Kline Mine Disaster
The Kline Mine Disaster was an explosion that occurred at the C.L. Kline Mine at Brimstone on May 24, 1965. Five men were killed in the blast, making it the second-worst mine disaster in Scott County’s history. The deadliest was the March 23, 1959 explosion at the Phillips-West Mine two miles away that killed nine people.
The Kline Mine
The C.L. Kline Mine was owned by Charles Lawrence Kline (1907-1985) and was located near Huntsville Branch in the Hughett area of Brimstone near Slick Rock. Specifically, it was referred to as Mine No. 2-A, and was located one-half mile east of Huntsville Branch Road’s intersection with Brimstone Road. The mine was originally opened as No. 2 mine in 1959. It was temporarily abandoned on May 10, 1960, then reopened as No. 2-A by a new haulageway on May 30, 1960.
The mine produced an average of 65 tons of coal daily. In 1964, the mine produced 18,572 tons of coal.
C.L. Kline was a prominent businessman in Scott County for many years before becoming involved in the coal industry. He owned the C.L. Kline Store at Robbins. He was the son of George Washington Kline (1850-1921) and Ella Jeanette Thompson (1871-1919), and the wife of Flonnie Davis (1908-1995). His children included Charles Lawrence Kline Jr. (1937-2000), Dr. George Litton Kline (1940-1991), and Ella Elizabeth Kline. He is buried at Robbins Cemetery.
The Explosion
Kline was at his mine on the morning of Monday, May 24, 1965. He had left at around noon. At 4:15 p.m., when the day shift miners would ordinarily emerge from the mine shaft at the end of their shift, they did not come out of the underground cavern. At 4:21 p.m., it was realized that there had been an explosion.
Harlin Lewallen, a night shift miner who was arriving to work, discovered coal dust and “blown back” weeds at the entrance to the mine, and called Kline, who had returned to the mine and was talking to two other night shift workers, Lead Bowling and Charlie Harvey.
It was not determined what time the explosion occurred, but it was sometime between 1:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
A steel conveyor pan was found to have traveled 1,000 feet from the conveyor due to the force of the explosion.
An investigation by the federal Bureau of Mines concluded that a mixture of methane gas and air was ignited by a cigarette lighter. The explosion propagated by coal dust to other areas of the mine. Forces extended to the surface, but were dissipated by expansion in abandoned caverns inside the mine.
The volatile ratio of coal from the mine was 0.40, based on an analysis that found the coal consisted of 2.8% moisture, 35.9% volatile matter, 54% fixed carbon, and 7.3% ash. The Bureau of Surface Mines considered a volatile ratio greater than 0.12 to be explosive.
An inspection by the Bureau of Mines determined that a four-foot, disk-type fan was exhausting 9,000 cubic feet of air a minute from the mine. During recovery operations, a second fan was installed in an air duct to increase total air quality to 14,000 cubit feet a minute. It was determined by investigators that only 5,000 cubic feet of air a minute reached the outby end of the working section of the mine and only 4,000 cubic feet a minute was passing through the last open crosscut of the left entries inside the mine. Federal regulations required ventilation of 6,000 cubic feet a minute passing through the last open crosscut.
The mine had been classified as non-gassy by the state. During federal inspections of the mine, methane gas concentrations had been measured ranging from 0.03% to 0.15%. Three other mines within a four-mile radius were considered gassy. However, one of those, the Phillips-West Mine, had been classified as non-gassy before the March 23, 1959 explosion there.
C.L. Kline, the mine’s owner, had arrived at the mine at 7 a.m. that morning, and reported that conditions were okay inside the mine. He made several other trips in and out of the mine that morning, and last visited at about 11:30 a.m. He left the mine at 12 p.m. for lunch and to check on another mine he owned.
Rescue Efforts
As many as 1,000 people crowded the area around the mine as rescue efforts began and continued over a nearly-36-hour period.
State and federal mine inspectors were on scene, along with a seven-man crew from Pocahontas Coal Company, the Scott County Rescue Squad, and a number of miners, as well as the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and scores of volunteers. Five ambulances from Oneida Funeral Home and West Funeral Home were stationed at the mine, and transported seven rescue workers to Scott County Hospital for treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning. Among the injured were Philmore Sexton, Clarence King, Gorman Young, George Honeycutt, Lloyd Sexton, Dewey C. Hatfield and Cletus Boles. Several other rescue workers were treated at the scene for issues ranging from carbon monoxide poisoning to exhaustion. The mother of one of the mine victims was also taken to the hospital after collapsing.
Highland Telephone Cooperative set up a mobile telephone unit at the mine to establish a communications line during the rescue effort.
