National Miner's Day

   Today, December 6th, is National Miner's Day. It is meant to reflect and honor those who have sacrificed so much. Mining is one of the most dangerous jobs and yet vitally important to every day life. Thank you to everyone who has ever worked in a mine and continue to do so.



   This is also the anniversary of the mine disaster in Monongah, West Virginia. More than 360 men were killed in that explosion. It led to the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines for inspecting mines in order to insure safety. It did not stop mine disasters altogether though, they still happen in the US to this day. Most recently was the Upper Big Branch explosion in West Virginia in 2010 killed 29 men.
   The photos here are from the Fraterville Mine Disaster Monument in Lake City, Tennessee and Coal Creek Disaster in Briceville, Tennessee. Fraterville's disaster was May 19, 1902 and 216 miners died in the explosion with 89 being buried in the monument's circle. The town of Fraterville lost all of the adult males but three that lived there.  The Coal Creek/Cross Mountain disaster was December 9, 1911 and 84 miners died, with 22 being buried in this circle. One miner killed in Fraterville, Powell Harmon, had hoped his sons would never have to work in the mines. Sadly one of his sons, Conda Harmon, was killed at Cross Mountain.
   The bottom photo is the Coal Miner Museum in Van Lear, Kentucky. It was originally the offices for the Consolidation Coal Company. Most famously, country singer Loretta Lynn's father was a miner in the hills nearby and was immortalized in her song "Coal Miner's Daughter".