The Naomi Mine explosion occurred on December 1, 1907, in the Naomi Mine, approximately from

Fayette City, Pennsylvania Fayette City is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 502 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 596 tabulated in 2010. It is served by the Belle Vernon Area School District. Some buildings in th ...

. The incident resulted in the deaths of at least 35 miners and left no survivors.

Naomi Mine

The Naomi Mine was operated by Hillman Coal and Coke Company. It was situated east of the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-cen ...

. The mine was built to exploit the

Pittsburgh coal seam The Pittsburgh Coal Seam is the thickest and most extensive coal bed in the Appalachian Basin; hence, it is the most economically important coal bed in the eastern United States. The Upper Pennsylvanian Pittsburgh coal bed of the Monongahela Gro ...

, which was positioned at a depth of below the surface of the mine. Coal was hauled out of the mine with carts that were equipped with electric motors. From 1870 (the earliest year records were kept) to December 1, 1907 (the day the mine closed), a total of 63 men were killed in the Naomi Mine.

Events and aftermath

The explosion happened at about 7:15 on the night of Sunday, December 1, 1907. Inadequate

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Ventilator, a m ...

allowed pockets of explosive gas to accumulate in the interior of the mine. The gas was most likely ignited by an open light or

electric arc An electric arc, or arc discharge, is an electrical breakdown of a gas that produces a prolonged electrical discharge. The current through a normally nonconductive medium such as air produces a plasma; the plasma may produce visible light. An ...

, both of which would have been present at the time. Several miners who lost their jobs in the closing of the Naomi Mine would soon find work in the Darr Mine located in nearby

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Westmoreland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 364,663. The county seat is Greensburg. Formed from, successively, Lancaster, Northumberland, and later Bedford co ...

. On December 19, 1907, many of these displaced miners would be killed in the Darr Mine Disaster, the deadliest coal mining disaster in Pennsylvania history.

References

External links

Naomi Mine: A Tribute to the Coal Miners that mined the Bituminous Coal seams of the Naomi Mine, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

from th

{{coord, 40.106, -79.842, type:event_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title 1907 mining disasters Coal mining disasters in Pennsylvania Fayette County, Pennsylvania Underground mines in the United States 1907 in Pennsylvania 1907 disasters in the United States Disasters in Pennsylvania