The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-26

I
each man in whose room any gas had
been found not to go to work until the
room had been cleared. It therefore
seems as If every precaution had been
taken which a desire for safety could
suggest.
Was Not Gas.
Superintendent Bradbury and Inspec-
tor Thomas do not think it was gas
explosion. They think the accident
was due to the firing of coal dust.
The mine is very dry one. The pas
sage of the mules and cars up and
down the entries had ground the coal
to impalpable dust with which the air
was filled. The firing of a number of
blasts just before quitting the mine
added to the volume of dust. 1t only
needed the communication of fire under
certain conditions to ignite the in
f1amable material.
Inspector Thomas believes he found
in room six. or eight north entry the
spot where the explosion originated
and the manner in which it occurred.
Isaac Johnson, the man who worked in
this room had drilled hole for a
blast, had charged the hole with pow
der, and then driven in the iron tube
to hold the squib or fuse. After light
ing the fuse he had run down the
entry toward the slope to be out Of the
way of the blast. His body was found
some distance down the entry. In
stead of the blast breaking down the
! coal it had shot backward out of the
tube in a stream of flaming powder
which Immediately ignited the floating
coal dust. The flame then followed the
current of fresh air with its volume
Of coal dust toward the slope, gather
ing force and fuel with its progress
until it finally belched with tremen-
dous force out of the openings oS the
mine. Small accumulations of gas
here and there may have helped on
the explosion, but Inspector Thomas
thinks 50 per cent of the explosive
mixture was coal dust. Seventy hours
after the explosion, and when ventila
ton had been nearly all cut off, he
found but very slight traces of gas.
Many of the old miners scout the idea
of dust explosion but too many
authentic cases of such explosions are
on record to doubt the probability Of
This being one.
Probably Dust.
If it was a dust explosion the COM
pany can hardly evade serious re-
sponsibility for the accident. They
had been warned more than once by
the mine inspector that If they did not
take some means to get rid of the large
amount of dust an explosion might
occur which would kill every man in
the mine. That warning is in the last
report OF the inspector that hangs in
the office Of the company today. I'm
fortunately there is no law in regard to
dust. The law provides only for a GER
tain number of cubic feet of air per
man and proper timbering. But other
mines in the state have taken precau-
tionS against dust explosion. The
Cambria mine at Newcastle is provided
with water pipes for sprinkling the
mine. So is the mine at Hanna
Utonians will remember that after a
serious explosion at Castle Gate water
sprinklers were put in and the blasts
fired by electricity. The explosion
in the Union Pacific mine here in 1886
was believed to have been caused by
dust as was also the one three years
previous. The accident in 1886 cost
the Union Pacific company $1,000 for
each person killed and it will be
strange if the Rock Mountain Coal and
Iron company do not have TO pay
pretty stiff1y forrthe loss of life last
Wednesday. The coroner's inquest will
be held on Tuesday and I believe the
matter will be thoroughly investigated.
Responsibility for such terrible dis
aster as this ought to be clearly estab-
lished and then the fullest possible
amends demanded. DRESSER.