User:Lrr00006/Monongah Mine Disaster
Relief Fund
[edit]After the deadly explosion there was a race to find ways to help those affected by it. There were many committees that were put together solely for the Monongah Mine Disaster. The main committee in charge of this disaster was the Monongah Mine Relief Committee after two other committees agreed on a merger. Once the Monongah Mine Relief Committee was created there were two committees within the it to split up further jobs. The two subcommittees were the Subscription Committee and Executive Committee. The Executive Committee was in charge of raising awareness around the nation about what had happened in the Monongah Mine Disaster. While the Subscription Committee was in charge of finding ways to receive aid.[1]
There were also other people who helped with the relief fund and they created relief funds of their own to help the cause. One of these people would be Andrew Carnegie and his Hero Relief Fund. This Hero Relief Fund was for those who were killed trying to save those trapped in the mine but were not employed by the mining company. After the assembly of the Monongah Mine Relief Committee Carnegie's foundation had donated $35,000 to them to help with relief funds. The Red Cross helped out as well thanks to a woman named Margaret F. Byington. She would help with the survey they had made for the survivors. This survey would be given to family to assess what they needed help with. With the involvement of Byington the Red Cross would make drastic changes to their policies as this was the first manmade disaster they had assisted on.[2]
Memorials
[edit]There is a memorial that is dedicated to the miners but also a statue for the widowers. The statue can be referred to as the Monongah Heroine. The Monongah Heroine shows a women and her name is Caterina Davia. She is pictured in the statue due to her love for her husband who was lost in the explosion. She would show her love by loading up coal for 29 years and dumping it in her backyard as a tribute to him. This statue was meant to show that traditions should never be forgotten and that was the goal of Father Joseph Briggs who had it put there.[3]
Preventions
[edit]Even after the end of investigations we may never know the true cause but from those investigations there were problems that arose. After realizing these problems it became aware to people that there could be more safety protocols in place to better benefit the miners. One of these problems, would be that the two mines were connected which would allow for more casualties. It was known to be catastrophic as many states had banned it from being put into place. Even after this problem came to a mining panel the companies did nothing to phase out the connection between the two mines. The next problem would be the introduction of using mechanical equipment as this would increase the amount of dust in the mines. The dust would increase the probability of there being a fire. The last prevention was the lack of watering and dust removal systems being up to standard. A contributing factor to this was immigrant workers were not aware of this.[2]
Notes
[edit]Still working on compiling contributions for the Relief Fund section. Also will be fixing the layout of the article as some information is cramped together in Rescue Attempt section. Will be putting in a memorials page but there is already a piece about a memorial in Rescue Attempt section. So will move memorials into their own section. Also will try to find anything on the legal side of things for the explosion.
References
[edit]- ^ Committee, Monograph Mines Relief (1910). History of the Monongah Mines Relief Fund in Aid of Sufferers from the Monograph Mine Explosion, Monongah, West Virginia. W. Va.
- ^ a b Davitt., McAteer, J. (2014). Monongah : the tragic story of the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. West Virginia University Press. ISBN 978-1-938228-97-1. OCLC 885456085.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "The Darkest Month: Coal Mining Disasters of December 1907". Smithsonian Learning Lab. Retrieved 2021-03-03.