Coal miners die in an explosion at Newcastle on October 9, 1894.

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On October 9, 1894, four miners die in an explosion in the Oregon Improvement Company coal mine at Newcastle. The following day, coroner's jury rules that the explosion was "caused by a charge of giant powder being set off" and was "entirely accidental and quite beyond the reach of ordinary human forethought to foresee." The Oregon Improvement Company was "entirely exonerated from any blame on or negligence in the matter" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

The dead were identified as follows:

Name�� Age Nation-
ality Occu-
pation Married/
Single Family

George Parrish 19 English Driver Single

George Dobson 21 English Starter Single

Charles Giles 16 Negro Trapper/
Switch Boy Single

David J. Lloyd 30 Welch Miner Married Wife & 2 children

Oregon Improvement Co. superintendent Theron B. Corey (1846-1909) traveled from Seattle by train to supervise the recovery of bodies. The company paid for all the burials.

Sources:
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 10, 1894, pp. 1-2; Ibid., October 11, 1894, p. 2; Ibid., October 13, 1894, p. 1.

By Dave Wilma, January 01, 1900

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Newcastle coal mine workers, about 1910
Courtesy MOHAI