The Monongah Mine Disaster of 1907 is not just a story about unsafe coal mine conditions, Davitt McAteer told a group at a West Virginia Humanities Council Little Lecture on Sunday.

"It's really a fascinating story on the state and the changes in society at the time," McAteer said.

McAteer is the vice president of sponsored programs at Wheeling Jesuit University, where he also is a consultant to the Clifford M. Lewis Appalachian Institute. He has long been a champion of mine safety, and his book, "Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, the Worst Industrial Accident in U.S. History," was published in December 2007.

In the 1907 disaster, the official death count is 362 miners, although it is more likely that more than 500 died in the mine, he said.

McAteer has challenged the death total because many miners worked off the books.

Also, a brass-tag system that kept track of who was below ground was destroyed during the explosion, he said.

The Monongah No. 6 and No. 8 mines were large and sophisticated, using the latest technology.

"What they neglected was the safety side," he said.

A large wooden door connected the mines, leaving miners in each mine at risk if an explosion occurred, he said. The mines also did a poor job of removing dangerous coal dust, he said.

Two events led to the large death toll in 1907, he said. The morning of the disaster, 14 three-ton coal cars taken out of Mine No. 6 broke loose, sliding back into the mine, he said.

The Monongah Mine Disaster of 1907 is not just a story about unsafe coal mine conditions, Davitt McAteer told a group at a West Virginia Humanities Council Little Lecture on Sunday.

"It's really a fascinating story on the state and the changes in society at the time," McAteer said.

McAteer is the vice president of sponsored programs at Wheeling Jesuit University, where he also is a consultant to the Clifford M. Lewis Appalachian Institute. He has long been a champion of mine safety, and his book, "Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, the Worst Industrial Accident in U.S. History," was published in December 2007.

In the 1907 disaster, the official death count is 362 miners, although it is more likely that more than 500 died in the mine, he said.

McAteer has challenged the death total because many miners worked off the books.

Also, a brass-tag system that kept track of who was below ground was destroyed during the explosion, he said.

The Monongah No. 6 and No. 8 mines were large and sophisticated, using the latest technology.

"What they neglected was the safety side," he said.

A large wooden door connected the mines, leaving miners in each mine at risk if an explosion occurred, he said. The mines also did a poor job of removing dangerous coal dust, he said.

Two events led to the large death toll in 1907, he said. The morning of the disaster, 14 three-ton coal cars taken out of Mine No. 6 broke loose, sliding back into the mine, he said.

At the same time, an explosion happened in the mine, he said.

"And at that precise moment," he said, "the mine blew up."

The explosions lasted 10 to 12 minutes, he said. The fan at the end of Mine No. 8 was rocketed a mile away, he said. "It was like a hundred Niagaras."

Survivors were few, he said. Some were able to slither out of a toad hole near the end of the mine.

A grand jury convened following the disaster and decided the explosion was "an act of God," he said. Initially, no West Virginia laws changed because of the incident.

Federally, it wasn't until the U.S. Bureau of Mines was established in 1910 that safety conditions began to change. The bureau did not conduct safety inspections on mines. It only investigated accidents, he said.

"It was the beginning," he said.

During his study of the disaster, McAteer said, discovering the miners' stories was the most enlightening part.

"I think the people that need to be studied are the immigrants," he said, adding that many of the miners were from Italy and Poland. "That's the kind of history I like - the small-man history."

To contact staff writer Sarah K. Winn, use e-mail or call 348-5156.