The mine inspector’s report put it bluntly – “Seven men were killed and six seriously injured on April 26, 1907, in an explosion at the Pacific Coast Coal Company’s coal mine at Morgan Slope in Black Diamond.” State Inspector, D.C. Botting was notified of the accident at 6:50 a.m. and promptly ordered a special train from Seattle to Black Diamond, arriving about noon. Together with James Anderson, chief engineer of the company, N.D. Moore, assistant engineer, and Dr. Sherold Wiltsie, deputy coroner, the party began to gather evidence both inside the mine and employees.
The explosion took the life of Rees Reese, whose drawing was donated to the Black Diamond Historical Society by his granddaughter, Rachel (Frederickson) Fagnan, now deceased. Rees was a Welshman who immigrated to America in April 1884 at age 25. He was soon married to Rachel Walters, a woman from Aberdare, South Wales, in Cleveland, Iowa. Together with their 2-year-old daughter, the couple relocated to Franklin, just east of Black Diamond in 1888.
The Welsh are well known for their singing, poetry, and storytelling, and Rees Reese was endowed with his people’s talents. He could recite poetic verse in the Cambrian tongue, a Celtic language of the early inhabitants of the British Isles, and performed in the Welsh Eisteddfod held on Christmas Day, 1890 in Seattle.
The Reese family grew to five children and by 1900 they’d moved to Black Diamond where Rees was working on that fateful day. According to the examination of the mine and testimony at the coroner’s inquest, the cause of the accident was likely a cave-in on the sixth level forty minutes before the fatal explosion. The night shift men were leaving and the force of compressed air resulting from the cave threw two miners to the ground. Critically, no report was made to anyone as they left the mine. According to the verdict of the coroner’s jury,“This cave-in evidently liberated a small body of gas from over-lying strata, and the day-shift men . . . entered with open lights, which ignited the gas and caused an explosion.”
The men who were killed outright or died of injuries received in the explosion included Rees Reese, age 48, married with five children; Max Bentley, 27, married with one child; Joe Belmonti, 23, unmarried; Philip Domenico, married, one child; Albert Domini, 25, unmarried; Michael Mikokocyk (or Mitchell), 37, married with three children; and John Subratta. The coroner’s jury consisted of Joe. F Aniardi, Earl Belloir, Peter Fredrickson, Walter Wilkeson, Viggo Jasperson, and Shadrack Evans.
Mr. Reese’s funeral was attended by hundreds of Welsh friends and at the time was the largest service ever witnessed in Black Diamond. The procession extended from the town about half a mile to the cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Rachel, daughters, Mary Ann and Beatrice, and sons, Thomas, William, and Arthur. This portrait of Rees T. Reese hangs in a corner of the Black Diamond Museum. Background information was provided from JoAnne Matsumura’s short biography of Mr. Reese in the Summer 2011 issue of the Black Diamond Bulletin; W. Prosser’s type-written account found inside the picture frame; and the 1907 Washington Coal Mine Inspector’s Report.
Enhancements to this image were undertaken by Doug “Boomer” Burnham, a Tahoma High School photography teacher. Doug’s private business is Boomers Photography which specializes in senior photos, sports pictures, team posters, and family portraits, at www.BoomersPhotography.com
