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Show 6 Energy Guide March 2004 Castle Gate mine explosions rock Castle Valley, nation One minute later, a second explosion blew out the wall of the fan house. Twenty minutes later, a third explosion On the morning of March 8, 1924, three violent explosions jarred the small mining community at Castle Gate. At approximately 7:30 a.m., 172 underground workers entered the main corridor the main at Castle Gates miner two mine. The coal production operation at Castle Gate ranked as one of the best equipped and safest in the nation at the time, notes the United States Mine Safety and Health Adminis- nearly width. Coal dust showered the valley, covering trees, rocks and the ground on the moun- tain opposite the mine entrance. The dust also embedded itself in the tombstones of the small cemetery near the mine. Poles were splintered into kindling; boulders and pipes were scattered on the valley floor. concrete. The sheer force of the air en- rushing from entry way. The force of the the mine hurled the doors across third where the steel was embedded in the mountain side. Heavy timbers from inside the mine were the ex- plosion wrecked the main office building, located canyon, 100 feet also from the entrance, more than one mile across the canyon. The force of the miners' metal the explosions was so great that the coal and knocked -- of a mile in the steel doors off the entrance, tearing hinges out of caved in the main miners to work during the one-fourt- h ping more than 100 miners in the underground shafts. The violent eruption blew trance and tration. But for the "show mine of Utah," that cold March morning in 1924 represented only shift for the third eight-hou- r month of March as the lowered demand for coal had resulted in a serious decrease in on the job hours. The men working the full shift were considered lucky most miners had a wife and children to support. But at approximately 8:30 a m., an explosion ripped through the mine. The force of the violent eruption blew telephone and light poles, timber and pipes near the tramway across the valley, a distance totalling exploded with devastating violence when accumulated gas and coal dust ignited inside the number two mine, checks off the rack. along the walls had been coked by the first ex- The company's only way of knowing which men were plosion the second, mum temperature of 662 degrees Fahren- n shambles. The heit. Relatives, fellow employees blasts sent frightened and dren chilrun- ning to- ward the of portal Horrified Castle Valley residents gather in silent vigil after three explosions at Castle Gate rocked not only the Carbon-Emer- y mining combut state entire and the nation. munity, Utah Fuel Company's number two mine, located one mile east of the town. The underground facility Comprised of men and boys, a crew poses for a photo before entering the shafts at Castle Gate. Struggling to survive harsh a process that requires a mini- the mine lay women and glazed over by in i thrown touted as the company's "show case." The first shattering blast occurred about 7,000 feet from the mine entrance, trap conditions, coal camp families rarely refused to allow children to join the ranks of working miners when jobs became available. who were not working, friends and neighbors friends of the entombed miners crowded along the roadway leading to the mine's entrance. The silence of death filled the air as rescue crews en Pall bearers and volunteers load the coffin of a coal miner who died when tered the mine, leading horses into the shafts to carry out victims. By March 10, the bodies of 26 Castle Gate miners killed in the explosions had been removed from the underground shafts. Many of the bodies' were mutilated and dismembered beyond recognition. By March 1 1, the bodies of more than 100 victims of the mine explosions had been recovered, squelching any hope that remained and ending the grim suspense. By March 18, 172 bodies had been removed from the underground shafts - carried out of the mine by rescue crews using horses. It took the crews almost two weeks to remove all of the victims from the underground shafts, which were filled with deadly gas and flooding water. The disaster and resulting afterdamp claimed the lives of 173 men, including one would-b- e rescuer. The youngest fatality was the 1 brother of another victim killed in the mining accident. On March 24, the haunt-inglsad sound of "Taps" echoed from the bleak hillside above Castle Gate in memory of the dead miners. Sealed caskets were carried from the town's amusement halls, which had served y as temporary morgues following the disaster, and loaded onto the beds of trucks. Grieving survivors followed the funeral proces- sions to cemeteries in Price, Helper and Castle Gate. Utah Fuel's number two mine in Castle Gate exploded on March 8, 1 924. |