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THE WAY WE WERE
36
“The Most
Horrible Tragedy . . .”
As the headline in the 4 o’clock
afternoon City Edition of The Berkshire
Evening Eagle reported December 29,
1910, this boiler explosion at the
Morewood Lake Ice Plant in Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, caused the “most horrible
tragedy in the history of Pittsfield.”
Four days after Christmas in 1910, the
lives of at least 15 men were lost when
the boiler used to run the conveyor that
carried blocks of ice to the ice houses
ruptured, sending boiler parts reportedly
more than 400 yards away.
What the newspaper reported on the
29 th was thorough and seemingly
conclusive, yet probably premature and
speculative. It was thought that the
steam gage, registering between 25 and
35 pounds steam pressure that morning,
was not reading pressure accurately.
Accounts stated that the steam gage was
not working the night before and had
even been taken off for adjustment. It
was also known that the safety valve was
installed and inspected a mere half hour
before the explosion.
Chief of the boiler inspection
department of the state district police
J.H. McNeil was on hand the afternoon
of the tragedy to investigate. Property
loss was estimated at $5,000. ❖
Thanks to the Local History Department
of The Berkshire Athenaeum for
its contribution to this column.
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NATIONAL BOARD BULLETIN/FALL 2003