From the Archives: 28 men die in Duval coal mine explosion

An explosion at 7:30 p.m., July 14, 1939, inside the Duvin coal mine, north of Providence, Kentucky, would end up killing 28 people in one of the deadliest mining accidents in state history.

"30 Trapped in Mine Blast; 3 Are Rescued" was the front page headline in the July 15, 1939, Courier Journal. The workers were trapped 181 feet deep and two miles from the entrance of the pit, and it was suspected many of the missing men would not survive.

"First word of the explosion reached the mine office when Dennis Walker, 24, a switchman, phoned from about a mile inside the mine. He said he and two helpers were knocked down by the rush of air from the explosion, and that the air was bad." Walker had dragged two others to a side room of the mine where the air was better. All three survived.

"Rescuers Still Hold Hope for 9 Men After Finding Bodies of 19 In Mine." The following day's paper documented the first of the deaths but held out hope that the nine miners still missing might be found alive.

"A feeling of optimism, growing among the throng packed anxiously around the pit entrance, was heightened by the remark of a rescue squad foreman who said: 'I consider the men have a sixty-forty chance.'"

However, that sense of optimism was quickly tampered down by the chief mine inspector who said: "With all that carbon monoxide gas down there it doesn't look like they have any chance."

There were conflicting projections for how long the men could survive; F.V. Ruckman, president of the mine, said if "sealed in" behind an airtight door they could last "three or four days." Meanwhile, Fred Ferguson, director of the Indiana Bureau of Mines, said the miners had "one chance in a thousand" of being found alive.

It didn't take long for the community to rally around the miners' families with a committee, which included J.L. Bradley, publisher of The Enterprise, Providence's weekly newspaper, formed to "seek and receive donations."

"While nothing is definitely known about the mine men still trapped we believe they, too, will not come out alive and this brings a total of twenty-eight, with only four single men among them. I don't know what will become of their families unless we can raise the money."

Under Kentucky law, families of miners killed were entitled to receive $4,000, but since the mining company did not carry worker's compensation insurance, the families would not even receive that.

The bodies of the remaining miners were discovered and brought to the surface July 18. When rescuers reached them, they found last words written in chalk on wooden crossties.

"12:20 a.m. all alive, singing and praising the Lord. The unsaved was saved tonight."

A second message with a 1:40 a.m. time read, "All alive."

Funerals for the miners started the same day.

"The Duvin miners, who scarcely have stopped for rest since the explosion Friday night, were hard at work again today as pallbearers for their friends. In clean white shirts, pale and hallow-eyed from lack of sleep, they carried the heavy coffins from 10 a.m. until sunset."

Why did the disaster happen? John F. Daniel, chief of the State Bureau of Mines and Materials, said this: "From preliminary investigation, indications are that the explosion was due to the ignition of coal dust at a working face (place where coal is loaded) caused by a premature discharge of permissions (Government approved) explosives while shot firers were preparing explosives for shots."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: From the Archives: 28 men die in Duval coal mine explosion