Re: (erielack) Knox Coal Disaster

["Dad" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>]

Talking about the Knox mine disaster brought  me memories........ I was
still in the USAF when it happened & got clippings from my aunt Dorothy who
worked for the Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper.
   When I took some leave the following summer, the Corps of Engineers had
built coffeerdams from the East bank of the river to the nearby island & a
friend (Richard Kithen) & I were able to walk in the bed of the river which
was still mushy but walkable. All roun were twisted parts of hopper cars all
rusted; truck frames - some with wheels still attached & other partly buried
bits of RR cars in the bed of the river. It was too late to plug the leaks
which had inundated the mines, since they were all connected. Richard Kithen
said,"You know, Walt, if this had happened 70 or 80 years ago, the sketch
artists from Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper (the LIFE magazine of the
1870s & 80s) would be here to draw pictures of all this & cll it 'The Work
of the Ages". I must say it was wierd to walk on the bed of the Susquehanna
River & see all the squashed RR cars, many of them far from the break-in
where they had been swirled by the waters. The Susquehanna can be very clm
in the summer, but anyone who has walked the bridges in winter with the high
water swirling and roaring & ice floes crashing & grinding against the piers
will realize how powerful this river can be.  My dad knew somwe of the
miners who escaped through an abandoned shaft- climbing up old, rotting
ladders & they told how they ran through the dark & could feel the air
rushing past as the river filled in the mine. What a feeling that must have
been. At these times, I thank God that I was able to get on the RR instead
of having to go into the mines............what a life.
Regards to all,
Walter E. Smith
From: <RAILDATA_@_aol.com>
To: <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 4:14 PM
Subject: (erielack) Knox Coal Disaster


> As has been pointed out, the book on the break through of the Susquehanna
> very well describes the circumstances and events. There ceratinly was
enough
> blame to go around: caless miners, mining contractor taking cahnces,
corrupt union
> officials that looked the other way, negligence on the part of the State
> Bureau of Mines, etc.
>
> I have some personal knowledge since my wife's aunt and an elderly mining
> engineer were the last two employees of the E-L. They were both formerly
employed
> by the Pennsylvania Coal Company and came under the E-L because the
railroad
> still controlled a lot of mining rights and properties that all went back
to
> the tie between the Erie and the Pennsylvania Coal Co. They worked
upstairs in
> the DL&W Scarnton depot long after CR was formed and Mary's aunt evtually
> retired with an E-L pension.
>
> The coal involved was owned by the Pa Coal Co which in turned leased the
> mining rights to the Know Coal Co. As I reacall they in turn hired some
sub
> contractor to do the actual mining. The facts are in the book.
>
> In the course of writing a book on the LV some eyars ago I met the
conductor
> of the LV work train that actually pushed the LV hoppers into the gaping
hole
> and whirlpool. Told me the LV never got paid for the cars, even though he
had
> kept an accurate record of the car numbers.
>
> He also gave me the name of the LV despatcher (now in Florida) who
recieved a
> message from the crew of an LV local freight that saw the embankment along
> the river was washing away. Fortunately the despatcher was able to reach a
> towerman and stop the Black Diamond which was due at the site within 20
minutes. So
> there very nearly was an even bigger disaster with a passenger tain going
> into the breach.
>
>
>

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