144:. The explosion occurred 10,200 feet from the main shaft around 11:45 am. It was the result of an accumulation of gas in section 6 North, which was known for being gassy. The ignition was believed to be caused by an electrical arc between a fallen trolley wire and the rail. The section of the trolley rail where the explosion occurred was broken and therefore inactive. There was no reason for power to be on that line. The explosion caused many of the walls to cave in, wrecking the interior. It was so powerful that cars were pulled off tracks and beams were twisted up to 760 feet from the main shaft. Equipment was also found scorched near the explosion site.
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lost multiple family members. Many of those lucky enough to escape the mine suffered from poor health afterwards. The mine was not cleared of carbon monoxide until
November 9, 1930. It was reopened about one month after the disaster and remained functioning until 1945. The Ohio State Mining Department investigated the cause of the explosion and later stated that Sunday Creek Coal Company was not responsible in regards to the orders, regulations, and recommendations in place at the time.
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Sigmund Kozma, who was 16 at the time he survived the explosion, was recently identified as the last living survivor of the
Millfield Mine disaster. He was loading coal with his father and twelve others about 500 feet from the blast. These men barricaded themselves from the poisonous gas and climbed
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Sunday Creek Coal
Company turned a storage room, pool hall, and store into temporary morgues. With a population of only about 1,500, the community of Millfield was profoundly affected; many families in the small community lost someone. The disaster created 59 widows and 154 orphans, and 14 families
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The mine had recently undergone improvement and they were in the process of making more. The
President of Sunday Creek Coal Company, W.E. Tytus, was giving other top executives a tour of the new safety equipment at the time of the explosion. They entered the main shaft half an hour previous to the
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teams and equipment. Ten hours after the explosion, a rescue team found 19 men that barricaded themselves from the gas after the explosion. They used sheets of burlap, mud and sticks to protect themselves from the carbon monoxide. Only two of them were found conscious, but all survived. They were
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The disaster attracted national press coverage and international attention, and it prompted improvement of Ohio's mine safety laws in 1931. A monument was erected in 1975 near the
Millfield disaster site with the names of the men that were lost and the smokestack at Mine No. 6 still stands today.
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A dozen mules were brought in to retrieve the bodies and wreckage from the mine because it lost power after the explosion. It was important to work fast because there was fear of a second explosion. It wasn't until midnight that the first bodies were recovered. Seventy-three employees, five
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There were about 250 men at the mine that day and many of them were able escape after the explosion. Nearly 120 men escaped from the interior of the mine one way or another. Many of them used the ventilation shafts as exits. Most of the men lost in the disaster died from
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about three miles from the shaft entrance. Foreman John Dean was responsible for saving these men. He led the survivors to a ventilation partition used to protect them and risked his life in several trips.
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The
Millfield Mine Memorial Committee was started in 1973 to honor the dead and remember the tragedy in their community. They hold an annual memorial service.
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Smallseed, George (6 November 1930). "Local Man, President of Firm, Identified as one of
Victims". Columbus Evening Dispatch.
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up a ventilation shaft. It took them three hours to escape the mine. He was featured in a documentary of the explosion by
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volunteers came to help the injured. About four hours after the explosion, the Chief
Inspector, W.E. Smith, of the
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explosion and had made it about one and a half miles into the mine. These men were killed in the disaster.
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Poston Mine Number 6 was said to be the Sunday Creek Coal
Company's best mine and safest in the
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Sunday Creek Coal
Company Mine No. 6, Millfield Road, East Millfield, Athens County, OH
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Ohio University Robert e and Jean R Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections
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officials, and four visitors made up the eighty-two men that died in the disaster.
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Accumulation of gas sparked by electrical arc between fallen trolley wire and rail
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Loughridge, Susan (1977). "Millfield Mine Explosion: November 5, 1930".
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Crowell, Douglas. "Death Underground: The Millfield Mining Tragedy".
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Various (14 November 1930). "Millfield Mine Explosion: MSS #211".
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Gora, Barbra (Fall 1974). "A Tragedy of Generations".
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372:"Elderly couple dies 90 minutes apart"
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463:1930 disasters in the United States
418:"Meeting Again" at brickerdown.com
407:Millfield Mine Disaster Correction
112:occurred November 5, 1930, at the
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443:Coal mining disasters in Ohio
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413:Millfield Coal Mine Disaster
128:. It was the state's worst
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184:nurses, local doctors, and
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409:Ohio Geology, Winter 1996.
376:United Press International
425:(HAER) No. OH-139, "
326:(September–October 1997).
114:Sunday Creek Coal Company
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403:Ohio Geology, Fall 1995.
270:Millfield Mine Committee
242:List of mining disasters
116:Poston Mine Number 6 in
110:Millfield Mine disaster
75:39.433236°N 82.077614°W
28:Sunday Creek Mine No. 6
17:Millfield Mine Disaster
453:1930 mining disasters
80:39.433236; -82.077614
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53:Coordinates
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178:Pittsburgh
66:82°04′39″W
63:39°26′00″N
205:Aftermath
182:Red Cross
174:Cambridge
324:Timeline
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166:Columbus
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382:2 March
214:Legacy
176:, and
152:Rescue
99:Deaths
91:Cause
384:2023
126:Ohio
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