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Events/Record · 1907

Peak year for US coal mining deaths

Record, 1907, United States.

What happened

MSHA records 3,242 coal mining deaths in the United States in 1907, the highest year in its series from 1900.1,2

Why it matters

The figure shows the scale of the safety problem before federal regulation.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Bulli Colliery explosion

    It followed a strike that ended in February 1887, and the inquiry blamed lax safety practice by both management and miners.3,4

  2. Dudley Colliery explosion

    The regulator describes the mine as dry and dusty, with 292 workers.5,6

  3. Greta Colliery fire

    The regulator uses it as a case study; seven earlier gob fires there had not killed anyone.7,8

  4. Courrieres mine disaster

    Courrieres mine disaster. Wikidata records 1099 deaths.9

  5. Peak year for US coal mining deaths

    The figure shows the scale of the safety problem before federal regulation.1,2

  6. Senghenydd colliery disaster

    It led to tighter mine safety enforcement in Britain.10,11,12

  7. Mineral Leasing Act

    The BLM says that since 1920 the federal government has leased fuels and certain other minerals, while locatable minerals stay under the 1872 Mining Law.13,14

  8. Mother Jones dies

    Mother Jones dies (date from Wikidata).15

Open the full timeline

Where next

Events

Led toFederal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act signedFrom 3,242 coal deaths in 1907 to a federal coal safety code in 1969.1ExamplesMonongah mine explosionMonongah killed at least 361 in a year that saw 3,242 US coal deaths.1ExamplesDarr mine explosionDarr's 239 deaths were part of 3,242 US coal deaths in 1907.1

Sources

  1. Coal fatalities, 1900 to date US Mine Safety and Health Administration
  2. United States (item Q30), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. 1887 Bulli Colliery Explosion case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  4. Bulli (item Q4996904), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. 1898 Dudley Colliery case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  6. Dudley (item Q5311786), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. 1900 Greta Colliery Fire case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  8. Greta (item Q5607629), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q1550228 (Courrieres mine disaster)
  10. Miners' lives at 5.5p each: the Government Enquiry into the 1913 Senghenydd mine disaster Amgueddfa Cymru, Museum Wales
  11. Site dedicated to thousands of lives lost officially recognised (12 Mar 2024) Cadw (Welsh Government)
  12. Senghenydd (item Q3404686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  13. About Mining and Minerals US Bureau of Land Management
  14. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  15. Wikidata item Q107082 (Mother Jones)

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Chuquicamata from the ISS by Alexander Gerst (ESA), CC BY-SA 2.0.