Word: coaling
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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After ten days during which 16 explosions rocked the mine and turned its tunnels into blast furnaces of flame, gas and smoke, Consolidation Coal Company's Number 9 in Marion County, W. Va., was sealed last week. That somber decision made the mine a tomb for the 78 men missing in its depths. But company, government and union officials agreed that there was no other way to save the burning mine-and that the trapped men below were almost certainly dead from fire or gas, or both...
...Mining coal has long been the nation's most hazardous occupation. Since 1952, more than 5,000 men have been killed and 250,000 seriously injured in mining accidents. This year alone, 190 men have died in the mines. Those are only the known casualties. It is estimated that at the very least, 10% of all active miners and 20% of those retired have contracted "black lung" (pneumoconiosis), a respiratory disease caused by years of inhaling coal dust...
...grimy, coughing coal miner is inured to the dangers of his calling...
Since the advent of petroleum and electricity as primary energy sources for many industries, King Coal has moved cautiously. The miners and their natural ombudsmen, their union leaders and politicians, were and are scared to speak out in favor of compulsory reforms that might force coal prices up and out of the market-and cost the men virtually the only secure employment in job-scarce Appalachia, where most of the mines are located...
...mine was "filled with gas" and "something was bound to happen." Tony Boyle, president of the United Mine Workers lo cal, demurred. "This happens to be one of the better companies as far as safety is concerned," he said. "I share the grief. But as long as we mine coal, there is always this inherent danger of explosion." For relatives of the missing miners, huddled in their parked pickup trucks or on folding chairs in the grimy company store, that was scant comfort...