Reports of the Inspectors of Mines of the anthracite coal regions of ...

174 Reports of the Inspectors of Mines. [No. 10,
LUZERNE AND CARBON COUNTIES,
SOUTH DISTRICT.
His Excellency John F. Hartranft,
Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :
Dear Sir—I have the honor to transmit for your consideration a report
of my proceedings as Inspector of Mines, for the year ending December
31, 1877.
On enumerating the number of accidents, and loss of life arising there-
from, to persons employed in and about the collieries, it is satisfactory to
find a diminution of eleven deaths over the previous year. There has been
twentj'-six fatal, and sixty non-fatal accidents to persons during the year
1877, a decrease of 29,73 per cent, in the former, and 18.92 per cent, in the
latter.
The per centum of fatal accidents, attributed to the different causes, is
as follows : By
falls of coal, rock, and slate, 65.4 per cent. ; by mine
cars, 23 per cent.; by miscellaneous above ground, 11.6 per cent.
The total coal production for last year was about 4,070,014.15 tons, of
which 3,768,530.15 was shipped to market; and the ratio of coal produced
to each life lost was 156,539 tons. The deaths occasioned by falls of coal
and mine cars is a prolific source of loss of life, and as these are, to a certain
extent, unavoidable, it is to be hoped that by judicious management
on the part of mine bosses, in removing the least suspicion of danger, and
the men to use the necessary precaution, it is reasonable to assume that
there will be a reduction in their number commensurate with the improvements
that are steadily progressing in coal mining. At the end of this
report will be found a tabular list of collieries at which accidents have
happened, of the names of the unfortunate sufferers, and the causes of the
casualty.
Under these circumstances, I am called upon to make a few special remarks
upon cases, as they are, for the most part, single accidents, over
which no general system can exercise control. They will be found under
their proper head. The most deplorable accident was the caving in of the
Harleigh mines, whereby two men were entombed.
I had given positive orders to the mine boss, the day previous to the
disaster, to keep all his men out of the mines until the overlying strata