The Hastings mine explosion was a fire at the

Victor-American Fuel Company Victor-American Fuel Company, also styled as the Victor Fuel Company, was a coal mining company, primarily focused on operations in the US states of Colorado and New Mexico during the first half of the Twentieth Century. Prior to a 1909 reorganiza ...

coal mine in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Las Animas County, Colorado Las Animas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,555. The county seat is Trinidad. The county takes its name from the Mexican Spanish name of the Purgatoire River, originally c ...

, on April 27, 1917, in which 121 people died. A small monument marks the location, on County Road 44, about 1.5 km west of the Ludlow Monument, which commemorates the those who died in a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

during the

Colorado Coalfield War The Colorado Coalfield War was a major labor uprising in the Southern and Central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Striking began in late summer 1913, organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) agai ...

. In June 1912, twelve miners were killed in an explosion at the same mine.

Cause

A coroner's jury found that Hastings mine inspector David Reese caused the explosion when, deep in the mine, he opened his oil-burning, key-lock safety lamp (which generated light by burning the oil on a wick) to attempt to re-light it. Reese's body was found with matches in his pants pocket, a violation of mine-safety laws.

References

External links

Photograph of the Hastings mine explosion monumentHastings Mine Explosion monument
{{Coal mine disasters in the US Coal mining disasters in Colorado 1917 mining disasters 1917 disasters in the United States Colorado Mining Boom Las Animas County, Colorado Labor monuments and memorials 1917 in Colorado April 1917 events