The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster

November 13, 2009, will mark the 100th

anniversary of Cherry Mine Disaster. Two hundred
fifty-nine men and boys working in two thick coal
veins 320 feet and 486 feet below the surface of
Cherry, Illinois suffered fiery and gaseous deaths.
The mine, located 90 miles southwest of Chicago
in Bureau County, was erected by the St. Paul
Coal Co. in 1904 to supply the steam locomotives
of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad.

Two vertical shafts sunk 300 feet apart provided

the only access to the mine. The hoisting shaft
served as the entrance for the men and boys who
excavated 1,500 tons of coal daily with pick and shovel. The airshaft ventilated the mine’s
compartments via a huge 16 -foot diameter surface fan connected to a high-speed engine.
Touted as the safest mine ever built, electric lights were strung along the serpentine mine
passageways. Unfortunately, the lights shorted out. While replacement parts were ordered and
shipped to repair the electrical lines, the mine reverted to kerosene torches to light the tunnels.

A kerosene lamp lit bales of hay dropped down the hoisting shaft to feed 70 subterranean
mules on November 13, 1909. Approximately 230 men and boys got out safely. At least one
man had not gone to work that day. The 259 trapped miners left behind 160 widows and 470
children. Of the 470 children, 407 were under the age of 14.

The Cherry Mine Disaster illustrates a number of recurrent themes concerning how humans
behave in mitigating, preparing for, responding to and recovering from disaster.

(1) Safety Planning Failures: Kerosene lamps were expedient (while awaiting electrical repairs)
but dangerous. The mine superintendent knew this. Fire safety was not emphasized. The fire
could have been extinguished had the miners responsible for transferring the hay to the mules
had been paying more attention. Once the fire was underway, the miners could have been
warned to get out. But the miners were not warned until the fire had burned for 30 minutes and
ignited the mine’s timber framing. (2) Emergent collective behavior: Twelve miners made
several dangerous trips to rescue trapped miners below. On the seventh trip, the cage operator
misunderstood their signals and hoisted them to the surface moments too late. They were all
burned to death. Firefighters from Chicago (who had never fought a mine fire before)
requested immediate access to the mine to put the fire out. They were prevented from doing so
until weeks and months later lest they perish in the heat. (3) Convergence: By daybreak on
November 14, 1909, news of the Cherry Mine Disaster had traveled the world. Thousands of

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people poured into the mine yard to offer assistance and seek information.

These thousands of people had to be fed and housed. Photographers richly detailed the scene.
Within one week, almost everyone had departed Cherry just as the hard work of putting out the
smoldering fire and bringing the corpses to the surface was about to begin.

(4) Human Response Error: The giant fan was reversed in attempt to flush out the smoke, but
instead fanned the raging fire. The two mining shafts were then closed off to smother the fire,
which pushed the “black damp,” a deadly gas mixture, into the nooks and crannies of the mine
where some trapped miners were clinging to life.

(5) Cooperation: Twenty-one men survived eight days by building walls to keep out the black
damp in the far recesses of the mine. The experience was richly chronicled by Antenore
Quartaroli, an Italian-born miner. Other miners trapped in other parts of the mine (who did not
survive) had torn support timbers from walls and tunnel roofing to craft crude fans in attempts
to keep poisonous black damp at bay. (6) Disasters’ Longitudinally: Disasters are frequently
regarded as points in time. They are really stretches of time. Crews were still working to clear
the mine almost a year later. Widows and their children would have perished if not for the death
benefits paid by the Illinois United Mine Workers and pensions provided by donations to the
American Red Cross in the months following the disaster.

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(7) Affixing Blame: A lengthy coroner’s inquest followed the disaster. St. Paul Coal Company
pled guilty to nine counts of violating child labor laws. (8) Labor and the Law: As a result of the
Cherry Mine Disaster, mining safety regulations were implemented throughout the mining
industry. In 1911, the Illinois legislature passed its first liability act that allowed miners and their
families to recover damages for injuries and deaths caused by their employer’s negligence.
This legislation was the precursor of Illinois Worker’s Compensation Law.

(8) Labor and the Law: As a result of the Cherry Mine Disaster, mining safety regulations were
implemented throughout the mining industry. In 1911, the Illinois legislature passed its first
liability act that allowed miners and their families to recover damages for injuries and

9) Recovery: The mine reopened and produced high grade coal until 1927, when it was sealed
permanently. The second weekend of every November, Cherry officially remembers the mining
victims who perished in the disaster. Visitors can view the slag hills, the Miners Memorial and
tombstones of miners at the town’s cemetery, and a scale model of the Cherry Coal Mine
including its magnificent tipple, long removed from the site.

As you drive by today this is what you will see.