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This video shows the location of the knox mine disaster and shows how it looks today as well as footage from 1959. enjoy
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At approximately 11:20 a.m., two laborers in the Pittston vein heard a sharp “popping” sound. They quickly called upon
John Williams, the assistant foreman.
The three employees hurried to escape and notify superintendent Robert Groves, who immediately ordered an evacuation,
although he withheld the severity
of the situation. Unfortunately, the other three men who were stationed in this vein could not escape in time and the
fierce waters of the Susquehanna took their lives.
While millions of gallons of water flooded into the mine, thirty-three men managed to catch the last elevators at the
May shaft, but forty-five others remained trapped,
desperately seeking their own outlet. During the first sixty four hours of the emergency, an estimated 2.7 million gallons
of water per minute streamed underground from an enormous whirlpool near the riverbank.
Down below, thirty-two men wandered in two separate groups until they managed to escape through the abandoned Eagle air
shaft. Pennsylvania Coal Company surveyor, Joe Stella, led the first group of seven. He not
only knew the mines well, but also possessed maps which allowed his group to find a direct course to the opening. The
second group, led by Myron Thomas, consisted of twenty-five men who wandered for hours before
they found their way to safety. Unfortunately, twelve of the original remaining bodies have never been recovered.
Thousands of bails of hay and hundreds of railroad ties were also added. Culm,
dirt, and rock along with over 50 coal and railroad cars barely stopped the river.
Finally they diverted the river around Wintermoot Island by building dams at both ends of the
island. Once they pumped the water out between the dams the size of the hole was evident.
Tons of clay and rock were poured into the hole and a concrete cap was placed on top of the opening. They then pumped
much of the water out of the mine to look for the 12 missing miners.
How could this tragedy have happened? The original plan was to keep 50 feet of rock and coal between the workings and the
river bottom. The Knox company wanted this to be lowered to 35 feet. Mine inspectors deemed
this ok as it would be sufficient to stand up to the river. At this point the seam of coal sloped up towards the river in
what is known as an anticline. Company owners kept pushing the miners closer and closer to the river bottom until the rock
could no longer support the river. At the point where the river broke through the rock was only 5 to 6 feet thick! This
disaster ended deep mining in the Wyoming valley as almost all of the coal company’s mines connected.
source
My mom grew up in Nanticoke, born in 1938, Barbara Collins. She just passed, and I'm remembering what she told me, about her dad working in the mines, and how she lost an uncle to a cave-in. I used to joke that my mom had probably wanted my sister and I to work in the mines for a summer so that we would better appreciate what we have. I've worked hard jobs, but nothing as dangerous as the mines. My respects and condolences to all those impacted by the tragedies of mining.
Great video! Thanks so much for sharing this with everyone!
My great grandfather’s brother was one of the survivors of this disaster. He lived another 14 years after that, but spent the majority of it bedridden.
I listen to the song every now and a then. Sad sad times. Thats greed for ya
What a terrible tragedy. I was 10 years old at the time. I am happy that the 12 men who lost their lies are at least remembered. Coal mining is a very dangerous job. But many men made their living that way.
Great work. Love the fact that you stayed silent and put text on the screen it was appropriate. The music went well with this story. Keep up the great work and as always stay safe healthy God bless you, your family, friends and subscribers🧡✝️👍🙂
Those mining companies were the devil! Between establishing the script system in small towns where the worker's lived, making them work under such horrible conditions and causing environmental disasters they are a nightmare!
Great tribute to this disaster and the lost lives of the miners. May they rest in peace.
As a person with poor vision this needs a narrator instead of the writing on the video for it to be worthwhile for me to watch sorry don't understand why anybody can't just narrate something instead of trying to make it so that everybody has to read it
Happend more then they admitted to. Great video . RIP
What comes in2 play when Tragedies like this happen is bc GREED & STUPIDITY R at the forefront of any Decision Made !!
COWARDS & ACCOUNTABILITY DO NOT MIX AT ALL !!!
🇨🇦
Is the eagle air shaft still open or did they plug that too
How do i get to this? From the Port Griffith side?
One of your vintage classics – watching it again!
Those men were murdered. And murdered there is no statute of limitations..the families should still get restitution.
Someone should've hunted down those responsible in both cases.. and taken justice into there own hands since the corrupt judical system didnt to the right thing. And find those who covered it up and let those responsible go for bribes and kickbacks. And silenced them..
Bless these lost miner's!!🙏😎🇬🇧
Thank's for sharing this history with us JP! Great footage! Very sad occurence. God bless those Miners and their families and may they rest in peace.
My history teacher teached me about the Knox Mine Disaster.
Thank you, nothing like the actual location and footage from the time. Places like that strike me as rather haunted. Try walking through Dachau and not feel something. (No comparison, I know, compared to numbers, but still.)
Searched google for images after the cofferdams were built to see what the area looked like when the river was pumped out, and the mammoth hole was revealed. Google found nothing.
Pa local?
Poor train cars
Incredible, the whirlpool was swallowing those coal cars whole like they were nothing.
More like the miners breached the river not following the rules
Awesome video. I'll local to the area and have been there. Great video and facts. Well done
All because one company chose to mine under the river, which was a well established, restricted area for that exact reason…
What happens in the Mine, Stays in the Mine.
Hopefully the 'company owners' were charged with murder. To this day corporate greed is destroying the world and humanity. The elites and corporations should not be allowed to do whatever they want. Screw the billionaires. Seize the means and take back what is rightfully ours…
Coaldale people———👋
I just learned about this last week. Interesting footage. Thanks for posting. This all ties into the Lackawanna Cutoff and why the cutoff died.
Barry
1959… wow, in the history of American mine disasters, that is pretty recent.
Great documentary. There’s been to many coal disasters.
I would have filled the railcards up, if they spilt they’d fill more, and if not at least is would be more weight. I’m not the engineer here, though so my idea could be flawed
It is unusual to see the hopper all mangled on the shore like this, but it is "preserved" better than if there was no disaster. Once the car reached the end of its usefulness, it would have been scrapped. By it's being used this last time to plug the mine hole, and not falling in the right way, it is still here for us to see, and remember it as one of the several cars that were used in 1959.
Jan 22. 22 is an occult number. Not a coincidence. 33 is also an occult number. 33 men got out the eagle shaft. The eagle is an occult symbol.
Good effort
And video description also helped
Environmental wa wa!
Good stuff About a mile from my house
"Hmm, the mines are flooding, what should we do to prevent it"
"Use the coal hoppers"
"What?"
"Throw them into the river"
Awesome video
Classy to add the vintage footage. It helped make the importance of the memorial real. 👍
i had know idea about that it's so sad
Nicely done!
seems like it would have been smart to fill the train cars with sediment/clay/any material lying around. If it was a mine site they DEFINITELY had the means to do so.
JP, really enjoyed your video! So sad what happened to those men!
Nice job ruining the river. Isn't coal mining wonderful, Trumpturds??
This is amazingly sad, what a disaster!!
It was a terribly sad day when this mining accident happened. The 12 men who were trapped and died were never found – I believe they were most likely pushed out of the breach and were washed downstream – was any search done downstream ?
With the acid mine drainage still bubbling up into the fresh water what is the quality of the water and are there any restrictions in place for people who might want to fish or swim in that water ?
Thank you for the respectful way you made this video – as always it was educational and very interesting 👍😁💕
And what happened to the entrance of the mine?