The Pinnacle Mine   Explosion   Wyoming County, WV

      I was seven years-old in 1924 when the slate dump blew.  My father worked in American Coal Company’s Pinnacle Mine, and we lived in a company house in the company town. 

       Slate taken from the mine was tossed in a pile and this pile was at least 70 feet tall.  I used to climb on it with my friends and we could see through cracks in its surface the glow of the smoldering coal and slate deep down inside it.

       It had rained for several days and the pond uphill from the slate pile began to leak and ran down into the hot slate.  My father had already started work inside the mine for the morning, and my mother had gone out to milk the cow.  She noticed the sky turning cloudy with smoke from the slate as the water poured into it.  She grabbed us six kids and ran up the hollow  about 3/4 of a mile.  When the pile exploded it shook the ground so hard that the men inside the mine could feel it, though it caused no damage there.  Outside, it was a different story.

       The explosion destroyed several houses and killed ten people, including one entire family.  One fellow was taking a bath to clean up after working the night inside the mine, and he ended up running into the woods with just a towel around him.

       The picture shows the steam shovel digging the bodies of the dead people out of the debris.

Steve Sodosky, submitted 4/05