Cross Mountain Mine disaster
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Cross Mountain Miners' Circle
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Cross Mountain Miners' Circle
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| Location | Circle Cemetery Lane |
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| Nearest city | Briceville, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°11′21″N 84°11′46″W / 36.18917°N 84.19611°WCoordinates: 36°11′21″N 84°11′46″W / 36.18917°N 84.19611°W |
| Area | Less than 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| Built | 1911 |
| NRHP Reference # | 06000134 |
| Added to NRHP | March 15, 2006 |
The Cross Mountain Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion that occurred on December 9, 1911 near the community of Briceville, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. In spite of a well-organized rescue effort led by the newly created Bureau of Mines, 84 miners died as a result of the explosion. The likely cause of the explosion was the ignition of dust and gas released by a roof fall.
At least 22 of the miners killed in the Cross Mountain Mine disaster were buried in a circular memorial known as the Cross Mountain Miners' Circle, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Cross Mountain is a massive ridge situated along the eastern Cumberland Plateau just west of the plateau's Walden Ridge escarpment, in the coal-rich Cumberland Mountains. Rising to an elevation of 3,534 feet (1,077 m), the mountain is the highest point in Tennessee west of the Blue Ridge Province. The mountain is located along the border between Anderson County and Campbell County.
Coal Creek, a tributary of the Clinch River, flows northward along the southeastern base of Cross Mountain, slicing a narrow valley in which the communities of Briceville and Fraterville are located. Rocky Top, formerly the town of Coal Creek, is located near the creek's confluence with the Clinch, at the base of the Cumberland Plateau.
Slatestone Creek, which flows westward down the slopes of Cross Mountain, empties into Coal Creek at Briceville. Slatestone Creek drains a narrow valley known as Slatestone Hollow, which runs perpendicular to the Coal Creek Valley. The Cross Mountain Mine was located at the western end of Slatestone Hollow, just over 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Briceville.
Major mining operations began at the Cross Mountain Mine in 1888, when a railroad spur line was extended up the Coal Creek Valley and into Slatestone Hollow. Over the years, large amounts of volatile coal dust had accumulated in the mine's shafts. On the morning of December 9, 1911, a roof fall occurred near one of the mine's entrances, which released methane gas into the air. The gas and coal dust probably ignited when a miner approached the roof fall with an open light. The explosion killed or trapped the 89 miners who had gone into the mine that morning.
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Wikipedia