Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], J. Davitt McAteer, Collector, Records Regarding Monongah Mine Disaster, A&M 3574, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Letter, two photographs, and six coal mine maps and post-disaster report related to the Monongah mine disaster.

1) The letter is dated December 6, 1907; it was authored by "Emmett" (Lester Emmitt Trader) of Monongah, West Virginia to Ernest M. Trader of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. The letter discusses the use of "certificates" as money in Monongah, references the recent Naomi mine (Fayette County, Pennsylvania) disaster of December 1, compares the conditions of the Naomi Mine to those of the Monongah Mines, and describes in detail the processes and outcomes involved in a dust explosion. There is no mention of the Monongah mining disaster though it happened on the same day as the letter was written.

2) There is a mounted photograph showing the wrecked bridge at Monongah Mine No. 6; this picture also shows a power house and boiler room facility (ca. 1907). There is also an unidentified photograph showing men and women standing on a railroad track adjacent to a river (ca. 1900-1910).

3) There are six maps of the coal mines at Monongah, West Virginia pertaining to and contemporary with the 1907 mine disaster, and a 1909 "Report Sheet" regarding operations of The Fairmont Coal Company, ca. 1907-1909.

Item No. 1: Front title: "Monongah No. 5 Workings"; back labeled: "Monongah #5 Sheet # 1". Map of surface area of mines marking plats, names, houses, barns, oil wells, cemetery, a spring, Booth's Creek, and road to Monongah. Also includes several drawings with labeled "Shaft", "Barrier pillar", "Dip Heading", etc.; and several lines with measurements, highlighted areas, and "X" markings.

Item No. 2: Front title: "Report Sheet Showing Operation of Stores during Month of July 1909 -- Fairmont Coal Company". Chart of statistics regarding operations of the Fairmont Coal Company in North-Central West Virginia.

Item No. 3: Front title: "Monongah No.5 Mine, The Consolidation Coal Co." (with scale and legend); back labeled: "# 5 Mine". Includes surface features and mine. Map of underground mine includes drawings of seams, faces, and labels of areas; also includes measurements, and written comments of "Open" and "Should be working".

Item No. 4: Front title: "Map of Fairmont Coal Region" (with legend). Map shows location of mines in counties of North-Central West Virginia.

Item No. 5: Back labeled: "Mine #6". Underground mine map includes seams, faces, and air courses. Also includes surface features of homes, schoolhouse, and Willow Tree Cemetery. Several small areas are outlined or highlighted, and labeled or marked "X".

Item No. 6: Back labeled: "Mine #8". Underground mine map includes measurements and labels of faces and seams: "cut crop of Pittsburgh seam", and "coverline of Pittsburgh seam". Also includes surface markings and labels.

Item No. 7: Front title: "Monongah #6 Mine"; back labeled: "#6 & #8". Four small maps, taped together, of both mines 6 and 8 creating a "special map" used by rescue/recovery crews as described in Davitt McAteer's book, "Monongah": "Mappers accompanied every crew. The location of each body was noted on a special map and that information was used to help identify the victims" (p.139). The notations made on the maps McAteer refers to are small red circles. A few of the circles have names written beside them. There are also "X" markings, one of which is labeled "Dynamite".

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Mine explosions
• Monongah (W. Va.)
• Monongah Mines Disaster, Monongah, W. Va., 1907