{{Short description|1907 mining accident in Pennsylvania}} {{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} thumb|Memorial to the Darr Mine disaster thumb|Entrance of the Darr Mine, now covered in forest; photographed June 2011
The '''Darr Mine disaster''' at Van Meter, Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near Smithton, killed 239 men and boys on December 19, 1907.<ref name="NYT-1907b">{{Cite news |title= Mine Explosion Entombs 250 Men |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/12/20/101732038.pdf|work= The New York Times|pages= 1, 2 |date=December 20, 1907 |access-date=May 24, 2009 }} </ref> It ranks as the worst coal mining disaster in Pennsylvanian history.<ref>{{cite web |title=Darr Mine Explosion |url=http://usminedisasters.com/saxsewell/darr.htm |access-date=2016-05-22 |archive-date=2016-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604015013/http://usminedisasters.com/saxsewell/darr.htm |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Many victims were of immigrants from central Europe, including Rusyns, Hungarians (including Slovaks from Gemer and Abov - then part of Austria-Hungary), Austrians, Germans, Poles and Italians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-2C7 | title=Darr Mine Disaster Historical Marker |access-date=2021-12-16|website=explorepahistory.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Remembering the Darr Mine Disaster: the American Hungarian Federation – Founded 1906|url=http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/news_darrmine_victims.htm|access-date=2021-12-16|website=www.americanhungarianfederation.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas/stories-legends/modern-miracles/miracles-united-states/modern-miracle/centennial | title=Centennial—Jacobs Creek }}</ref>
The mine was operated by the Pittsburgh Coal Company. It was located on the west side of the Youghiogheny River and along the route of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad. Most of the miners and other mine laborers lived in the nearby community of Jacobs Creek and took a "sky ferry" (aerial tramway) across the Youghiogheny River to the mine entrance.<ref name="NYT-1907b" /><ref name="Vivian-2014-p30">{{Cite book|last=Vivian |first=Cassandra |year=2014 |title=Hidden History of the Laurel Highlands |location=Charleston, South Carolina |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vx93CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT30 30] |isbn=978-1-62585-222-9 }}</ref> Others lived in nearby Van Meter.<ref name="Vivian-2014-p30" />
An inquiry carried out after the disaster determined that the blast was the result of miners carrying open lamps in an area cordoned off the previous day by the fire boss. The mine’s owner, the Pittsburgh Coal Company was not held responsible, but did abandon the use of open lamps after the disaster.
The Darr Mine blast was the third major mine disaster in December 1907 (which would become the deadliest mine fatality month in US history); it followed the explosion of the Yolande mine in Alabama, on December 16,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19071217.2.2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|title=Los Angeles Herald 17 December 1907 – California Digital Newspaper Collection|website=cdnc.ucr.edu}}</ref> the Monongah Mining disaster in West Virginia on December 6 that killed 362 miners and the Naomi Mine explosion on December 1 that killed thirty-four people in Fayette City, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite news |title=Naomi Mine Victims. 34 Dead in Pennsylvania – 28 found |newspaper=New York Times |year=1907 |issue=December 8 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/12/08/104712485.pdf |access-date=2008-11-08 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{commons category-inline}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20171205202619/http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/darr2.html Darr Mine Disaster, December 19, 1907, Jacobs Creek / Van Meter, Rostraver Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA] *[https://archive.today/20130201000032/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_540479.html Welcome] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20091105184419/http://www.wqed.org/ondemand/onq.php?id=231 OnQ OnDemand: Darr Mine Disaster] *[http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=821 Centennial{{snd}}Jacobs Creek]
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{{Coal mine disasters in the US}}
Category:1907 mining disasters Category:Coal mining disasters in Pennsylvania Category:Underground mines in the United States Category:History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Category:1907 in Pennsylvania Category:1907 disasters in the United States Category:December 1907 in the United States Category:Disasters in Pennsylvania