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Events/Disaster · 1947

Centralia No. 5 mine explosion

Disaster, 1947-03-25, United States.

What happened

An explosion at Centralia No. 5 mine in Illinois killed 111 miners. Eight were rescued and 24 escaped. NIOSH says a poorly stemmed shot using coal dust is the believed cause.1,2,3

Why it matters

It is one of the larger US coal mine disasters after 1940 in the MSHA list.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Anglo American founded

    Anglo American founded.4

  2. Mother Jones dies

    Mother Jones dies (date from Wikidata).5

  3. About 1,200 tons of Shinkolobwe ore reach Staten Island

    Sengier shipped the ore to keep it out of German hands and stored it in a warehouse.6,7,8

  4. Centralia No. 5 mine explosion

    It is one of the larger US coal mine disasters after 1940 in the MSHA list.1,2,3

  5. Coalbrook colliery disaster, South Africa

    Wikidata lists 435 to 437 deaths in one of the worst coal mine disasters on record in Africa.9

  6. Newman: inception recorded

    Newman has an inception date of 1966 in Wikidata.10

  7. Kambalda West townsite established

    A second townsite was set up 4 km west of the original.11

  8. Orapa diamond mine: Wikidata inception date

    The Botswana diamond mine is dated to 1971 in Wikidata.12

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Where next

Events

An example ofOrient No. 2 mine explosionFour years after Centralia No. 5, 119 died at Orient No. 2, also in Illinois.1An example ofConsol No. 9 mine explosion at FarmingtonMSHA ranks Centralia among the larger US coal disasters after 1940. Farmington killed 78 in 1968.1

Sources

  1. Fact Sheet 95-8: Historical Data on Mine Disasters in the United States US Mine Safety and Health Administration
  2. Underground Coal Mine Disasters 1900-2010: Events, Responses, and a Look to the Future NIOSH (Brnich and Kowalski-Trakofker)
  3. Centralia (item Q575126), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Wikidata item Q541451 (Anglo American founded)
  5. Wikidata item Q107082 (Mother Jones)
  6. Manhattan Project: Procurement of Uranium US Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical Information
  7. Staten Island, New York (Manhattan Project National Historical Park) US National Park Service
  8. Wikidata item Q18432 (Staten Island)
  9. Wikidata item Q19903859 (Coalbrook mining disaster)
  10. Wikidata item Q651074 (Newman)
  11. Mining and Energy Western Australia: Nickel State Library of Western Australia
  12. Wikidata item Q859817 (Orapa diamond mine)

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.