Resurrection at Hominy Falls

Saxsewell Mine No. 8, which burrows deep into a gentle West Virginia hillside, is only three feet high, and miners must crouch as they ride to work in tiny carts. Into the mine on May 6 at 7 a.m. went the first shift of 25 men; 15 began work near the head of the shaft, while the other ten manned a mechanical drill almost two miles from the mine entrance. At 9:45 a.m., a mass of water roared up from the far end of the mine, stranding the 15 on a lifesaving ledge. The unlucky ten working at the source of the flood were presumed to have drowned. Boreholes were drilled from the surface to the lucky 15, through which rescuers lowered hot coffee and food; after five days of entombment, they rode a conveyor belt out of the mine.

When jubilation over recovering the survivors had passed, officials commented sadly that it would take some time to reach the ten bodies in the farthest section. The families of the trapped miners had wandered back to their homes at Hominy Falls (pop. 400) and neighboring hamlets, and began to make less frequent trips to the site. Sobbed Foreman Frank Davis, one of those rescued: "No chance, no chance." Still, it is a mining tradition to keep working until bodies are recovered, so pumping operations continued round the clock as boreholes were drilled 250 feet down to the shaft.

Miracle Granted. Then late last week a persevering rescue team crawled down the shaft and spotted fresh tracks on the muddy floor. A few minutes later, they found six of the ten miners huddled together and led them haltingly to the surface.

The whole harrowing experience happened because the men relied on a map that told them they were a good 200 feet from the nearest abandoned mine. It was wrong. The mechanical digger easily bit through the thin wall to an adjacent flooded mine, and water rushed through the gap, knocking down large chunks of walls. Four men drowned in the torrent. The six others scrambled to the highest spot in the 9 by 140-ft. area, frantically constructed a barricade of timber and heavy burlap to keep out the flood, foul air and deadly gases. As the water continued to rise, Larry Lynch, 28, fell to his knees and prayed: "Dear God, you can work miracles--I'm asking you for one." The water stopped, and never moved closer.

During the first three days, the men finished off the contents of three lunch buckets; their only remaining sustenance was yellow mine water. Incredibly, doctors found that they suffered only dysentery and a few scratches. When Edward Scarbro, 38, emerged, his first reaction was to run 100 yards to the mine office and call home.

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