My accident records cover most of the United States, New Zealand, provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec in Canada, and provinces of New South Wales and Queensland in Australia. However, about 283,000 of the mine accident records are the state of Pennsylvania. The mining accident records are from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. I have knowledge of all major mine disasters in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I can provide advice on finding U.S. mine fatalities from the late 1860s and later and in Victoria province Australia. A general listing of the accident records I have is below. However, for a detailed listing of the records and the type of information available, see
http://www.gengathering.com/State_search.php
or http://raogk.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Acts_of_Genealogical_Kindness_Wiki
Another way to contact me is to post a query on the web site
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.occupations.mining.us/mb.ashx (Log-in, select the state, click Begin New Thread, fill in the form & Post)
or through the website raogk.wiki or gengathering.com whose URLs are above, but put the words "Mining Accident
(state or province)" in the subject. I continue to collect mining accident records.
However the easiest way to contact me is to simply click on CONTACT at the top of this page and fill in the form blanks.
An index to many of my mining accident records is available on the web sites:
https://libguides.mines.edu/MiningHistoryArchive
"Arthur Lakes Library Colorado School of Mines" Special Collections, Russell L. & Lyn Wood Mining History Archive (Click A0128 ) (Records for Alberta, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and South Dakota are not complete on this site)
http://www.phmc.pa.gov/Archives/Research-Online/Pages/Coal-Miner-Records.aspx “Pennsylvania State Archives Coal Miner Records”
including “Database for Anthracite Mine Accidents, 1899-1918 & 1924-1972 and
“Bituminous Mine Accidents, 1899-1972” (Note that an alternate source to the 1869-1920 Pennsylvania mining accident records and Anthracite accident records 1917-1923 are not on this web site).
The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) has a fatality archive database of accident investigation files for the United States mining industry:
https://arlweb.msha.gov/TRAINING/LIBRARY/mshaPortal/content/accident_brief.html and click Search
Most of the fatalities are after the year 1950. When the web site comes up, click search on two occasions. If entering only a date, type it as mm/dd/yyyy, and fill in as few boxes as possible. Try both the "Search" and "Browse" buttons. By clicking on any blue items from the search results, you can get things to come up.
In 1998 (Reprinted 2001), the Mine Safety and Health Administration published a three volume index, Historical Summary of Mine Disasters in the United States (primarily disasters with five or more fatalities):
Volume I - Coal Mines - 1810 - 1958, 280 pages
Volume II - Coal Mines - 1959 - 1998, 137 pages
Volume III - Metal and Nonmetal Mines - 1885 - 1998, 71 pages
These books were initially issued as nine microfiches and are available at large libraries in the Government Publication Reference section under Call Number L 38.2:H 62/SUM./V.1-3.
I regularly check the 17 state mine board postings on
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.occupations.mining.us/mb.ashx
"Ancestry Mining Boards and Mining Categories - U.S.” . By searching, one may find a helpful
historical query. Any posting more than two years old probably has a bad email
address link.
In your query, please include the words Mining Accident in the subject,
name of miner, approximate birth date and date of accident, state and county if
known. Additional information such as mine, nationality, single or married, and number of surviving children under 16 years of age is also helpful. I usually can provide some additional details about the accident.
MY FAVORITE WEB SITES:
https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/Mine_Disasters/state_mining_fatality_resources.htm “Coal and Metal and Nonmetal Mine Accident and Fatality Resources by State”
http://www.coalmininghistorypa.org/historicalpictures/pic038.htm
“Pennsylvania Coal Mining Pictures” Click Next to advance.
http://mahanoyhistory.org/collieries.html “Collieries in the Mahanoy Valley 1858-1953 – Eastern Middle PA”
http://archive.org/search.php?query=scranton%20mines “Pennsylvania Department of Mines
Inspector Reports” Many of the report years are given in the title. However these report years are not specified in the title: 1902 (download 793), 1898 (905), 1899 (844), 1897 (1295), 1901 (692), 1900 (1306), 1916 (1020), 1909 Anthracite (682), 1904 (979), 1910 (946), 1915 (1623), 1912 (1035), 1909 Bituminous (1040), 1914 (552), 1907 (1031), 1905 (800), 1917 (1131), 1907 (928), 1915 (1245), 1919-1920 (2053), 1918 (929), 1906 (1560), 1903 (1815), 1895 (1224), 1894 (1275), 1896 (1306), 1913 (1009), 1911 (558), 1908 (download 992)
or
http://psu.libguides.com/PAMinesandMining “Penn State University Fletcher L. Byrom Earth & Mineral Sciences Library, go down to Annual Report of Mining Activities, 1870-1979” click Full Screen
http://www.coalregion.com/towns/townsa.php “Pennsylvania Coal towns, Villages & Patches in the Coal Region”
http://www.northernfield.info/
“Pennsylvania’s Northern Anthracite Coal Field 1870-1970” (maps, photos & reports)
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/14777505005958579/ “Explore Coal Miners, Black Diamonds and more!”
https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/maps/interactive-map-coal-mines-west-virginia “Interactive Mine Maps for the states of CO, IA, IN, KY, MN, ND, PA, UT, VA, WA, & WV and Alberta, Canada"
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL502EFC2179D1AB53
“Coal Mining Songs”.
