 Mining is a dangerous industry for its workers, from coal dust inhalation, suffocation, explosions and the obvious one, mine collapse. A collapse on the bed of the Sesquihana River in Pennsylvania, United States, highlighted the risks to the industry posed by improper execution of safety precautions. The whole created would flood an entire mine complex, swallowing up 10 billion US gallons of water and take the lives of 12 miners. But also would be the parting shot of the ending of the coal industry in the region. Northwestern Pennsylvania, thoratics history has been intertwined with coal mining operations and isn't the first time this area has popped up in a plain difficult video. Of course, I'm talking about Centralia, but today we're over in Colombia's next-door neighbour, La Zern County. Our story starts back in 1762 with the first discovery of anthracite coal in the region. This particular type of coal is sought after as it has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities and the highest density of all types. The Wyoming Valley, also known as the anthracite valley, is canoe-shaped about 25 miles long, which extends from the counties of Sesquihana and Wayne in the north to Columbia County in the south, with, you guessed it, La Zern slap bang in the middle. When you see the township of Jenkins on the map in relation to the anthracite valley, it's not hard to see why the town had such a strong coal industry focus. So much so that a small unincorporated community would be given the name Port Griffiths, named after one of the original stockholders of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Due to a number of mining disasters in the USA, by the 1950s, multiple safety regulations were in force in an effort to try and put disasters like the Avondale Mine Disaster in 1870 to the past. However, the economic forces of lowering coal prices meant that the industry was in a slow decline, long gone had the peak output of 100 million tons in 1917. As with most dying industries, companies tried to squeeze out the last few drops of profit available, by willfully ignoring or bending safety regulations and using old life expired equipment. A side effect of this was the safety of those the managers sent to work every day. In and around the Port Griffiths area, multiple mine owners and contractor companies operated an intricate connected maze of mine shafts along and under the Seshki Hanna River, incorporating winter moot and monoconic islands. The Knox Coal Company was one of these operations cutting costs and responsibilities at every turn. The company was a contract mining operation. These organizations mined on behalf of the mine owner, which allowed shall we say streamlining of operations. The Knox Coal Company had begun leasing the River Slope Mine from the Pennsylvania Coal Company in May 1954. The company hired 174 men, 23 surface workers and 151 underground workers. The mining operations were to exploit the Pitston and Marcy Vaines, which contained the juicy anthracite. Production from Knox Coal was around 700 pounds per day, which was hand transferred to chain or shaker conveyors. The main workings for the company was through two entrances to the mines, the River Slope and the Maze Shaft. Three other shafts operated by other companies were available for emergency exit from the complex. The River Slope was dug into the ground 240 feet long at an angle of around 25 degrees, where intersected the Pitston Vaine. The Maze Shaft was 332 feet deep, and the other three emergency shafts were the Holt Shaft at 528 feet deep, the Schooley Shaft at 579 feet and the Eagle Air Shaft at just 60 feet. The mining operations employed the chamber and pillar method, which looks like this. In order to get the sweet, sweet coal out of the pillars, a recovery method was used. This involved filling the gap with waste material and then mining the pillar, but this was only allowed when authorised by the landowners and can be very dangerous. The mines were rather close to the Seskehanah River, and this necessitated some rules and regulations in regards to how close the miners could get to the riverbed. The maps of the mines had things called stop lines, where mining could not take place because of inadequate roof thickness. This not-to-be-passed line gave a 50 feet safety margin between mine, wall and river. The Knox Coal Company requested a 35 foot margin, which government officials approved. This wouldn't be enough and eventually the company would keep pushing the boundaries to chase the anthracite veins until the point of no return. Two illegally dug gangways were extended under the river 125 feet past the officially and clearly designated stop lines. The workings then sharply turned up to follow the Pitston vein. On January 22, 1959, the Knox Coal Company's disregard for rules would finally come back to bite them. In the morning, a team of 81 miners descended down the river slope for another day's work in the dusty mine. Various teams split off along the various corridors to the different seams. Management, with the backing of the workers union, had been asking the workers to dig well beyond the stop lines, eventually reaching just 19 inches of the icy cold January Seskihana River. Some of the workers in the Marcy vein were told to put down some loose roof material and put in some timber. At around 11.30 am, a timber prop cracked. One of the workers informed the foreman who then went back to check the Pitston vein. At 11.42, the roof gave in to the way to the river above. The assistant foreman telephoned the colliery, who then in turn sent out the emergency warning for everyone to evacuate the mine. The call was also sent out to the adjacent mines, who withdrew their workers. 