The Darkest Hour: Excerpt

This is an excerpt from The Darkest Hour, which should give you a feeling for the content and writing style of the book. For more information, take a look at the online table of contents.

FIRST CAME THE WIND

On the morning of February 27, 1943, hoist operator Alex Hawthorne and pump men Willard Reid and Eli Houtonen were working together in the mine. At about 9:37, they suddenly felt unusual pressure on their ears, but heard nothing. Then a terrible wind blasted at them, coming from inside the mine, carrying a load of debris with it. Hawthorne snatched up the phone, sending word out that something was wrong down in the mine, that the power was off, and that he was coming out. Then, as quickly as that, he dropped by the telephone, overcome by the methane gas (or "fire damp," as they called it).

Reid and Houtonen had started for the surface, but the wind swept them off of their feet and rolled them along the mine floor. When they stopped rolling, Reid lay face down in the middle of the tracks, gasping for any fresh air that might be left. Suddenly it became terribly quiet. Veteran miner that he was, Reid knew that the wind was coming back. He pushed his face into the ground and held his jacket around him, and he heard the wind returning.

It whistled and howled through the tunnel like a hurricane. It tore at him like a demon, and shredded the coat on his back. After it had passed, he struggled to his feet and started up the track again toward the good air outside. Then he saw Houtonen flat on the ground a few feet away, his carbide light no longer burning. Reid, whose lamp still was putting out light, prodded Houtonen to get up and get out, but Houtonen was incapacitated by the gas, too far gone to move.

"Get up!" Reid yelled. He kicked the still form on the ground, but Houtonen failed to move. Reid pulled his partner up and dragged him along, stumbling, staggering and still holding on tight. They were together like this when rescue men reached them a little later, locating Reid by his lamp.

Those battery-powered lights coming at Reid looked as big as washtubs, he said, and then he, too, passed out. He knew nothing more until he regained consciousness, deathly sick, outside the mine.

Rescuers found Dewey Hardy dead. Hawthorne was found unconscious, hanging over a rail that separated him from the tracks, and was revived in a Red Lodge hospital five miles away, where Reid and Houtonen were also kept alive. Hawthorne's son, James, was one of the 74 still in the mine.

Another miner in the hospital room with them, Ignace Marinchek, did not survive. He had reached the door on his way out, but was too weak to pull it open. He had fallen face up, overcome by the deadly gas, and did not respond to artificial respiration. Only three of the 77 men at work in the mine that day lived to tell any part of the story.

Smith Mine's electrical system, knocked out by the blast, also silenced their emergency whistles, but other mines soon blew the dread signals, spreading the word that there was trouble. Fear struck the hearts of people throughout the valley. The other mines closed down at once, and a solemn crowd of miners, families, and neighbors quickly gathered at Smith, hushed and waiting for what might come.

THE POWER OF THE EXPLOSION

Even though the explosion couldn't be heard from the mouth of the mine, it was a gigantic blast. The Bureau of Mines report on the disaster states that 30 of the men were killed instantly by the explosion, with the remainder expiring soon thereafter.

The blast knocked a 20-ton locomotive off its tracks a quarter of a mile away from where the Federal authorities believed the explosion originated. It knocked three loaded coal cars onto their side over two-thirds of a mile away.

Supports were blown away, shafts collapsed, and debris was blown everywhere. The only external sign of the explosion was a cloud of dust and smoke coming out of the mine, and the shrilling of the disaster whistles from other area mines.

Photo by Gary Robson

The Darkest Hour
by Gary Robson and Fay Kuhlman
ISBN 0-9659609-1-9
40 pages
Softcover Pamphlet, 5-1/2" x 8-1/2"
2003 Carbon County Historical Society
Price: $4.95