By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
December 6 is National Miner’s Day. It is a day to celebrate miners and remember those who lost their lives in mining activities in our country. We don’t often stop to think about where all of our creature comforts and electronic gadgets come from, but most of it would not exist if it weren’t for miners across the country.
In the middle of the small unincorporated town of Baxter, Kentucky stands a coal miners monument. The monument was constructed in the 1950s out of coal taken from thirty different coal mines that were operating at that time.
It is fitting that December 6 is Miners Day, as it is the anniversary of the worst industrial accident in our nation’s history. It was the Monongah Disaster which occurred in the Fairmont Coal Company’s No. 6 and No. 8 mines near Monongah, West Virginia on December 6, 1907. In that single disaster, 367 miners were lost.
West Virginia led the push for National Miner’s day and the resolution was passed on December 3, 2009.
Thank you miners everywhere!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Thanks for the History Lesson! :)
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