The Knox Mine disaster was a mining accident that took place in the Greater Pittston, Port Griffith, Pennsylvania village of Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania, near Pittston, on January 22, 1959.
The River Slope Mine, an anthracite coal mine owned by the Knox Coal Company, flooded when coal company management had the miners dig too close to the riverbed. Tunneling sharply upwards toward the Susquehanna River, the miners reduced the thickness of rock between the mineshafts and the river bed to about 6 feet (1.8 m) -- 35 feet (10.6 m) was considered the minimum for safety. This caused the waters of the river to break through into the mine.
It took 3 days to partially plug the hole in the riverbed, which was done by dumping railcars into the whirlpool formed by the water draining into the mine.
12 people died; 69 others escaped. One miner, Amadeo Pancetti, was awarded the Carnegie Medal for leading 32 miners to safety. The bodies of the 12 who died were never recovered, despite efforts of divers and an attempt to pump the water out of the shafts. Their names were:
- Samuel Altieri
- John Baloga
- Benjamin Boyer
- Francis Burns
- Charles Featherman
- Joseph Gizenski
- Dominick Kaveliskie
- Eugene Ostroski
- Frank Orlowski
- William Sinclair
- Daniel Stefanides
- Herman Zelonis
It was less deadly than the Twin Shaft Disaster in Pittston back in 1896, which claimed 58 lives.
Eventually an estimated 10 billion US gallons (38,000,000 m³) of water filled the mines. Ten people, including the mine superintendent and August J. Lippi, the president of District 1 of the United Mine Workers, were indicted on a variety of charges, but only 3 (including Lippi) served jail time.
January 22, 2009, marks the 50th anniversary of the Knox Mine Disaster, with special ceremonies to be held at the site of several monuments and a National Historic Marker, erected in 1999, by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. This site is located in Port Griffith, Jenkins Township, PA, both on and near the property of the former Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church. The church was closed in May, 2008, due to a consolidation of area parishes and put up for sale in July, 2008. The property was purchased on January 15, 2009, exactly one week prior to the 50th anniversary, by Susan & John Baloga, the grandson of John Baloga, one of the 12 miners who perished in the tragic event. The property is now the future site of Baloga Funeral Home.
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