From the U.S. Bureau of Mines Report:

The accident of March 22, 1911 occurred at the begining or at the outby end of No. 8 double parting on No. 2 main about a mile from the foot of the slope.  A trip consisting of five cars filled with miners was going into the mine.  When they reached this parting the first car jumped the track and was dragged about 40 feet when it crashed into the left rib knocking off chunks of coal.  A little beyond this point it struck the left post of the second set of a stretch of timbered entry.  The forward corner of the car was splintered and the end of the brake rod bent in, which caused the middle of it near the brake to bend outward.  The resistance of the post to the cars advance caused the second car to be shunted off to the opposite side of the track.  This car struck the center post of the same set knocking it foirward and allowing the two 40 pound rails, which acted as the collar of the set, to fall across the car. The withdrawal of the support of the roof precepitated a large fall of rock, which also fell on the car.  One huge piece became caught between the outby end of the car and the roof near the next set, and this brought the whole trip to an abrupt stop.  There were ten men in the second car and nine of them were dead when the men from the other cars were able to get them out from nder the rock.  The tenth man was sitting very low in the car and a huge piece of rock arched from the man next to him to the corner of the car and so saved him from being injured.  There are three causes contributing to the accident.  The primary one was the high speed at which the trip was moving.

The timbering of the entry at this point consisted of sets independent of each other made up of two posts one at either rib and a central post with a collar of two 40 pound rails extending from rib to rib.  The rib posts were partly set into the rib but not wholly so.  The tee iron was not fastened to the posts in any way but simply wedged against the top. When the car hit the outside post it knocked it forward but may not have caused the rails to fall.  However, the withdrawal of the center post by the second car let down the rails, which fell across the end of the second car and the death of some of the miners was in all probability due to the rails.

In regard to precautions to be taken to prevent similar accidents, the first one is without doubt to run the trips at less speed.

Again, had the sets been tied together by some means, the liklihood of the failure of one set would have been greatly decreased.  A guard rail along the post set in the rib would prevent a wild car from knocking out the posts.

(From the U.S. Bureau of Mines Report, by L.M.Jones.)

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