No.9: The 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster

Dry and Dusty

Dry and Dusty Year round, No.9 miners battled coal dust. It clogged machinery, and the finer dust, called“float dust,”settled in the crosscuts and airways. Float dust was particularly dangerous if there was a fire or explosion in the mine. A layer of float dust the thickness of a sheet of paper lying on top of a mix of 80 percent rock dust and 20 percent coal dust can propagate mine explosions for days.1 Mining companies were supposed to neutralize their coal dust with rock dust. The mixture had to contain at least 65 percent rock dust, and in areas where methane was present, the percentage of rock dust was supposed to be even higher.2 In 1967, state inspectors surveyed the mine three times and each time cited the company for dangerous accumulations of coal and coal dust along the conveyor belts that carried coal through the mine. During a March inspection, federal officials found 500 feet of dangerous accumulations of fine coal and coal dust under a coal conveyor belt line in 5Right-6North. Another 50 feet of coal and dust had built up under the 1Right-5North conveyor belt. Inspectors also found more than a dozen areas in the mine that were not well rock dusted.3 In 1968, both state and federal inspectors cited the No.9 for coal dust violations: • In February, a state inspector found “dangerous accumulations” 7 DRY AND DUSTY 55 of coal and coal dust along the belt conveyors in 4Right-7North, 5Right-7North and 2Right-6North.4 • In April, a federal inspector found nine areas that needed rock dust.5 • During June, July and August visits, a state inspector discovered “dangerous accumulations” of coal and dust along the 1Right6North and 6Right-8North conveyor belts. Rock dust also was lacking in 5Right-8North and 9North.6 • In August, a federal inspector found inadequate rock dusting in four entries along the Main West headings.7 • During an October visit that ended just 19 days before the No.9 exploded, a state inspector cited the company for inadequate rock dusting in 6Right-7South and the 7South parallels. He found dangerous accumulations for 800 feet along a conveyor belt in 5Right8North and found a load of coal piled on the ground in an entryway of 6Right-7South and loose coal along the ribs in 6North. He also cited the company for multiple fire hazards, including excessive accumulations of oil on a mining machine, numerous shuttle cars and other equipment. In his report, the inspector noted:“Cleanliness of equipment was thoroughly discussed at the close of this inspection with mine management.”8 Sprayers were attached to some of the continuous miners in No.9 to keep the dust down at the working face. However, the water pressure was so poor on 7South that the sprayer on the mining machine could not take care of the dust, said Gary Martin, who worked cateye shift. At times, as Martin was loading coal behind the mining machine, the dust was so thick he could not see Lewis Lake, the man sitting on the mining machine. Lake said when he first started working on 7South, he could work an entire shift using only one filter on the respirator he wore over his nose and mouth. In the weeks before the explosion, however, he had to change the filter two and three times every shift. Lake also had worked in 7North and 8North on the west side of the mine and on B-Face on the east side.“In my opinion, I don’t think there was enough rock dust in any of the sections I 56 CHAPTER 7 worked on,” Lake said.9 Before he left the No.9 in March 1968, Dana E. Harris had become concerned about many violations in the mine, including coal dust hazards. On one shift, he shut down a coal conveyor belt line because of the dust. “Them carriers on them rollers and stuff; they were just filled up with dust, just all the dust that could set in them,” Harris said.“They wasn’t wet down, they wasn’t washed down, there wasn’t anything. . . . I just picked up the water hose and I turned the water on and I gave it a real good washing down. I wet everything. I washed it all off and you couldn’t see.You couldn’t see your light for the...