22 escaped through the mace shaft. Some by the time they had made their escape, had to wade through the flooding tunnels. 11 men escaped via the hoist shaft, and 3 left via the river slope. 33 made it to safety via the abandoned eagle air shaft. In total, 12 were trapped behind in the icy cold water below. The breach had created a hole in the riverbed, with millions of gallons gushing down. The power of the water swept away the timber supports of various workings. By the afternoon of the 22nd, works were underway to fill the hole, as the western railway line of the Lee Valley was broken and diverted to near the breakthrough. This was rather strange as not only rubble and waste was to be poured into the hole, but the railway carriages themselves. Anything that could be thrown in was, including the aforementioned carriages, mine carts, boulders, hay and any other rubble available. A few days later on the 25th of January, the water flow was stemmed somewhat, which allowed rocks and earth to be placed in a semi-circle around the hole, two sinking pumps were installed in the mines to try and begin the drying process. These would later be joined by another 22 shaft pumps. Bolkheads were placed inside the mine near the breach. And above ground, two cofferdams were built, starting in March, completing in May the same year. The dams went from the shoreline to Wintermeat Island on the eastern side, above and below the breach area. A third dam was built on the island to completely divert the water away from the area. Tons of clay and rock were poured into the hole and a concrete cap was placed on top of the opening. A lot of water was pumped from the flooded mines, but none of the 12 missing men were ever found. But as with any disaster like this we need to look at how the breach could have happened in the first place and spoil alert, it involved corruption. Federal mine inspections in 1958 had taken a look down the mines, but no sign of any wrongdoing was found. Unfortunately this would be wrong. Inspections made by the Pennsylvania Coal Company during 1958 had actually highlighted Knox's coals passing of the stop line, but no remediation action was taken. It was found that Knox Coal had not only passed the line, but was also working in an area that needed permission from Pennsylvania Coal, which unsurprisingly was not given. There was another main factor for the failure and that was the water itself. Due to the time of year, the Sesquihanna River was partially frozen over, which contributed to an increased water level. The higher level increased the weight on the already weakened riverbed. During the investigations post incident it was found that one of the labor union leaders had shares in the company, which is obviously a conflict of interest, as well as a blatant violation of American labor law. Four disaster inquiries eventually led to charges against the 11 top bosses of the Knox Coal Company, the Pennsylvania Coal Company and the United Mine Workers of America. The charges varied from manslaughter to bribery, but yet again no one would actually serve prison time after numerous trials and appeals. Three bosses at Knox Coal did eventually serve some time, but not for the deaths at the river slope, but instead for tax evasion. The disaster put a spotlight on the corruption and dodgy dealings with the coal industry in the region, resulting in probes into other company's operations and it was found that Knox Coal was not unique. The disaster accelerated the end days of deep mining of coal in the Amphysite Valley. Not only did it cause significant damage to the mines, but attempts to plug the whole used up valuable equipment. I kind of imagine it is similar to fixing a flat tyre by throwing out the rim and replacing it with the steering wheel, which needless to say is a bad idea. Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video. This video is a plainly difficult production. All videos on the channel are creative commons, share, attribution, alike, licensed. Plainly cropped videos are produced by me, John, in a sunny south-eastern corner of London, UK. Help the channel grow by liking, commenting and subscribing. Check out my Twitter for all sorts of photos and odds and sods, as well as hints for future videos. I've got Patreon and YouTube membership as well, if you fancy supporting the channel financially. And all that's left to say is thank you for watching.