Mine Disaster In Carbon County Won't Be Forgotten

Sun Advocate
by Joan Hunt and Winn Wendell

The early morning stillness of Pleasant Valley was broken by the miners, especially those of Welsh descent, singing as they left for work on May 1, 1900. Spring had finally come to the valley and the harsh winter that had helped give Winter Quarters its name had all but disappeared.

On the minds of many that morning was the evening's celebration to open the new Odd Fellows Hall. In addition it was Dewey Day in commemoration of Admiral Dewey's naval victory over the Spanish in the Manila Harbor. Instead of a celebration that evening, 200 miners would be dead, or near death's door, and the towns of Winter Quarters and Scofield would be in mourning.

Riding with the men was William Parmley, mine foreman, whose brother was Bishop Thomas J. Parmley, mine superintendent.

The men, who were paid by tonnage rates instead of hourly, and supplied their own tools and blasting powder, found their working areas. Some started work in No. 1 which had a portal almost level with the town of Winter Quarters while others reported to No. 4 located on an incline that opened out high above the ravine where the town was built.

After a few hours work, Thomas Bell, who was working in No. 1. decided to go home. He was waiting for the next car to come along when his partner, Thomas Farrish remarked. "You might as well go on and walk out, that car isn't coming for half an hour."

Bell did walk out and had gone half way down the hill when the explosion came. Less than two hours later, he was bringing out Farrish's body.

The explosion occurred a half mile inside No. 4. The force was so powerful, it completely leveled a shack that stood outside and tore out the motors and drums for the mine cars. John Wilson, a driver who was at the mouth of the mine was knocked 820 feet down the ravine with a crushed skull and splinter impaled in his stomach.

The rescue part of 20 men, led by Thomas Parmley, tried to get to No. 4 through No. 1 but were driven back by the after-damp or black-damp (the gaseous air that is left in the mine when all the oxygen has been displayed by fire or explosion.)

The party then charged up the hill while the towns people began to pour out in the streets. Smoke was coming out of the mouth of No. 4 and the opening was partially blocked by fallen timbers. It took the rescue crew 20 minutes of concentrated efforts to clear an opening into the mine.

While the crew was clearing the entrance, other rescuers found Wilson on the hillside and the engineer, who would have been in the demolished shack at the time of the explosion if he hadn't been down the incline replacing a derailed car. The engineer suffered only minor injuries.

Another man, who assisted in pushing the loaded trip over the knuckles, was found with his foot crushed, shoulder dislocated and other severe injuries. An assistant helper with a broken jaw and crushed head and a miner who had a broken arm and a leg and internal injuries were found near the mine mouth. The injured were taken to homes for care.

Once the crew could enter the mine, canvas for battices to the portal (air corriders along the mine shaft) were brought. The first man found inside the mine was Harry Belterson, who was badly burned, he passed away that night. nearby was Willian Boweter, who was found alive. Belterson and Boweter were the only survivers found in No. 4.

As the rescuers cleared out each section, the bodies were carried to the mouth of the mine and piled in heaps. There weren't enough men left in Winter Quarters to haul the dead down to the town.

In Winter Quarters the company store employees brought out the store's supply of blankets and pillows for the wounded, not realizing there would be few survivors.

Miners from nearby Clear Creek soon arrived to help bring the bodies down the steep hill from No. 4 to the barn across the ravine. As each body was brought down, wives, children and relatives of the men rushed forward calling out names. Soon the air, which was once filled with singing, resounded with screams of women as they saw what was left of their husbands.

The rescue party, now reinforced, passed from No. 4 to No. 1. The first victims they came upon were Thomas Livsey and his son, William, both badly burned. Here the crews piled the men upon the mine cars, sometimes 12 high. The dead from No. 1 was taken in the boarding house, where, at one time, 66 were laid out ready to be washed.

As soon as the bodies were washed and identified, they were either carried to the school house or meeting house where undertakers arrived at that night and began embalming the bodies.

