Myron Thomas

Myron Thomas (January 1916 – September 1987) was an American coal miner in northeastern Pennsylvania, and a hero of the Knox Mine Disaster when he led a group of 24 survivors to safety.

Mining career

Thomas became an assistant foreman in the mines in 1945. On January 22, 1959, Myron Thomas was working at the River Slope Mine in Port Griffith, near Pittston, Pennsylvania, when the mine became flooded with icy water from the Susquehanna River.[1] Thomas recalled the sound as being "like two fast freight trains passing in a tunnel."[2] He led two dozen men through chest-high icy water for more than seven hours, until they reached the only remaining exit, Eagle Shaft.[3] Thomas said that he repeated the 23rd Psalm through the ordeal. "I was ready to die," he explained.[2]

After Knox

Myron Thomas testified at the legislative hearing into the disaster, along with many of the other survivors.[4] He was also called to testify at the trial of the Knox Mine Company owners, the following year.[5]

After coal mining, he was a state highway superintendent. He had black lung as an older man, from his years as a coal miner. He died in September 1987, age 72.[6] Thomas's grave is in a small wooded miners' cemetery in Taylor, Pennsylvania.[7]

Legacy

In 2016, a documentary tribute to Myron Thomas, made by Al and David Brocca,[8] was shown at the Annual Knox Mine Disaster Remembrance Program, at the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum in Scranton.[9] Thomas's grandson Robert J. Thomas also spoke on the occasion.[10]

There are folk ballads telling the story of the Knox Mine Disaster, including several that mention Myron Thomas; "Last Day of the Northern Field" is subtitled "Ballad of Myron Thomas."[11][12]

References
  1. Robert Wolensky, "The Carnegie Medal and the Knox Mine Disaster" Citizen's Voice (22 January 2015).
  2. David Singleton, "Knox Mine Disaster Survivor: 'I Was Ready to Die'" UPI Archives (21 January 1982).
  3. Robert P. Wolensky and William A. Hastie, "The Knox Mine Disaster and the Pennsylvania Coal Company" Citizen's Voice (21 January 2012).
  4. "Thirty Witnesses at Friday's Legislative Hearing into Tragedy" Pittston Gazette (14 March 1959): 1. via Newspapers.comopen access
  5. "Defense Counsel Has Difficulty with Witness Frank Handley in Cross-Examination Knox Trial" Pittston Gazette (7 April 1960): 1. via Newspapers.comopen access
  6. "Myron Thomas, 72; Saved 24 in Mine Disaster" Chicago Tribune (15 September 1987).
  7. Sarah Thomas, "A Darker Shade of Green" Wicked Local (28 February 2013).
  8. Matt Mattel, "Wyoming Valley Natives, Al and David Brocca, to Preview Documentary on Knox Mine Disaster During Mining History Month" Times Leader (17 January 2016).
  9. 2016 Events Archived 2016-03-23 at the Wayback Machine, Anthracite Heritage Foundation.
  10. Cathleen Lathrop, "Commemorating a Disaster" Triborobanner.com (21 January 2016).
  11. Ray Stephens, "Last Day of the Northern Field (Ballad of Myron Thomas)" (1988), reprinted in Mary Ann Landis, "Public History-Workers' History: 'For Our Own Good'" Pennsylvania History 58(4)(October 1991): 267.
  12. Jennifer Learn, "The Donegal Weavers Mix Local History With Traditional Sounds" Times Leader (22 January 1993): 8B.
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