{"id":803,"date":"2014-03-17T15:57:15","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T20:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgantn\/?p=803"},"modified":"2017-06-20T22:30:10","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T03:30:10","slug":"mines-oil-wells-disasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/mines-oil-wells-disasters\/","title":{"rendered":"Mines & Oil Wells Disasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

MORGAN COUNTY, TENNESSEE\u00a0<\/strong>MINES, MINE DISASTERS AND OIL WELLS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Information gleaned from past issues of the
\nMORGAN COUNTY PRESS AND MORGAN COUNTY NEWS\u00a0AND\u00a0OTHER PLACES<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
January 1916\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Twelve miners were killed in an explosion of mine #3 of the Dar Dour Coal & Coke Co.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>at Catoosa.\u00a0 Seventy Five men were in the mines. All escaped except those killed outright.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n—–\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0A new coal mine enterprise has been launched at Coalfield. H. B. Bowling & Co. have\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>leased the J. B. Webster mines and will begin operations as soon as weather permits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n

August, 1916\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 James T. BUCHANAN, a miner about 30 years of age from Dayton was killed in the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Conger Mines Wednesday by falling slate.\u00a0 He had worked here only two days.\u00a0 The body\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>was prepared for burial and sent to Dayton for interment.\u00a0 He leaves a wife and two\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>children.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Mr. R. A. DAVIS, Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court went over to Petros\u00a0<\/span>Saturday and sold the property of the Petros Coal & Mining Co. under a decree issued\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>by the court.\u00a0 The property brought $5000 and was purchased by James E. RHODES,\u00a0<\/span>trustee. One fifth of the purchase price was paid into court at the close of the sale.\u00a0 This is\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>a new mine with fine steam coal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fodder Stack and Coal Company was organized at Petros Monday for the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>purpose of taking over the property of the Petros Coal Mining Company, purchased bat\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0 Court sale last week by J.E. RHODES, Trustee.\u00a0 The company was organized with\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nJ.E. RHODES President, and general manager, J. M. DAVIS vice president, Frank\u00a0<\/span>SCHUBERT treasurer and C.H. DAVIS secretary. The mine will be operated under the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>management of J. E. RHODES with A. W. EVANS as mine supt. This is practically a new\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>mine and some fine rich veins have been opened.\u00a0 The present output is seven cars per day\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>which will be materially increased in the near future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

October 12, 1916\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\nSquire ADCOCK\u2019S court was the scene Tuesday of a very exciting lawsuit, which as to\u00a0<\/span>nature is perhaps not duplicated in the court procedure of the county.\u00a0 Harry GOUGE,\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>who lives near here, was arraigned on the charge of a very grave statutory offence.\u00a0 The\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nalleged victim and accuser was little miss Gertrude McDANIEL, age 13 years.\u00a0 The crime\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>is said to have been committed Saturday evening week near the Prudential Mines.\u00a0<\/span>Gouge was arrested by Constable W.H. WARD and brought before Equires ADCOCK\u00a0<\/span>and WEBSTER who after hearing the evidence of the little girl and\u00a0 Gouge\u2019s father,\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\ncommitted the accused to jail until the next term of Circuit Court at Wartburg.\u00a0 The State\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>was represented by Harvey Ward and the defendent by J.M. DAVIS and C.C. JACKSON\u00a0<\/span>December 11th term of Criminal and Law Court:<\/span><\/p>\n

State vs. Harvey Gouch, rape, acquitted of rape and jung jury on age of consent. \u00a0<\/span>(Morgan County Press, 12\/21\/1916)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

October 16, 1916\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 The strike of the miners at the Coalfield Coal Co. Mines was settled satisfactorily top\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>the miners, all their demands being granted.\u00a0 They now get 45 and 50 cents per ton instead\u00a0<\/span>of 40 cents as hertofore.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

October 19, 1916\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe Barbour Coal & Coke Co. are opening three new mines between here and Nemo.\u00a0<\/span>They are also building two new camps to accomodate the miners.\u00a0 The mines are off the\u00a0<\/span>line of the M & F RR and the Railroad company have quite a large crew at work grading\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>branch lines out to the mines.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

November 2, 1916\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\nPetition in bankruptcy was filed in the United States District Court at Knoxville,\u00a0<\/span>October 26, 1916, by the Petros Coal Company.\u00a0 The unsecured indebtedness was\u00a0<\/span>reported at $36,230.85, with assets orf $31,377.\u00a0 Of the indebtedness, $32,000 is reported\u00a0<\/span>as due.\u00a0 Henry M WINSLOW, treasurer, said to represent money loaned. The company\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>plant is located at Petros.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

SPECIAL\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0 W.H. Anderson of the 6th District of Morgan County was in Sunbright on Monday of\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>the week and informed your correspondent that he had located a large lake of oil\u00a0<\/span>underlying his farm and adjoining property.\u00a0 He asserts the lake is from four to six feet\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\ndeep and over half a mile square and lies only 417 feet below the surface.\u00a0 This property\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>joins the Boyl\u00a0 (Boyle?) farm recently purchased by Judge Bales and others of Jefferson\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>City and lays about five miles from Sunbright.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