In No. 1, the after-damp claimed many victims with most men dying of suffocation. Others were buried under tons of dirt and debris. Residents felt the men in No. 1 were taken by surprise and may have thought the explosion was set off to celebrate Dewey Day. Some of the bodies were found with their tools still clutched in their hands, and one man, who had sat down to fill his pipe, was found with the filled pipe still in his hand.

Down in the town, Miss Daisey Harrom, a professional nurse from Salt Lake, was in Winter Quarters for a visit, ran an infirmary for the injured until a train load of doctors sent from Salt Lake by the company arrived.

It was determined that two men escaped from No. 4 unassisted while 103 made their way out of No. 1. The bodies of the unlucky ones were brought out of the mine by rescue teams composed of men from Castle Gate, Clear Creek, Sunnyside and local miners.

The bodies from No. 4 were washed on May 2 and taken down to lie with the men from No. 1 at the meeting house. That same day a special train left Winter Quarters taking A. Wilson, Harry Taylor, William Boweter and John Wilson to St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake for treatment. There John Wilson had a steel plate inserted into his head.

Coffins also started to roll into the town. The entire supply of coffins in the Wasatch front was sent to Winter Quarters, and one shipment from Denver helped to supply the need.

Thursday, two days after the disaster, a work force of 130 plus 75 volunteers from Provo started digging graves in a section of the Scofield cemetery. One hundred and fourteen were buried there Friday with Apostles George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant and Reed Smoot of the LDS Church performing the services. The graves were covered at 4 p.m.

While funeral services were being prepared in Scofield, the regular train left Winter Quarters Thursday, carrying nine bodies including three bound for Helper.

Shortly after the regular train left, engine No. 128 pulled out of Scofield with 51 coffins. Two were left at Thistle to be transferred to the Sanpete branch while 11, including Daniel and John Pittman, were left at Springville; six, at Provo; two, in American Fork; one, in Lehi; eight, in Salt Lake; ten, in Ogden; and 11 in Coalville. Each coffin was decorated with flowers sent to Winter Quarters in nine coaches by Salt Lake City resident.

Apparently 114 were buried in Scofield, 69 buried in other parts of Utah, and 12 buried outside the state. The death total reached 200 in August when the 200th victim died and was buried.

The company's manager, William G. Sharp, cancelled all the debts of the victims' families at the company store, a total of $8,000, and paid a $500 death benefit compensation to each family. it was estimated that 113 widows were left after the disaster with 306 children left fatherless.

On May 5 Utah Governor Wells called for the people in the state to contribute to a relief fund and over $110,000 was collected, but the amount given to the families never reached that mark, and many widows left the area with the onset of winter still awaiting some allotment from the funds.

On May 3, Carbon County Attorney L.O. Hoffman, traveled to Scofield to set up an inquest on the body of John Hunter, one of the mine victims. William Hirst, Jurstice of the Peace, acted as coroner.

During the inquest, Andrew Smith gave his explanation of the cause of the explosion. He said Hunter, a miner in No. 4, was killed during an explosion caused by a heavy shot igniting the dust. (At this time it was the custom to blast while the men were still in the mine.)

The state mine inspector, Gomer Thomas said the cause could have been a heavy shot of loose giant powder or loose powder exploding. "The giant powder went off, caught the dust, and exploded it, being in the end nothing but a dust explosion. I went to a place where it was claimed they had powder stowed away and the place showed that the explosion had started here and showed further by the action of the explosion and by the body that was found there, that it was burned more than the other bodies which we found."

He also suggested the coal dust may have added to the explosion and suggested the company keep the dust watered down for safety purposes in the future.

Today only one structure remains in Winter Quarters while the portal to No. 4 is caved in. There is no marker here of the disaster or in tribute to the men who died but a mile down the valley in the graveyard where 115 of the 200 who died May Day, 1900, are buried.

Time is taking away their names from the wooden markers but the wood planks thrusting from the ground are still a reminder of one of this nation's greatest underground mining catastrophies.

This story was prepared by Joan Hunt and Winn Wendell with information supplied by nuerous publications an interview with Thomas Biggs Jr. of Scofield.)

In weeks to come, the history of Winter Quarters and its short span of life will be presented along with the story of the Calico Railroad.