James Wood and Carl Leinart
descendants of Cross Mountain Miners
Luther Wood and Lonzo Haynes look over
old photos at the abandoned mine portal.

Arthur Thomas Scott was one of the miners rescued in 1911.  His grandson, James E. Scott, told about how Arthur Scott, Theodore (Dore) Irish, Irving Smith, Milton Henderson, and William Henderson had isolated themselves in a room of the mine to await rescue.  They stuffed their clothes in holes of a barricade wall they built to protect themselves from afterdamp (primarily carbon monoxide) that had formed after the explosion.  According to the Bureau of Mines report of the rescue, Arthur Scott periodically left the barricade to get water for the trapped miners from tubs that were used to water mules.  The miners were rescued 58 hours after the explosion, one of the first successful rescues by the Bureau of Mines.

James Scott, grandson of rescued
miner Arthur Scott, with his wife
and daughter, pictured with the Cross
Mountain Mine portal in the background

James also told about how his great-grandfather, R.J. Lester, the father-in-law of Arthur Scott, had died at Cross Mountain.  He was found by rescuers holding a small boy.  After Arthur Scott was rescued, he had to tell his wife how her father, R. J., had died in the explosion.

Robert Davis and Don Williams represented their grandfathers, two Welsh Cross Mountain miners who lived to tell tales about the disaster.   Henry Davis had a premonition that morning in 1911.  He and his sons refused to work in the Cross Mountain Mine that day, fearing a disaster.  Colonel Isaac Williams had been barred from working in the Cross Mountain Mine that Saturday in 1911 because he had previously refused to cross a picket line.

Tony Thomas and the Mystery Mountain
Boys performed at the benefit concert
to raise matching funds for the
restoration of historic Briceville Church

Briceville Church Trustee, Anna Mae
Evans holds the hat that was passed
around to collect $906.23 towards
the church building restoration project

Special thanks to Mr. Bob Swisher of Premium Coal Company who cleared off the site of the abandoned Cross Mountain Mine portal and placed crushed stone on the path to the mine.  Bob told how he had blocked the abandoned portal opening with stone in 1954 for safety reasons.  We also thank the landowner, Coal Creek Company, for permitting us access to visit the abandoned portal and the participants who donated $906.23 for restoring the church that was built in 1888 by Welsh coal miners.  The money will go toward matching a $25,000 restoration grant from the Tennessee Historical Commission of the Department of Environment and Conservation.

Finally, we thank Anderson County officials Mayor Rex Lynch, Highway Superintendent Gary Long, and Sheriff Bill White for paving Circle Cemetery Road and clearing the thick vegetation off the steep bank below Briceville Community Church in preparation for the events.

Descendants and guests gather
around the monument and graves at
Cross Mountain Miners Circle
Cemetery in Briceville

Coal miner Bob Swisher tells
the crowd how he found the
site when he began mining
in Coal Creek over
50 years ago.