UNITED STATES MINING ACCIDENTS:
ALABAMA, 1900-1938, fatal
ALASKA, 1911-1936, fatal & nonfatal
ARIZONA, 1912-1929, nonfatal & fatal and Cochise County, 1892 - 1974, nonfatal & fatal
“Index of Bisbee, Cochise County, AZ miners” see https://www.bisbeeminingandminerals.com/index
ARKANSAS, 1940-1951, fatal "Coal Mining Records"
CALIFORNIA, 1866-1922, nonfatal & fatal
COLORADO, 1883-1902 & 1915-1923 nonfatal; 1884-1982, fatal
IDAHO, 1851-2001, fatal
ILLINOIS, 1885-1925, nonfatal; 1885-1948, fatal
http://hinton-gen.com/ilcoalmines.html “Illinois Coal & Coal Mining History & Genealogy”
INDIANA, 1891-1915, nonfatal & fatal
IOWA, 1886-1922, fatal & nonfatal; 1947-1967 fatal
https://iowaculture.gov/sites/default/files/history-research-collections-statearchives-indexes-mining-fatalities.pdf “Iowa Mining Fatalities Index”
KANSAS, 1884-1933, nonfatal; 1884-1956, fatal
KENTUCKY, 1887-1926, nonfatal & fatal & 1940-2013 fatal, also see
http://sites.rootsweb.com/~kyborn/coalminermemindex.html “Harlan County Coal Miner’s Memorial”
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/562457440934408973/ "Harlan county Coal Miner's Memorial"
http://kycoal.homestead.com/coalpatchtowns.html “Kentucky Coal Patch Towns”
MARYLAND, 1877-1950, nonfatal & fatal
MICHIGAN, Dickinson county 1877-1926 fatal & nonfatal, Gogebic county fatal 1885-1963, Houghton county 1889-1913 fatal & nonfatal and 1908-1913 fatal, Marquette county 1866-1925 fatal & Iron county 1883-1893 fatal & nonfatal
MINNESOTA, 1900-1924, nonfatal; 1889-1990 fatal; 1982-1994 St. Louis county fatal & nonfatal
MISSOURI, 1868-1926, nonfatal & fatal;
for St.Francois county, 1871-1971, see http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mostfran/miners/miners_index.htm
“St.Francois Co., Missouri Lead Mines Death”
MONTANA, 1895-1912, nonfatal & fatal
NEW MEXICO, 1894-1971, nonfatal & fatal
NEVADA, 1909-1947, nonfatal & fatal; 1947-1960 fatal
NORTH CAROLINA, 1895-1938, fatal
NORTH DAKOTA, 1919-1968, nonfatal & fatal
OHIO, 1874-1914, nonfatal & fatal
OKLAHOMA, 1885-1962, fatal "Coal Mining Records"; 1915-1961 fatal "Hard Rock Mining Records" with 1913-2000 "Obituaries" ; For more "Hard Rock Lead & Zinc Mining Records", see https://www.maloybooks.com/search maloybooks.com/search
PENNSYLVANIA, 1869-1882 Eastern PA only fatal and nonfatal; 1883-1940 PA fatal & nonfatal; 1941-1972 PA fatal
“Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal Mining Stories” http://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-18&chapter=1
“Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania” https://archive.li/patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com
"Molly Maguires Northeastern Pennsylvania Members" https://colcohist-gensoc.org/additional-databases/molly-maguires/ and
http://www.angelfire.com/pa4/berksaoh/pdf/mollies.pdf
SOUTH DAKOTA, 1891-1926, nonfatal; 1877-1991, fatal
TENNESSEE, 1891-1895, 1898-1914 & 1919-1930 nonfatal & fatal
UTAH, 1896-1916, nonfatal & fatal
WASHINGTON, 1905-1919, nonfatal & 1892-1960, fatal
VIRGINIA, 1854-1967, fatal
WEST VIRGINIA, 1887-1927, nonfatal & fatal; Raleigh county fatal 1891-2000
http://www.wvgenweb.org/wvcoal/txt.html “West Virginia Coal Mine Site”
http://www.wvculture.org/history/notewv/coalminedisasters.html “West Virginia Coal Mine Disaster Articles”
WISCONSIN, Iron county, 1886-1964, fatal; Florence county, 1881 - 1913, fatal & nonfatal
WYOMING, 1897-1898 & 1908-1973, nonfatal & fatal
CANADA MINING ACCIDENTS:
ALBERTA, 1905-1926, nonfatal; 1904-1964, fatal
BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1978-1925, nonfatal; 1878-1972 fatal
http://www.nanaimoarchives.ca/online-resources/mine-death-accidents/ "Nanaimo Mining Accidents 1877-1952"
NOVA SCOTIA, 1871-1916, nonfatal & fatal;
for 1838-1992, fatal, see https://archives.novascotia.ca/meninmines/fatalities/
ONTARIO, 1893-1914, nonfatal; 1892-1967, fatal
QUEBEC, 1909-1926, nonfatal & fatal; 1927-1936 & 1954-1964 fatal (includes quarry accidents)
AUSTRALIA MINING ACCIDENTS:
NEW SOUTH WALES, 1872-1939, nonfatal & fatal
QUEENSLAND, 1885-1919 & 1939-1941, nonfatal & fatal
VICTORIA, 1850s – 1940s, nonfatal & fatal, see http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/resources/victorian-mining-accident-index
For descriptions of Australian mining fatalities see:
http://www.mineaccidents.com.au/mine-events/all/au
NEW ZEALAND MINING ACCIDENTS, 1886-1929, nonfatal; 1879-1958, fatal
GREAT BRITAIN MINING ACCIDENTS, see
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=9735&geo_a=r&geo_s=uk&geo_t=uk&geo_v=2.0.0&o_iid=41012&o_lid=41012&o_sch=Web+Property
WALES MINING ACCIDENTS, see
http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/DisastersList.htm “Welsh Mining Disasters & Fatalities – primarily 1800s”
SCOTLAND MINING ACCIDENTS,
http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/5.html “Fatal 1817 - 1973 & Nonfatal 1800s to Early 1930s, Mining Accident Indexes – Scottish Mining Website”
