1927 — Aug 3, West Kentucky No. 7 Coal Mine Gas Explosion, Clay, KY                    —     16

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 2-21-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–16  Blanchard. We choose to show 16 deaths rather than the 15 reported by Bureau of Mines

         report and NIOSH in that 16 named fatalities were pulled from the KY Mine Accident

         Index by the United States Mine Rescue Association in their write-up on this incident.

–16  Kentucky Mine Accident Index (updated 13 Apr 2014). Official list of deceased (in USMRA)

–16  United States Mine Rescue Association. Mine Disasters in the United States. West Kentucky

–15  Bureau of Mines, US Dept. of Commerce. Report on Mine Explosion #7…West Kentucky…

–15  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC. Mining Disasters.

Narrative Information

Bureau of Mines. Report on Mine Explosion #7 Mine of the West Kentucky Coal Company:

“A mine explosion occurred at the #7 Mine of the West Kentucky Coal Company, August 3, 1927, at approximately 3:45 p.m. The explosion originated at the face of #10 left entry off the West Dips at a distance of about 5,000 feet inby the shaft bottom.

 

“From an explosion standpoint, the explosion was purely local, effecting #7, 8, 9, and 10 left entries off the Dip and 7 right entry of the Dip. The force of the explosion was barely felt at the shaft bottom as a slight puff of air. No back lash was felt at the bottom or in as far as #5 left entry off the West Dips.

 

“The haulage on the West Dips had been rock-dusted into #10 left entry but the parallel entry, used as an air course, had not been rock-dusted. Barriers had been built on this entry just out by #7 right entry but no rock dust or barriers were located in by #7 right entry. No. 7 right entry itself had been rock-dusted into a point about 240 ft. inby the trap door. No. 10 left entry had not been rock-dusted.

….

“The explosion was caused by an accumulation of gas in the middle entry of #10 left entry. A miner had shot two bottom holes at about 3:15 p.m. and had started out of the mine. One of these shots went into a pocket of gas and liberated a large quantity of gas in this heading. An open type mining machine was making a cut in #10 left entry which is to the left of the entry in which the shots were fired and on the return side. A miner was loading coal in the air course to the right of the entry in which the gas was generated. From our investigation, we are satisfied that the gas from the middle entry did not mix with the ventilating current to any extent but was sucked around the pillar at the Breakthrough into the entry where the machine men were cutting. It would appear from the evidence at left that the explosive gas gathered over the machine and was set off by the machine….The two machine men found dead behind their machines were quite badly burned but the miner in the right hand entry of this set of entries appeared to have had time to start running down the entry and was found about 120 ft. from the face of his entry. His coat was found inby the last breakthrough and no evidence of flame had reached it….The pumper was found at the next to the last breakthrough on the air course and there is no question but that he was killed by the force of the explosion.

 

“Nobody was found in #9 left entry, due to the fact that this entry had been stopped about a week before the explosion. Six men were found dead in #7 right entry. These men consisted of four loaders, a motorman and his snapper. Am satisfied that four of these men were killed by the flame of the explosion. The motorman had his motor in #5 room and beyond the flame area. His snapper appears to have been at the parting just throwing a switch when the explosion occurred. It would appear that the motorman got off his motor and went into the flame area after the explosion occurred and was probably killed by afterdamp. The evidence also would leave one to believe that one of the loaders was at the face of the air course loading coal at the time of the explosion, or at the last breakthrough. Would seem that he tried to escape and that his clothes caught fire from some source before he became unconscious he had time to remove at least half of his clothing. This clothing was found in a heap close to the body.

 

“A body was found on the Dip haulage just inby #6 right entry. No evidence of flame or force was shown on this body. He was doubtlessly killed by after damp. Had he have been able to advance 200 ft. more he would have been able to get on to the intake air and would have been saved. No bodies were found on #6 right entry, but the two mules were alive and let out unharmed.

 

“There were a number of men working on #6 left entry and all but two escaped by retreating through the line room into #7, through #6 and out #6 left entry. Two men in #6 left entry were found at the top of the heading behind an improvised barrier. These two men had climbed over a fall in the entry and had torn their clothes off of themselves and had tried to build a barrier out of their clothes. They had even stood their shoes on end in order that they might cover more area. I am satisfied though that these men must have been out of their minds while doing this, due to the fact that there was plenty of material to build a barri4r with from the rock which had fallen on the entry. These men were killed by afterdamp. This accounts for all 15 men who were killed y the explosion.

 

“It is difficult to know how many men were in the mine at the time of the explosion, but the average estimate indicated that there were about 46 men in this section of the mine, a number of whom were outby or beyond the force of the explosion All the investigators are satisfied that three men’s lives would have been saved had each man been equipped with self-rescuer, and Mr. Christian and myself are of the opinion that six lives would probably have been saved had the men been wearing self-rescuers….

 

“This explosion might have been prevented had the machine runners been carrying flame safety lamp[s, and it is certain that the number of lives would have been reduced to three, had the mine been entirely rock-dusted to within 50 ft. of the face of all entries….” [pp. 1-4]

 

West Kentucky Coal Co., West Kentucky No. 7 Mine Explosion…Aug 3 1927, 16 Killed.

 

“The deceased:

 

  1. West Carter
  2. John Clark
  3. George Cole
  4. John Dogan
  5. Mat Gobin
  6. Burgess Harper
  7. Charles Harper
  8. Boyd Lane
  9. Luther Melton
  10. James Meyers
  11. Bess Money
  12. Green Russell
  13. Ada Shanklin
  14. Arthur Shelton
  15. Corbit Tabur
  16. Mark Townsend.”

(https://miningquiz.com/pdf/Accidents/KYindexMine2.pdf )

 

Sources

 

Bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Report on Mine Explosion #7 Mine of the West Kentucky Coal Company, Clay, KY. Accessed 2-22-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/1927_West_Kentucky_No._7.pdf

 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research..  Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update. Accessed 2-22-2025 at:

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/NIOSH-Mining/MMWC/MineDisasters/Table

 

United States Mine Rescue Association. Mine Disasters in the United States. “West Kentucky Coal Company, West Kentucky No. 7 Mine Explosion, Clay, Webster County, Kentucky, August 3, 1927, No. Killed – 16.” Accessed 2-22-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/clay_news_only.htm