July 19, 1920,
Renton No. 3 Mine,
Renton, PA,
9 Miners Killed.

On Saturday, July 17, power was shut off for repairs to the line.  The fan was put in operation about 6:30 Sunday evening, but trouble on the line caused it to by stopped again until 2 A.M. Monday.

The foreman, 6 maintenance men, and 2 firebosses then went down.  At 2:30 A.M. the foreman instructed the powerhouse to put on the power in the mine.  At 3:20 A.M. there was a violent explosion, wrecking the mine workings and blowing the cages into the headframes.  The men in the mine were killed, and much dangerous work was performed by rescue crews in finding and removing the bodies. The mine generated much more methane than was realized by the officials, because of the normally adequate ventilation, hence the foreman's violation of the mining law in permitting the men to enter before the firebosses' examinations were made.

Dry fine dust was thick in the entries, and sprinkling was relied on to keep it damp.  Ignition was evidently caused by an arc from a trolly locomotive moved into an entry not yet cleared of accumulated gas.  This is probably the most violent explosion recorded in the State.
(U.S. Bureau of Mines Report.)

My Father James Bell, a Carpenter was hired to build many of the Coal Miners houses in 1915  in Renton, while we lived in New Texas but after there was sufficient our Family moved to Renton where I went to School that was really two small houses but then a large new school was constructed on top of the hill between New Texas and Renton.

Dad was then made a handy man as he was exceptional at correcting problems and as the Shaft would freeze up during the Winter so Dad suggested reversing the Ventilation instead of the horizontal doors that opened with the cage rising but still froze.

Later he lowered an electric Trolley to the bottom of the mine.

The trolley weighed 20 tons and was too large for the cage so Dad attached it to the bottom of the Cage and lowered it where it stayed and may be still there.

Uncle Eli Martin worked there also and drove a Reo truck for transporting materials for the mine but when A Mr. Ward the Hoisting Engineer quit Uncle Eli became the Hoisting Engineer and worked for many years until 1939.

He retired to Murrysville, Pa.

In 1919 Dad was working on the Cage Guides when his wrench slipped and Dad almost went down so he quit and we moved to Frankstown Road where he became a Building Contractor.

The Original owner (I fogot his name) lived in Pittsburgh and his Chauffer would bring him to Renton in a "Stutz" Bearcat car. It was a 2 passenger car shaped like a Racer. A real beauty.

The owner got into Financial trouble and lost the mines and finally worked on a Tipple himself.

We moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on June 1927 arriving on the day Charles Lindburg landed in Paris, France.

I am near 96 years old but remember the town very well.

John Bell

or
Go to Top of Page