1925 — Feb 20, Citizens Coal Mine No. 1 gas and dust explosion, near Sullivan, IN — 51

lornajarrettblanchard February 20, 1925

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-23-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 52 NIOSH, CDC. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). 3-30-2010 update.[1]

— 51 Logansport Press, IN. “Blast Rivals Rail Wreck as Worst State Disaster.” 11-2-1963, 5.

— 51 National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).

— 51 US Bureau of Mines. Explosion at the No. 1 Mine of the Citizens Coal Company, Sullivan

— 51 United States Mine Rescue Association. Mine Disasters in the United States. City Mine.

Narrative Information

US Bureau of Mines. Explosion at the No. 1 Mine of the Citizens Coal Company, Sullivan:

“At about 10:45 A.M., February 20, 1925, an explosion occurred in the No. 1 Mine of the Citizens Coal Company, Sullivan, Indiana, resulting in the death of fifty-one men and the serious injury of one other…. [p. 1.]

….

Conclusions

“The evidence would all seem to indicate that the explosion had its origin at about Room 13 or 14 on the 4^th North entry and was propagated through the northeast section of the mine by fine coal dust.

“Inasmuch as a squeeze in this seam of coal is frequently accompanied by an inrush of gas from the roof as soon as it is broken, it would lead to the conclusion that this had occurred in this case and that the gas had been ignited by the open light of a miner at about No. 12 or No. 13 Room, as apparently neither the mining machines nor the storage battery locomotives were in operation at the time of the explosion, the open light is the most probable source of ignition.”

Sources

Logansport Press, IN. “Blast Rivals Rail Wreck as Worst State Disaster.” 11-2-1963, 5. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=84400396

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research.. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update. Accessed 3-23-2025 at:

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/NIOSH-Mining/MMWC/MineDisasters/Table

United States Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior. Explosion at the No. 1 Mine of the Citizens Coal Company, Sullivan, Indiana, February 20, 1925. Accessed 3-23-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/Citizens_Coal_1925-02-25.pdf

United States Mine Rescue Association. Mine Disasters in the United States. “Citizens Coal Company City Mine Explosion, Sullivan, Sullivan County, Indiana, February 20, 1925, No. Killed – 51. Accessed 3-23-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/city_news_only.htm

[1] It is possible that the seriously injured man noted by the U.S. Bureau of Mines on p. 1 of its report died later. Not having seen evidence of this, however, we accept the death-toll number of 51 noted by the press at the time, the NFPA, the US Bureau of Mines, and the United States Mine Rescue Association.