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September 2004: TRAPPED!
We seem to concentrate much attention on Hampton’s early days-the steamboat era. This is understandable since the river and steamboats are the basic reason for Hampton’s existence. The steamboat era did not last forever. By the end of the Civil War the railroads were already overtaking the steamboats in commercial significance. For Hampton this came as a shift in emphasis and not a decline of business. The focus turned to mining, as coal overtook wood as the fuel for the trains. The early trains had to stop often for wood and for water. In fact, as frequently as every 8 to 10 miles between what came to be called water stops. It is no accident that our towns and villages run about distance apart, as settlements and businesses grew up at the water stops.
Around 1870 substantial veins of call were discovered on the bluffs above Hampton and our town gradually turned from a river town to a mining town. We’ve discussed the mines, mostly located on the other side of Golfmohr Gold Course, and the hamlet called Happy Hollow that grew up near them. There were at least nine mines in that area, with a narrow guage railroad going down to what is now East Moline,
Many of the Hampton citizens were involved in the mining. Actually, the Hampton mines produced more coal than Coal Valley, Carbon Cliff, or the other mining towns in Rock Island County. Mining was a backbreaking, dangerous occupation, totally lacking the romance that surrounded steamboating. All this was emphasized to me recently, I was browsing around Barnes and Noble over on 53rd St, Davenport when I ran across a book. I have previously mentioned my resolve not to buy any more books, but this one had the title: “Trapped” with the sub-heading “The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster”. This caught my eye because Cherry, Illinois is just a few miles from where I grew up 85 or so, miles east of here. Today Cherry is a tiny, tiny, town but I’ve been through there and seen the big monument erected after the disaster. So, since the book was marked down to $ 6 from $ 21, I abandoned my resolve and bought it.
I had another interest in the Cherry disaster. Once, while we passed through Cherry, my father said that he had once considered getting work there. My father came to the US from Sweden in 1904. 1905 was the year the Cherry mine opened. Several of the new Swedish immigrants that my Dad was acquainted with urged him to accompany them and get a job mining. You could make up to $ 4 a day as a miner, high pay at that time. My father considered it, but working in a hole in the ground held little appeal for an old fisherman, so he stuck with the farm work he had been doing. The author is Karen Tintori. She says her interest in this event came from a family story that her grandfather had survived the Cherry Mine Disaster She made a great effort to research the event and has written an interesting, and in some cases, highly disturbing story.
My wife’s family, on her mother’s side had intimate relationships with mining. They worked the Coal Valley mines. Jane’s grandfather, uncles, and great-grandfather all toiled in the mines. Her great grandfather, William Cook, was killed in the mine. He had the job of setting the charges in the evening after the days work was done. That way, the dust would be settled by the time work started in the morning. He went down accompanied by his son (my wife’s grandfather Abraham) and set the charges. The man and boy left the mine but the charges didn’t go off. William went down again (without Abraham). You can guess what happened. The charges went off, killing the elder Cook. My wife’s mother always held it against her father because of his drinking. Her husband George McNeal always said :”If I had to work in the dark in knee deep water, and come home to 8 squalling kids, I’d drink too”. A pretty concise picture of the life of the miner.
But to return to the Cherry Mine: Saturday, November 13, 1909 was a routine day, ending the week. Fourhundredeighty men went to the mine that morning carrying the round lunch pails. The mine they were entering was considered the most up to date and safest mine in the United States. It had electricity, sumps so miners didn’t have to wade in water, and the latest in mining equipment. The mine was huge. There were 3 levels, each with many corridors, stretching literally for miles. There was a huge fan to provide air. There were stables on each level to accommodate the 70 mules that pulled the coal cars in the mind. The second level had the most activity with the third level with only about 160 workers. In spite of being up to date miners virtually worked in the dark. The mine lamps which they called grease lamps because they burned a form of grease. There were gasoline lanterns at places in the corridors. The electric lights were mostly in the mule stables. Every day around 11 AM the mine cages brought down feed for the mules. One of the cages on this day had six bales of hay standing on end and being lowered into the mine. What happened is not entirely clear, but somehow the hay caught fire. It was not unusual to have fires in the mine but the men were used to coping with them and ordinarily routinely handled. Also, baled hay was almost impossible to ignite because of its close packing. But somehow on this day it got away from them. Their was no panic and they treated it as a minor irritation. In most parts of the mine work continued as usual. After awhile smoke started to show on the surface. The ventilating fan was turned off, hoping the lack of air would extinguish the flames. It didn’t work, They tried reversing it. That made things wosrse. Parts of the mine started becoming smoke filled and dangerous. Ultimately, it was decided to bring out the workers. It was not easy to get 480 men out in a hurry. It was not easy to get word to workers in the far reaching parts of the mine. The mine became filled with smoke. It was smoke with limited air and the description of the almost liquid and deadly smoke are one of the disturbing parts of the book By night they had gotten less than half of the miners out. There are numerous descriptions of the bravery of men who went down into the mine numerous times, especially one group of 8 men who went down over and over again. Finally, they failed to give the signal to raise the cage. Fianally, they brought it up without the signal (against the rules). When it got to the top all 8 of the heroes were dead. The order was given to seal the mine. So they did it. In Cherry, virtually every inhabitant either worked in the mine or were in a miner’s family. Deputies, police from several towns, and the next day National Guard tried to keep people away from the mine. A few days later they opened the mine, Some of it was still burning, even igniting the coal itself They were able to go down in some parts of the mine. It was hoped that some men survived by going into the deepest parts of the mine. The rest of the week men went down to search for survivors. By then they had brought oxygen masks and other equipment. On Saturday, November 20, a week from the start, 20 men were found living. They were brought out but one man died later.
So that was it. 257 men dead. Nearly 500 children, 470 under 13 had lost their fathers. Thirtythree babies were born in the following months. There were great repercussions afterward. The Federal government started the Bureau of Mines. Laws were passed and there was a great deal of finger pointing concerning blame.
They have a list of the casualties with their jobs, there pay, their dependents. I get a funny feeling reading it. My father’s name could have been on it . If it had been, I wouldn’t be writing this now.