steamboat Pilot, And Craig Empire-Courier)

Craig Empire-Courier Wednesday, February 4th, 1942 Coroners Jury Finds That Blast in Mount Harris Mine Which Killed 34 Was Caused by Explosion of Gas. -------------- Jury Fails to Find What Set off Explosion Funeral Services Held for Mine Victims in Various Places. -------------- Funeral Rights Held Here for Four of the Craig Men Who Died in the Explosion. ------------------

That death of the 34 miners killed in the Victor of American Wadge Mine in Mount Harris, January 27th, was due to the explosion of mine gas, but without determining exactly what set off the explosion, was the finding of a corners jury at Mount Harris, Friday morning. Testimony introduced at the hearing indicated that the blast might have been set off by one of several incidents. A spark from an electric contact was regarded as the most likely cause. The testimony also revealed that the fire boss, who went off duty on the shift before that caught in the explosion, had found gas in a neck entry only a short distance from the place in the mine where the men were caught, but that he had shut off this entry. The company has indicated that there will be no difficulty about payment of the indemnity to those miners with eligible dependents and the families will receive certain compensation from the Federal Social Security. Funeral services for the 34 victims were held at different times on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Because of the differences in the wishes of so many families, a mass funeral service was abandoned and each family held separate funerals. Under this plan services were held at successive hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at both Hayden and Mount Harris.

More Men Died in Mount Harris Blast Than Biannual Total. Denver; United Press. More men were killed in the Wadge Mine explosion in Mount Harris, than had died in Colorado coal mine explosions in the last 20 years. In the years from 1923 to 1942 thirty men were killed in coal mine explosions, while 34 were killed in the one explosion at the Wadge Mine. It was the worst single mine disaster since 1917 when 121 men were killed in another Victor American Mine at Hastings, Colorado. However the worst year in Colorado mining history was 1910 when a series of explosions killed more than 200 men in the Trinidad mine field alone, and 234 in the entire state. That series of explosions led to demands for improvement of state mining laws and the law was written by John R. Lawson of Denver. Lawson was a member of the United Mine Workers International Board. However, it failed to pass the 1911 general assembly and did not become law until 1913. The worst year for mine explosions after 1917 was 1919 when 31 men were killed. Since then the yearly figure has passed 10 only one time, and in 11 of the years there had been no death from explosions.

The Steamboat Pilot February 5th 1942. --------------- Deaths Of 34 in Mine Blast Blamed on Gas. ------------------------- Coroner's Jury Hears Testimony at Mount Harris. ----------------------------------------

An inquest into the death of 34 miners in the Wadge Mine at Mount Harris was held there Friday by Coroner A.W. Heyer. District Attorney Monson, representatives of the Victor American Fuel Company, and United Mine Workers officers were present. About 100 persons attended the inquest. The jury was made up of Roy McCool, Leroy McCool, Jack Carson, Nels Ridings, Steve Timar, and Roy Hardin. Clyde Hurst, Foreman of the day shift at the mine, testified he and Tom Dobbs, a miner, were the first to enter the mine tunnel after the blast Tuesday night. They found machinery twisted, coal cars overturned and rock and coal piled in the deepest sections of the mine. They located six bodies before they emerged, Hurst testified. Hurst said he and Dobbs entered the mine soon after four miners working about 3000 feet inside the tunnel had made their way out through an airshaft. The four men who also were inquest witnesses had brought word of the disaster at the far end of the tunnel, 5500 feet inside the mine. After testing the air courses to see that the ventilation equipment still was in order, Hurst and Dobbs fought their way back by directing clean air into one section after another. The course of the air is directed by what the miners call brattices, movable partitions. (“See notation at end of article”). Hurst said there were no signs of life in the explosion area. When the pair returned from the mine they found Deputy State Coal Mine Inspector Finlay McCallum ready to lead a rescue party of seven into the mine. McCallum told the inquest jury that either methane gas or a mixture of coal dust and air might have exploded. Asked by O. F. Nigro, District Secretary of the United Mine Workers ,what might have touched off the explosion, McCallum replied: "We haven't anything but speculation to go on". The jury found that the lives of 34 men who perished in the disaster late Tuesday night might have been saved if the gas found in the room next to the entry No. 19 had been cleared out before the men were allowed to enter this entry. The jury, which returned its verdict late Friday, found that the 34 men met their death by a gas explosion of undetermined cause or origin. Testimony at the inquest by Clyde Hurst, Foreman of the day shift at the Victor American Fuel Company Wadge Mine, showed that lethal methane gas fumes were noticed in one of the mines lower entries Monday morning. Hurst said the gas was cleared out before the day shift was allowed to enter. Tuesday morning, a few hours before the disaster, a small amount of gas was also detected in the deep end of the mine, Hurst testified, but this quantity was not considered dangerous, since this condition was not unusual. (Notation by Chuck Mack: “The temporary air movement throughout the workings of a mine is directed by using brattice cloth placed across the openings of entries, room necks, etc. Think of it this way: you have a tunnel with lots of openings, and the air goes throughout any openings it chooses. By using the brattice cloth to close off the openings, the air can be directed to any desired location. The term for this is usually referred to as "temporary stoppings". In actual mining conditions these temporary brattice cloth stoppings are replaced with permanent stoppings, as the mine advances. In my coal mining days permanent stoppings were made using cinderblocks, covered with a layer of plaster”.)