As they progressed into the mine, rescue teams replaced timbers that had been torn down by the force of the explosion.
Recovery
Rescue workers reached the first body at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday, May 25, 1965, some 12 hours after the rescue effort began.
The first bodies to be brought out of the mine were Lawrence Griffith and Arthur Norris, at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 25, 1965. It was believed that the two men were not killed instantly by the blast, but that they died of suffocation.
Russell Webb, who had been stationed at a loading ramp in the mine, was brought out at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 25, 1965. He was found pinned beneath one of the coal cars.
At 3:15 a.m. Wednesday, May 26, 1965, the last two miners were brought out: Phillip Davis and Clayton Griffith.
Investigation
A formal investigation of the explosion at the C.L. Kline Mine was made on June 1, 1965 and June 2, 1965. Involved in the investigation were company officials, representatives of the Tennessee Division of Mines, and representatives of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Further investigation was conducted on June 7 and June 8, 1965.
The investigating committee included C.L. Kline; Ben Smith, the foreman at Kline’s other mine; Chester Honeycutt, a maintenance man at the mine; Andrew West, president of W&W Coal Company; and Jack King, the former superintendent of the Laddie Coal & Mining Company. He had helped assist with recovery efforts after the Phillips-West Mine disaster on March 23, 1959. The committee also included six men each from the state and federal mining departments.
investigators determined the blast had originated near the face of the left air course entry. A cigarette lighter that was open for lighting was found in that area, and smoking materials were found on the body of one of the miners whose body was recovered from that area, as well as from the bodies of two other miners. That led investigators to conclude that the cigarette lighter had sparked the explosion.
The timing of the explosion was placed by testimony from Kline and evidence found inside the mine. Kline stated he had left the mine at 11:30 a.m. after giving his workers instructions on loading loose coal inside one of the chambers. The miners’ lunch boxes were all empty, indicating that they had completed the task, which would have taken approximately 90 minutes to complete, and had taken their 30-minute lunch break before the explosion occurred.
Victims
• Lawrence Ernest Griffith (1907-1965) was age 57. He was the son of Calvin Griffith (1880-1927) and Olive Robbins (1881-1959) and the husband of Oasie Hill (1911-1979). His children included Arnold Griffith (1927-2008), George Trumon Griffith (1929-1948), Kenneth Griffith (1932-1965), Kermit Griffith (1937-2008), Richard Griffith (1939-1989) and Doffice Lee Griffith (1954-1954). His son, Kenneth, was a U.S. Army soldier who had died in a plane crash just weeks before the mine disaster occurred. Lawrence was buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery.
• Henry Arthur Norris (1915-1965) was age 49. He was the son of James Elbert Norris (1889-1975) and Edna Florence Newport (1892-1977) and the husband of Ada V. Foster (1921-2003). He had a son, Hubert Norris (1942-1999), and three other sons, Kenneth Norris, Jackie Norris, and Wendell Norris, as well as eight daughters: Shirley Newport, Joyce Fairchild, Janice Sexton, Judy Norris, Kathy Norris, Lela Norris and Denise Norris. He was buried at Reed Cemetery in New River.
• Russell Webb (1917-1965) was age 47. He was the son of Dock Franklin Webb (1889-1963) and Sylvania K. Taylor (1892-1977) and the husband of Myrtle Huckeby (1919-1984). His children included Nola Faye Webb (1938-2004), Anna Louise Webb (1942-2005), Beulah Mae Webb (1944-1997), Margie Marie Webb (1947-2014), Estell Ardell Webb (1948-1999), Belinda Faye Webb (1952-2018), Buddy Webb, and J.L. Webb. He was buried at Griffith Cemetery at Glenmary.
• Phillip Clarence Davis (1913-1965) was age 52. He was the son of Newman C. Davis (1889-1965) and Hattie Davis (1892-1917) and the husband of Carrie Norman (1913-1996). He had a son, Charles Vernon Davis (1933-1991). He was buried at Concord Cemetery at Robbins.
• Clayton Griffith (1945-1965) was age 20. He was the son of Everett Griffith (1911-1973) and Mary Ella Taylor (1915-1993). He was buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery. His mother collapsed at the mine during the rescue effort and was transported to Scott County Hospital by ambulance.
By fate, three other miners who would have been inside when the accident occurred had taken the day off. One of them was Everett Griffith, Clayton Griffith’s father. He took the day off to conduct chores on his farm. Nelson Harness and his son, Junior Harness, had also taken the day off. Junior had driven Nelson to a Knoxville hospital for medical treatment.