Fire In The Mine

^{"Fire
in the Mine"}
^{BY:
Scott Hiatt, Kori Nance, Alex Jones, Natalie Wood,}
^{and
Melissa Herod}
^{Ninety
years ago hundreds died in what became to be known as the Cherry Mine Disaster
in Cherry, Illinois. On the
overcast Friday morning of November 13, 1909, Quartaroli Antenore, Samuel
Howard and 482 others put on their helmets and went in to the St. Paul
Coal Co. mine. Many miners lived in company houses, though some took residence
in the private homes. There were 125 company homes and 250 private homes
in the area. Cherry, which in four years would grow to a bustling
burg of 2,500, also claimed 35 businesses, two churches and one school.
On the morning of November 13, 1909, 484 men ranging from teens to men
were in the mine. The hay resting on the second vein by the airshaft began
to burn. Small fires broke out and smothered the miners. They paid no mind
to the small fires, nor did others who passed by. Rosenjack and Deans let
the hay burn for forty-five minutes, until they noticed the smoke thickening,
so much that the smoking cloud kept them and their water buckets away.
But it wasn’t until Rosenjack noticed the smoke was smothering the third
vein too, That fire and heat blew through the passageways alerting the
men. “The mine is on fire!” workers yelled. “Save yourself, he who can”
The smoke had poured into the third vein. There were 181 men in the third
vein. All trying to see through the thick dark smoke. Some of the men were
lucky enough to climb 420 steps to safety.}

^Commentary:
^{Kori
Nance- “I think that if this happened again that we would probably
be ready.”}
^{Natalie
Wood-“I think that everything happens for a reason, and if this
was to happen again then everybody would be prepared so that they could
save themselves.”}
^{Scott
Hiatt- “I think if people seen the fire they should have told someone
they could probably saved a bunch of lives.”}
^{Alex
Jones-“If it happened again we would probably be ready.”}
^{Melissa
Herod-“When the fire started I would get them out as so on as I
could."}

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