One Hundred Years of Federal Mining Safety and Health Research

The origins of the USBM were in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Congress passed a law in
1904 authorizing the USGS to analyze and test coal and lignite at the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition in St. Louis, MO. This work was overseen by the expert in charge, Dr. Joseph A.
Holmes, and continued at St. Louis until 1907, when the closing of the exposition transferred all
work to the Jamestown Exposition at Norfolk, VA. The technological branch of the USGS was
also formed in 1907, and coal testing work was placed in this branch. In 1908 the work on coal
testing was transferred to the arsenal grounds of the War Department in the Lawrenceville
section of Pittsburgh, PA.
On May 22, 1908, Congress passed an appropriations act authorizing investigations of the causes
of mine explosions. Next, a mine accidents division of the technological branch of the USGS
was formed. Mine explosions research commenced at Pittsburgh in November 1908. Initially,
explosives were tested to determine those that could be safely used in coal mining. The first list
of permissible explosives was published in 1909. The technological branch also investigated
mine explosions directly at the sites where they had occurred. Also, the USGS established
stations equipped with mine rescue apparatus at Urbana, IL, Knoxville, TN, and Seattle, WA.
The USGS technological branch had two purposes: to increase efficiency in fuel and mineral
production and to increase mining safety. The western metal mining states were highly
interested in a federal mining bureau, while other states held a general interest in improving
mining safety. Many organizations actively promoted the creation of a federal mining agency,
including the major mining industry association at that time, the American Mining Congress.
2.2 Early Mine Disasters
To understand the need for a federally funded mine bureau 100 years ago, one has to grasp the
scope and context of the disasters at the time. In the early 20 th century, many of the workers in
American coal mines were boys as young as 10 years old. Therefore, many victims of coal
mining disasters were very young boys (Figure 1). Further, inherent dangers existed in the level
of available technology at the time, as represented by miners wearing a cloth cap with an open
flame oil cap lamp (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Young boys working in tipple, a type of rudimentary coal screening plant.
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