December, 1917\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nA MINE DISASTER\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n—\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nALMOST AT OUR DOOR\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n—\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nEleven Miners Killed at Catoosa\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n—\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0 As we go to press a report has reached us of one of the most horrible\u00a0<\/span>calamities that has ever happened in\u00a0 Morgan County at Catoosa.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0An explosion in the Coal mines at that place occured at 4 o\u2019clock Wednesday\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>evening in which eleven miners were killed instantly.\u00a0 From what we can learn the\u00a0<\/span>explosion was caused by a blast, causing a dust explosion.\u00a0<\/span>The following is a list of those killed:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Mat Hester\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Ed East\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Chas. Monday\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Walter Shelton\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Mr. Stone\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Mr. Smith\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Matt Mullins\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0 We were unable to learn the names of the other four. \u00a0<\/span>Dr. Byrd was summoned to <\/span>Catoosa. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

————-\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n(Editor\u2019s note: The following information has been submitted by Hugh Hyde):<\/span><\/p>\n

Information listing those killed in a Catoosa coal mine explosion in December of 1917.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The list only contained 7 names.\u00a0 I believe I have found the complete list of 11 miners\u00a0<\/span>killed.\u00a0 I obtained the list from the Tennessee Death Index for 1914 – 1917.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

W. W. Bryant……………………….age 52 ……Death Index Record # 557\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nO. J. Buttram ………………………..age 35…….Death Index Record # 562\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWill Carter…………………………….age 47…….Death Index Record # 560\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (My Maternal Grandfather)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nClarence Cecil Daugherty …….age 21….. Death Index Recor # 569\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nEd East………………………………….age 26……Death Index Record # 564\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nJoe Hester…………………………….age 38……Death Index Record # 561\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nMat Hester…………………………..age 40…….Death Index Record # 567\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nAlex Mann……………………………age not given….Death Index Record # 410\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nChas Monday……………………….age 30…..Death Index Record # 563\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nRobert Moore……………………….age 30……Death Index Record # 440\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nMatt Mullins…………………………age 30…..Death Index Record # 558\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>(comments and additions welcome)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

December, 1954\u00a0<\/b><\/span>\u00a0According to Mr. Edgar Cheeley, Mine Supt., the Mallan-Ellison Coal Corp. will\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>suspend operation Dec. 31, 1954.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0This is Morgan County\u2019s largest industry and according to Mr. Cheeley, no plans to\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\ncontinue operation have been made.\u00a0 At peak employment , the mine worked around 157\u00a0<\/span>men and had an annual payroll of about $750,000.00.\u00a0 The mines are located at the head\u00a0<\/span>of Emory River in the Ninth Civil District of Morgan County.\u00a0 Mr. Cheeley stated that if\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nthey could just get fifty cents more on the ton, they could still operate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>[Morgan County News dated, 12\/23\/1954]\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

June 29, 1961<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\nTWO MORGAN COUNTY MINERS INJURED\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nIN CAVE-IN OF FORK MOUNTAIN MINE\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n———-\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n1 MINER STILL EMTOMBED\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nRESCUE WORK CONTINUES\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n———-\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0Three of the eight man crew, THURMAN CARROLL, BILL ROSE and GEO. E. ERWIN who with his father, RAYMOND ERWIN, operated the mine, escaped with only minor injuries, and two, CLAUDE WOODS and his son, ROBERT WOODS, were rescued.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>CLAUDE WOODS, 46 received a pelvic injury and his son ROBERT, age 19, could be rescued only after his right arm had been amputated.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe bodies of Charles Kennedy, 28 and Herley Carroll, 18 were later recovered.\u00a0 The body of Charles Seiber was recovered about 8 days later.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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MORGAN COUNTY, TENNESSEE\u00a0MINES, MINE DISASTERS AND OIL WELLS Information gleaned from past issues of the MORGAN COUNTY PRESS AND MORGAN COUNTY NEWS\u00a0AND\u00a0OTHER PLACES January 1916\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Twelve miners were killed in an explosion of mine #3 of the Dar Dour Coal & Coke Co.\u00a0\u00a0at Catoosa.\u00a0 Seventy Five men were in the mines. All escaped except those… Continue reading Mines & Oil Wells Disasters<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,83],"tags":[243,499,366,319,505,494,506,509,296,20,501,495,497,500,195,224,510,507,463,275,508,504,496,489,110,221,502,163,503,498],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-misc-records","tag-adcock","tag-anderson","tag-bryant","tag-buchanan","tag-buttram","tag-carroll","tag-carter","tag-cheeley","tag-daughtery","tag-davis","tag-east","tag-erwin","tag-gouge","tag-hester","tag-jackson","tag-kennedy","tag-mallan-ellis-coal-co","tag-mann","tag-mcdaniel","tag-monday","tag-moore","tag-mullins","tag-rhodes","tag-rose","tag-schubert","tag-seiber","tag-shelton","tag-smith","tag-stone","tag-winslow","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3871,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions\/3871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}