Darr Coal Mine Explosion
Jacobs Creek, PA
December 19, 1907
A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania, killed 239 workers on December 19, 1907. The Pittsburgh Coal Company's two-mile deep Darr Mine was on the side of a mountain near the Youghiogheny River. At about 11:30 a.m. workers were below the surface when a huge explosion rocked the mine, shaking homes and shattering windows in Jacobs Creek. Thick black smoke poured out of the mine before the entrance collapsed. The victims died from a variety of causes: Some were crushed to death from the collapse of the mine, others suffocated, and the rest were killed by the blast itself. |
