SUPERIOR HISTORICAL COMMISSION SUPERIOR HISTORIAN VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 FALL/WINTER 2006 DECEMBER, 2006 DEATH AND “One of these mornings you’re The roster of the lost men is as follows: DEVASTATION IN THE going to see the Monarch blow,” Tom Stevens, Louisville DEPTHS: THE disaster survivor Nick Del Pizzo Ray Bailey, Broomfield once said to his sister. Oscar Baird, Rickard’s Camp MONARCH MINE Tony Di Santis, Louisville EXPLOSION oil and grease machinery, test for Steve Davis, Louisville gases, and get the mules ready and in Kester Novingger, Broomfield Eight Die, One Never Found place for the day shift. Leland Ward, Monarch Camp in 1936 Disaster The rescue teams were hampered Joe Jaramillo, Monarch Camp in their attempts to rescue the “Some of the men were discovered Constant, short shrieks of a mine stranded miners due to the presence seated on the floor of the mine, their steam whistle broke the silence of a of the “after damp” or “black damp,” a equipment at their side, their faces crisp winter’s morning January 20, deadly mix of carbon dioxide and turned toward their lamps, as if to 1936. It was a sound no one connected nitrogen. Rescuers didn’t want to risk watch the flame burn out with the with coal mining ever wanted to hear making the disaster worse, but eight creeping presence of carbon dioxide, because it signaled an emergency and men remained unaccounted for. the black damp,” is the description by probable disaster in the mine. Officials, family, friends, and fellow author Phyllis Smith. Tragically, the The word spread that there had miners milled about the mine entrance, body of Joe Jaramillo was never found. been an explosion at the Monarch #2 wrestling with the enormity of the Coal Mine about two miles south of disaster and stymied in their attempts Louisville and a similar distance east of to get the others out. Superior. A huge explosion deep in the mine rocked the region around 6:20 that fateful morning. The night or graveyard crew was just about finished with its shift and a day crew numbering over 100 was waiting to enter the mine for their stint which would have begun at 7:00. Amidst the dust and debris in the mine, Italian immigrant Nick Del Pizzo cried out to his partner, Bill Jenkins, “We gonna run like rabbits . .” The Over the next few days, two miners then ran 400 feet down a everyone’s worst fears were realized. horizontal tunnel and then climbed a The bodies of seven men were found Joe Jaramillo, Sr. holds his son Ernest and ladder 300 feet up a ventilation shaft and the eighth was never located, is flanked by Joe, Jr., nephew Lawrence forever consigned to the bowels of the Montez, and daughters and into the open air to safety. Josephine and Henrietta left to right. Word of the explosion spread Monarch. quickly and rescue crews were “The price King Coal extracts of the The cause of the explosion was organized, eager, in spite of the men who go down in the mines was investigated and discussed. The obvious threat to them, to descend into being paid Monday . .” was the lead-in National Fuel Company owned the the Monarch to rescue the eight men for a Denver Post article, January 21, Monarch and eventually was blamed from the graveyard shift. The team’s 1936. for the tragedy by a coroner’s inquest job was to clean the floors of the shaft, worked below pulling mine cars and were stabled underground. It is supposed that he was working near the explosion site and his body covered with rubble. Rescue teams continued to look for Jaramillo, but the threat of another explosion forced them to cease the effort on February 6, 1936, leaving him permanently entombed in an ebony grave The mine company erected a red granite stone at a spot determined to be 300 feet above where Jaramillo’s body was thought to be. It was visible from US 36 for more than 60 years. Joe Jaramillo Sr. and Jr. are seen in a Joe Jaramillo, Jr. is shown eating lunch studio setting. Note Mt. Holy Cross in When the Flat Iron Crossing Mall was during his shift at the Eagle Mine near Erie. The photo was part of a Denver Post the background, a long way from the built, it was necessary to move the Monarch Mine Camp in reality. article on a day in the life of a miner in monument which is now located in 1960. Varra Park at the northwest corner of and by the federal government. Since the mall grounds. the Purple Heart, and was decorated sub-bituminous coal of Northern The inscription on the stone reads: by Charles de Gaulle. After 42 years Fields was unstable by nature, the Joe C. Jaramillo in the mines, loyal military service, mine owner and superintendent were 1887-1936 and a diagnosis of black lung disease, responsible for covering the loose coal “A faithful employee who died in the his survivors had a difficult time dust (some reports indicated five or performance of his duty” proving they qualified for black lung six inches thick) with rock dust, a A new stone now adorns the park survivors’ benefits. limestone mixture that supposedly just a few feet from Joe’s, The Jaramillo father and son both reduced the explosive factor of coal commemorating the seven other paid the ultimate price for mine work. dust to zero. Documentation showed miners who perished. Joe Jr. never talked about the loss of the mine did not do that. Joe’s widow and children were in his father; he lived a simple life, Consequently, when a spark from an difficult straits after the explosion. His content with his decisions and unknown source most likely ignited fourteen year old son, Joe Jr., went to providing a comfortable living for his methane gas hovering in the tunnel, work as a coal miner in order to family. the explosion was support his family. Joe Jr. spent over The Monarch Mine # 2 reopened accelerated by the standing coal dust. 40 years in the mines, 28 at the Eagle a few months after the disaster (the The deceased miners were mine near Erie. He represented the site of the explosion had been symbolic in many ways. They idea that mining “gets in your blood,” permanently sealed off), then closed represent the hard work ethic of the something he shared with a Denver for good in 1947 because it had been industrial laborer, the dangers implicit Post reporter in a 1960 interview. “worked out.” Now, as the past fades, in that line of work, and were a virtual Joe Jr. lived modestly in Lafayette memories are kept alive by family, United Nations reflecting the amalgam and, according to his wife, never monuments and by the of many nationalities and ethnic suffered more than a “mashed foot” in naming of Monarch Middle and groups. those 40 plus years, retiring in 1978. Monarch High Schools, located not far Joe Jaramillo’s circumstances Although only 56 years old, he was from the place where the utmost were unique yet typical. He migrated exhibiting some health issues and, sacrifice was made. from the coal fields of northern New sadly, died of a massive heart attack a Sources: Personal interview with Mexico, eventually settling in the mere three months after retiring. Josephine Najera and Barbara Barela, daughters of Joe Jarmillo, Jr.; Phyllis Smith, Monarch Mine Camp, a collection of Joe Jaramillo, Jr. was drafted to Once a Coal Miner; Bill Cohen, Blast: the company owned houses, a store, and fight in World War II in spite of the 1936 Monarch Mine Explosion; Carnegie school located next to the mine itself. fact he was married with five children. Branch Library for local history, Boulder, CO, By 1936, Joe was the stable or He fought in Europe, was captured various print materials on Monarch Mine. barn boss taking care of the mules who and a POW for 18 months, received Map and text by Larry Dorsey, Superior Historical Commission. .