Lake City, Tennessee, is typical of most small cities in East Tennessee.

However, on May 19 of each year, a part of the city takes on a somber ambience for a short time. There is an annual gathering at the Leach Cemetery -- a large, private cemetery just outside the main business section of the town -- to commemorate two mining disasters that stand today as two of the worst in the history of the State of Tennessee.  A quiet memorial service, held near the center of the cemetery, remembers each of the men who were killed in both explosions.  Ironically, both mines were on the same system.  Neither mine had been a stranger to on-the-job tragedies.

On May 19, 1902, the Fraterville Mine in Coal Creek exploded, killing all 184 men who were in the mine at the time, either in the explosion or the after-effects.  Local resident, Sarah Dickson, wrote this to her sister in Boston two weeks later:

"Mr. Camp put Robert in charge of the bodies that were brought out.  He worked two days and nights without sleep.  Rockwell also helped.  They both helped dig graves for two days. All businesses closed except to help feed the people.  ...   Many of the grief stricken mothers and wives needed medical attention.  ...  Many [men] had no marks on their bodies, they just smothered to death.  The hardest part of all was seeing the hundreds whose grief was almost unbearable.  Some women lost a husband and three sons."

Eighty-four of 89 men and boys were killed in the explosion of the Cross Mountain Mine in Briceville on December 9, 1911.  Cross Mountain Mine No. 1 exploded at 7:20 a.m., just 40 minutes after the miners went down to begin their shift.

Postcard photo following Cross Mountain Explosion

Most of the victims died from the effects of the deadly after-damp.  A shortage of coal cars that morning kept the remaining 61 men out of the mine; otherwise, the tragedy would have been worse.  Families gathered in the freezing rain while thousands of people from surrounding communities came to help.  Rescue trains from Knoxville arrived with volunteers.  Because of deadly gas and subsequent explosions (that continued for ten days), more than 48 hours passed before rescuers found any survivors.  Rescuers found the last bodies on December 19.  Area newspapers ran a full account of the tragedy, including lists of the dead and the text of letters to family members found with the dead miners.

According to family legend, Henry Davies, Sr., could have been remembered as a hero if the management of the Cross Mountain Mine had listened to his warnings.  Henry began mining as a boy in the Rhondda Valley in his native Wales.  By 1911, Henry had put 50 years of his life into the mines.  Henry had also lost many friends and family members to mining accidents.  Because of his experinece (plus, perhaps, a bit of Welsh superstition!), Henry was worried by seemingly unimportant happenings in the Cross Mountain Mine, where he and his sons were working.  I believe the biggest incentive Henry had to be careful in the mines was the death of his nephew, Tommy Davies.  Tommy died in the Fraterville explosion just two weeks after beginning his first job since graduating from high school.  He was only 19.

On the day of the Cross Mountain explosion, Henry's clairvoyance convinced him to refuse to work in that mine, or to allow his sons to go to work. Instead, they each went to another local mine and reported for the morning shift.

Coal Creek was later renamed Lake City when the Tennessee Valley Authority built Norris Dam in the 1930's, thereby creating Norris Lake on the edge of Coal Creek.  Nestled in the mountains between Lake City and Oliver Springs, Briceville looks like a sleepy little ghost town when compared to the activity it supported 100-125 years ago.  Because these two towns are located near the heart of the largest Welsh settlements in East Tennessee, and many of those killed were Welsh immigrants or the descendants of Welsh immigrants, the memorial lists include numerous men with Welsh family connections.

After the Fraterville explosion, most of the dead men were buried in concentric circles at Leach Cemetery in Lake City, surrounding a monument that serves as a memorial to all of them.  This monument is located on a small rise near the center of the cemetery.

Further Study

Coal Creek:  War and Disasters Web page

Hutton, Edith Wilson.  Historic Leach Cemetery, Anderson County, Tennessee:  Tombstone Inscriptions Transcribed and Compiled by Edith Wilson Hutton and Imogene Hall Thacker.  Oak Ridge, TN :  Clark's Print Co., 1983.

McGhee, Marshall, and White, Gene.  Briceville...Through the Years.  Jacksboro, TN:  Action Printing, 1991.

Rogers, David (comp.).  Reflections in the Water:  Coal Creek to Lake City:  A History of Lake City, Tennessee.  Clinton, TN:  Clinton Courier-News, 1976.

Written in 1982; revised by, and ©2000 to, Billie R. McNamara.  All rights reserved.