- Sonman Mine explosion
The Sonman Mine Explosion occurred on
July 15 ,1940 , at the Sonman Shaft Coal Co. nearPortage, Pennsylvania , in theUnited States . 63 miners died out of the estimated 90 trapped in the mine after the initial explosion. The explosion was centered in a section of the slope called the Right No. 16 heading. The rescue effort was hampered by the deadly gas which was presumed to have filled the chamber.In 1960, a memorial to the miners who died in the explosion, originally located in
Jamestown, Pennsylvania , was relocated to the Crichton-McCormick Park in Portage. The Portage Station Museum offers a documentary about the disaster titled "63 Men Down: The Story of the Sonman Mine Explosion" along with coal mine and railroad artifacts and exhibits.External links
* [http://www.geocities.com/lydick_1999/Sonman/Sonman.html The Sonman Mine Explosion] : Information about the deceased miners and news article from "The Johnstown Tribune" about the explosion.
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