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From: "M. Fannin" <>
Subject: Re: [TNCAMPBE-L] Cross Mountain Mine Disaster
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:41:35 -0800
References: <1ed.3015f472.2ee07b08@aol.com> <004a01c4d9a7$344ace20$78d01840@computer>


Hello Bobbie

Just Wandering If I could have your permission to use the article on the
Anderson Co Tn Local History Network?

Thanks
Melissa


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bobbie Ivey-Lewallen" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: [TNCAMPBE-L] Cross Mountain Mine Disaster


> My husband's grandmother, Mossie Belle Robbins (maiden name) lost her
> husband, father and brother in that mining disaster. I can't imagine the
> heartbreak she went through.
> Bobbie
>
> Here is another article about it:
>
> CROSS MOUNTAIN EXPLOSION
>
> The following article was taken from Lake City Banner, December 1, 1977.
>
> It was a cold, overcast Saturday morning the Dec. 9 in 1911 as the dawn
> greeted the families in the hollows that lace the ridges along the narrow
> valley called Briceville. Many of the families in one of those hollows,
> Slatestone, prepared for another hard day in the Cross Mountain coal mine
> much as they had done for years.
>
> The men and some of their sons had risen early. Dressing in the dark, they
> had put on clothes still stiff from the sweat and dirt from the work of
the
> day before. They had eaten a breakfast of honey and bread, or, "if times
> were good," they had eaten some meat and gravy.
>
> Gathering their tools, the miners walked the short distance to the mine.
On
> that fateful day, of the 150 regular miners who normally worked at the
> mines, only 89 reported for work because of a shortage of coal cars.
>
> As the men entered the mine entrance, called by some the "Bank," it was
6:30
> a.m.
>
> As they walked farther and farther into the deep tunnels that lead into
the
> very heart of the mountain, small crews of men separated off to go to
their
> work areas for the day's labor. The sounds of the hoofs of the nearly 50
> mules could be heard up and down the long corridors.
>
> At 7:20 somewhere deep in one of the rooms or in some passageway, it
> happened. Perhaps it was a spark from a squibb used to ignite a powder
> charge. Or maybe it was the flame from a miner's oil lamp.
>
> In a moment frozen in time, a luckless miner realized that the most feared
> of all things in a mine had come, an explosion. In one split instant, the
> place where he stood was filled with blinding light and then a thunderous
> explosion. A pocket of methane gas or coal dust had ignited, and before it
> would run its course, 85 lives would be taken.
>
> Racing down the headway toward the surface, the concussion twisted and
> killed as it went. At the mine entrance a clean up crew was blown back by
> the blast.
>
> Within minutes the entire community knew of the explosion. Rescue teams
> began to form almost at once.
>
> Deep in the mine, most of the men weren't killed by the blast, but now
faced
> an even more deadly threat, the dreaded after damp, or carbon monoxide.
>
> Many of them began to barricade themselves in the rooms. One such group
was
> a father and son, William and Milton Henderson from Clinton. With them
were
> Irwin Smith, Arthur Scott and Dore Irish.
>
> Mr. Henderson later told what they did.
>
> We barricaded up the entrance to the mine room. With our coats we fought
> back the after damp the came through the cracks in the brattice, and then
> stuck our coats and other articles of wearing apparel in the holes in the
> brattice. We had lights, our dinner, and each of us had from half to three
> quarters of a gallon of water and coffee in our dinner pails."
>
> Other miners were trying to do the same thing.
>
> A large 10-foot exhaust fan was installed to clear the mine of the smoke
and
> gas. When the rescue teams thought it safe to go in, they took with them a
> canary which could detect the deadly after damp.
>
> The team had gone into the mine only a short distance when the little bird
> fell dead. Thinking they had reached a current of poisonous gas, there was
a
> wild dash to the outside.
>
> But then the men realized that it was the smoke from their own lamps that
> had killed the bird. Getting another bird and safety lamps, the men
started
> back in.
>
> In Henderson's group, late Saturday night Scott and Irish decided to take
a
> chance and try for the outside. They left the safety of the room and
started
> for the entrance. It was the last the other three saw of them until Monday
> when they met on the outside.
>
> Henderson reported that on Sunday the remaining three attempted to leave
but
> were forced back to the room. "We remained there until discovered on
Monday
> at 8:15 at night."
>
> Those killed in the Cross Mountain mine were:
> James A. White
> Joe Farmer
> Frank Leinart
> Eunis Robbins
> E.F. Duncan
> Dan Martin
> A.L. Haynes
> T.A. Leatherwood Jr.
> Aaron Duncan
> Arthur Smith
> John Duff
> F.A. Duff
> H.A. Rish
> Thomas Thomas
> Richard McQueen
> Eugene Ault
> Taylor Ault
> Henry Burton
> Charles Kesterson
> John White
> Conda Harmon
> Robert Sharp
> Herman Sharp
> P.A. Hatmaker
> Charles Marlin
> W.A. Gammon
> Dave Robbins (Mossie's brother)
> Joe McQueen
> Ernest Elliott
> J.S. Peterson
> Harvey Martin
> Alzono Wood
> Roy Peters
> Sam Miller
> Mark Marlow
> W.A. Farmer
> Andrew Johnson
> W.P. Rolland
> Albert Rolland
> Eugene Peters
> Lynn Wood
> James Foust
> Lee Polston
> John Marshall
> Robert Hunter
> Melvine McKamey
> Durvin Pryor
> Monroe Vandergriff
> Will Irick
> Ben Gallaher
> Reuben Gaylor
> Lewis Teno
> Harry Cannon
> Alonzo Martin
> Charles Hill
> Ed Risden
> R.J. Lester
> Thomas Martin
> Francis Ridenour
> Isaac Duncan
> Coster Payne
> Thomas Marlow
> C.E. Olvey
> Oscar Olvey
> E.J. Long
> James Carden
> Luther Wood
> George Slover
> Pat Vallalay
> Tate Vallalay
> James A. Marlin
> John Allen Jr. (Mossie's husband)
> James Robbins (Mossie's father)
> Joe Ridenour
> J.K. Cooper
> J.F. Haynes
> James Gilbraith
> Noah White
> Charles Whitted
> Sill Hutson
> Dan Phillips
> and Charles White.
>
>
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