Evening star., 1944-02-21
Pennsy|yanians Seek
Remedy for Recurring
Coal Mine Cave-ins
Hs the Associated Press.

b the Associated Press.
PITTSTON, Pa, Feb. 2l.-People
of Pennsylvania anthracite region
point to the deaths in mine cave-ins
of 2-year-old julie Ann Fulmer and
Robert Warburton, 11-year-old
schoolboy.
To the destruction of the 100000
high school and the $4,000 Our
Lady of Mount Carmel Church in
Pittston; the $500000 high school
and 100000 Holy Family Church in
Shenandoah.
To the hundreds Of homes, miles
Of highways and thousands of acres
of property-reverted to mass of
cracks, f1Ssures and holes.
And, they say grimly: why must
we lose our homes, schools, churches,
streets and most important, our
children, because of mine cave-ins?"
No one can answer them salts
factorily, even though many have
tried since the plague Of cave-ins
first afflicted this rich anthracite
region, embracing about $50 square
miles in Eastern Pennsylvania.
Water Mains Snapped.
OF varying degrees, mine sub
sidences have occurred intermit-
tently in many coal communities,
but the most destructive were here
and in Shenandoah.
Many of Shenandoah's 10000 resi-
dents were rocked in their beds on
March 4, 1910, as homes settled sew
eral inches, gas and water mains
snapped and streets buckled. The
high school still is condemned and
1000 students must attend half
session classes in scattered grade
school buildings.
Last March "a, Pittston's business
district was affected by a settling of
the earth. AS in Shenandoah, the
high school was ruined.
Varied opinions have been ex-
pressed on causes of mine subsi-
dences, but a report by State Mine
Inspector P. j. Friel to former Gov.
Arthur H. James after the Shenan-
doah subsistence said:
There can be but one reason -
sufficient coal was not left in the
form of pillars to support the over
lying burden"
These pillars" are large masses Of
coal many feet in thickness left un-
mined at various points In under
ground mine tunnels to prevent a
collapse of the surface. They are ex-
pected to last indefinitely without
disintegration.
Some Removed.
However, Mr.. Friel's report said,
some coal companies have second
mined" that is, they have removed
the easily obtained pillar coal.
Expert miners have said that
"rohbing the pillar" as they term
the process, removes the only pos
sible support of the thousands and
thousands of tons of earth, which
then slowly subsidies.
The mine inspectors report said
practically all mines are affected by
this collapse of its abandoned tun-
nels, but that in Europe many of the
voids are hydraulically flushed with
culm when work is stopped per-
manently. Some mines have done
this in Pennsylvania, but most have
not because of the great expense,
mine experts say.
Frank M. Flanagan, Pittston
schools solicitor, says: 1--WE want
enactment Of law similar in intent
and purpose to the Kohler-F Fowler
Act which made it a misdemeanor,
with penalties of fine and imprison-
ments, to cave in streets and build
ings."
The Kohler-Fo Act, passed by
the Pennsylvania Legislature in
1922, was declared unconstitutional
by the United State Supreme Court
which held that the waiver clause
was beyond the power of the State
to abrogate in the interest of public
safety.
Mr.. Flanagan described the waiver
clause as the clause in deeds held
by property owners which gives the
coal companies the mineral rights
while the property owners hold the
surface rights. Most of the leases,
Mr.. Flanagan said, absolved the
companies of all surface damage.
Mr.. Flanagan was one of several
who cited the words of former Gov.
William c. Sproul 20 years ago:
WARS and pestilence and misgov-
ernment destroyed the great cities
of old. Surely in these enlightened
times we must not sacrifice our
communities to industrial careless
ness or civic neglect nor let
important parts of this God-favored
State to revert to forsaken
mining camps, unsightly and for
lorn."