Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1937-10-07
NEW STRAITSVILLE MINE FIRE
AS REPORTED BY PATHFINDER

From recent issue of the Path
finder magazine, of Washington, ID.
c., concerning the New Straitsville
mine fire, the following is taken:
"A town lies hidden beneath
cloud of fumes which cling to a bar
ren valley; A steady stream of
smoke, and vapors rises from appar-
hills. AT night, flames illuminate
the surrounding countryside. This
might be Pompeii on the slopes of
Italy's active volcano, Mount Vesu
yius. Instead, it is New Straitsville,
Ohio, where the worlds greatest
coal-mine fire has ragged unchecked
for SO years. Progressing two feet
a day, the fire has already destroyed
about $50, ,0O0,0 600 worth of coal.
'.Recently, many eyes were focus
ed on this town. There, the fire was
approaching one of three non-in-
fiammable barriers erected by WPA
workers. Upon these barriers de-
pends the safety of southwestern
Ohio's billion dollar coal fields
which provide one tenth of the ma
tion's coal and which are the main
sources of supply for Canada and
the northwestern United States.
'In 1884, striking coal miners
poured oil on loaded mine cars, fir
ed the coal and sent the cars into
five different shafts. Ventilation
channels, reaching down into the
shafts, provided the drafts neces-
sary to send the fire out of control
almost Immediately.
''In the year that followed, acres
of farm lands and woods were des-
troyed by the spreading fire. Homes
had to be abandoned. A church
and a school were saved only after
| the smouldering coal beneath the
! foundations was removed by rapid
! digging. Cattle and horses disap-
peared into fissures which opened
suddenly, and roads caved in re-
peatedly
"Although the fire destroyed near
! ly S1,O0O,O00 worth Of coal a year,
none of the miners who started the
| fire We're ever arrested. Detectives
worked for years on the case, mine
owners offered fat rewards but never
did they receive the name of one
guilty person.
1.-THE mystery was almost solved
in 1895, when a mob prepared to
| lynch a miner who had killed two
persons. Seeking to avenge himself
on his captors, the miner shouted at
the mob that he would divulge the
names of those who had started the
famous fire. L know who ran those
| UuI lillS COdl CdIS lutO Tie lille, ue
screamed The men were But
he never finished the sentence. The
moose was yanked tight around his
neck.
efforts to stem the spread of the
fire were equally fruitless. Once
when a cement wall was sunk into
the earth, the intense heat cracked
the concrete and the flames passed
through. Again, when a stream wa!
diverted and water poured down {
shaft, the gases forced up by thu
water spewing against the live coal.
only made the fire spread more rap
idly above the water line. It wal
finally concluded that the fire coult
not be extinguished, only checked
Then, about year ago, government
engineers tried a new method-fill
ing trenches and tunnels with mud
clay and other non-infiammable ma
terials. Federal and state govern
ments shared the S35O,OOO expens'
of employing 800 WPA workers t,
construct three barriers.
Engineers were confident las
week that the barrier would checl
the spreading flames. However
they said that it would be $50 Il
200 years before the fire would burr
itself out in the area in which it ha
been confined -