AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

INSTITUTED 1852

TRANSACTIONS

Paper No. 1171

FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS OF MINE ACCIDENTS,
STRUCTURAL MATERIALS, AND FUELS.1

By Herbert M. Wilson, M. Am. Soc. C. E.

With Discussion by Messrs. Kenneth Allen, Henry Kreisinger, Walter O. Snelling, A. Bartoccini, H. G. Stott, B. W. Dunn, and Herbert M. Wilson.

Introduction.

The mine disaster, which occurred at Cherry, Ill., on November 13th, 1909, when 527 men were in the mine, resulting in the entombment of 330 men, of whom 310 were killed, has again focused public attention on the frequent recurrence of such disasters and their appalling consequences. Interest in the possible prevention of such disasters, and the possible means of combating subsequent mine fires and rescuing the imprisoned miners, has been heightened as it was not even by the series of three equally extensive disasters which occurred in 1907, for the reason that, after the Cherry disaster, 20 men were rescued alive after an entombment of one week, when practically all hope of rescuing any of the miners had been abandoned.

This accident, occurring, as it does, a little more than 1½ years after the enactment of legislation by Congress instructing the Director of the United States Geological Survey to investigate the causes and possible means of preventing the loss of life in coal-mining

operations, makes this an opportune time to review what has been done by the Geological Survey during this time, toward carrying out the intent of this Act.

It may be stated with confidence, that had such a disaster occurred a year or more ago, all the entombed men must have perished, as it would have been impossible to enter the mine without the protection afforded by artificial respiratory apparatus. Moreover,