On Sunday, April 13, 1930, mine managers and state officials posed outside Pacific Coast Coal Co.’s Carbonado mine prior to starting their investigation into a Pierce County coal disaster. The previous day, just hours after 140 coal miners on the afternoon shift were lowered to work, a blast wracked the south chute #5 of the Douty seam, 1500 feet underground. Seventeen miners died in the explosion. Rescue workers were turned back for nearly 2 hours by gas fumes from the blast. The deceased left 14 widows and 28 orphaned children. It was the 7th worst coal mine disaster in Washington history
The five investigators gather round an electric motor used to ferry workers at the mine. Standing from left to right are George T. Wake, deputy state mine inspector; William R. Reese, chief state mine inspector; and H.A. Wilson, general manager of Pacific Coast Coal Co. Seated behind are John G. Schoning of the U.S. Bureau of Mines and Robert Simson, superintendent of the mine.
Although the cause was officially classified as “unknown,” investigators felt the explosion was a result of a first, over-charged dynamite blast which uncovered a second charge therein igniting coal gas. The 5:30 pm blast created a giant fireball of exploding gas and coal dust. The combustion absorbed all available oxygen and filled the tunnel with deadly noxious fumes. No one in the vicinity survived. This Richard Studios Collection image #G75.1-168 comes courtesy of the Tacoma Public Library.
