More than 100 years after an explosion in the No. 6 and No. 8 mines in Monongah killed over 360 miners, local residents and officials are remembering the lives and legacies of those who passed and the changes made in the industry in the disaster’s wake. The explosion occurred Dec. 6, 1907, just before 10:30 a.m., killing at least 362 miners in the process. Del. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, who also acts as the United Mine Workers of America District 31 International vice president, said the number of deaths is likely much higher than that.

“You have to remember how coal miners were treated back in the early 1900s,” Caputo said. “There were absolutely no safety regulations or government regulations. They were basically slaves to the coal barons of the world. They say there were about 362 people who were killed in that accident, but there are a lot of historians that think that number was much higher.”