History & local legend
Renton No. 3 mine in Plum was the scene of a fatal explosion on July 19, 1920. The ventilation fan had been stopped for weekend repairs. After it restarted on Monday morning, a foreman, six maintenance workers and two fire bosses went underground. All nine died in the explosion.
The blast damaged tracks and drove the shaft cages into the headframes. The mine eventually resumed producing coal about ten weeks later, but the deaths remained part of Renton’s local memory.
A later ghost story says that headlights sweeping across the old mine at night can reveal figures of the men who died below.
Sources
- Pennsylvania Haunts & History, Renton Mines, reporting the headlight legend and naming the October 24, 2007 Woodland Progress account
- Alphonse F. Brosky, Conditioning Renton Mine After Severe Gas Explosion, Coal Age, August 11, 1921, pp. 215–218
- Holmes Safety Association Bulletin, July 2000, historical review of the Renton No. 3 disaster, pp. 24–25
- Pennsylvania DEP, abandoned shaft at the Union Collieries Renton mine
