The Rolling Mill Mine was a drift portal coal mine in operation in Johnstown, Cambria County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, operating from approximately 1856 until 1931. It was originally owned by the

Cambria Iron Company The Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a major producer of iron and steel that operated independently from 1852 to 1916. The company adopted many innovations in the steelmaking process, including those of William Kelly and Henr ...

and was developed in the Westmont hillside across the

Conemaugh River The Conemaugh River is a tributary of the Kiskiminetas River in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Cambria counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The ...

from the company's rolling mill. Its portal was near the confluence of the

Stonycreek River The Stonycreek River (also referred to as Stony Creek) is a tributary of the Conemaugh River, approximately 45 mi (72 km) long, in southwestern Pennsylvania, United States. Course It rises in the mountains of eastern Somerset Cou ...

and

Little Conemaugh River The Little Conemaugh River is a tributary of the Conemaugh River, approximately long, in western Pennsylvania in the United States. The main branch rises in eastern Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Cambria County, along the western slope of the A ...

. It supplied the bulk of the coal used in the iron and steel making taking place in the city, producing an average of 3,000 tons a day in 1902, and primarily employed recent

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from Central and Eastern Europe.

Explosion

On Thursday, July 10, 1902, at approximately 11:00 a.m., a powerful explosion occurred in the Klondike section of the mine, and ultimately 112 miners, 84 of whom were immigrants from England,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, lost their lives. The explosion was attributed to what miners refer to as

firedamp Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and, when they are penetrated, the ...

, a methane gas mixture. Killed immediately were those miners working in the Klondike section. Many other miners, as well as the vast majority of mine animals, were killed by an asphyxiating gas called

afterdamp Afterdamp is the toxic mixture of gases left in a mine following an explosion caused by methane-rich firedamp, which itself can initiate a much larger explosion of coal dust. The term is etymologically and practically related to other terms for ...

that spread through the mine as they fled to the Millcreek Portal, several miles away, the only other exit from the mine. In fact, only seven of the deaths in the disaster were caused by the explosion; the rest were caused by afterdamp. The mine was re-opened on Monday, July 14, but the disaster devastated the immigrant community in Johnstown and provoked calls for investigations and greater safety measures from public officials and even foreign governments. The Rolling Mill Mine Disaster still ranks as one of the most deadly

mining accidents A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. ...

in the history of the United States.

Closure

The mine continued in operation until 1931, when the portals were sealed after it was worked out. At the end it was known as Mine #71 of the Bethlehem Mines Corporation, which in more recent times was known as BethEnergy.''Johnstown: The Story of a Unique Valley'', Karl Berger, M.D., editor. Privately published by the Johnstown Flood Museum, Johnstown, PA, Copyright 1984. Library of Congress catalog number: 84-82116. No ISBN available; out of print.

Entrance

One of the original entrances to the Rolling Mill Mine can still be seen on the James Wolfe Sculpture Trail, which runs down Yoder (Westmont) Hill near the incline and directly across from the Point Stadium. Coal was transported to the nearby Iron Works through this portal on a company-built trestle.

References

{{Coal mine disasters in the US Buildings and structures in Cambria County, Pennsylvania Coal mines in the United States Geology of Pennsylvania Coal mining disasters in Pennsylvania 1902 mining disasters Underground mines in the United States Mines in Pennsylvania 1850s establishments in Pennsylvania 1931 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Former mines in the United States 1902 disasters in the United States Disasters in Pennsylvania Former coal mines