Underground Fire: Hope, Sacrifice, and Courage in the Cherry Mine Disaster

by Sally M. Walker

Overview

A historic mine fire traps hundreds of men underground in a gripping work of narrative nonfiction meticulously researched and told by a master of the genre.

It is November 13, 1909, and the coal miners of Cherry, Illinois, head to work with lunch pails in hand, just like any other day. By seven a.m., 484 of these men are underground, starting jobs that range from taking care of the mules that haul coal to operating cages that raise and lower workers and coal to chiseling out rocks and coal from the tunnels of the mine. With the electrical system broken, they’re guided by kerosene torches—and come early afternoon, a slow-moving disaster begins, barely catching the men’s attention until it’s too late. In what starts as an hour-by-hour account, Sally Walker tells the riveting and horrifying story of the Cherry Mine fire, which trapped hundreds of men underground. Alternating between rescue efforts above and the heroic measures of those trying to survive the poor air and entrapment below, the tragic story unfolds over eight excruciating days in a narrative compelled by the miners’ hope and absolute will to survive. Rich with archival photographs and documents, this stirring account includes sources, bibliography, an author’s note, and follow-up information about survivors, rescuers, and families.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536212402
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	10/11/2022
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	292,912
Product dimensions:	7.81(w) x 9.31(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sally M. Walker’s degree in geology and interest in history led her to the story of the Cherry Mine disaster. She is the award-winning author of more than fifty books for children, including Boundaries: How the Mason-Dixon Line Settled a Family Feud and Divided a Nation; The Sinking of the Sultana: A Civil War Story of Imprisonment, Greed, and a Doomed Journey Home; and Champion: The Comeback Tale of the American Chestnut Tree, an Orbis Pictus Honor Book. Sally Walker lives in Illinois.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Saturday, November 13, 1909 1

Chapter 2 From Cornfields to Coal Mine 11

Chapter 3 Into the Mine 31

Chapter 4 Trouble 53

Chapter 5 Meanwhile, Confusion 64

Chapter 6 Trapped! 81

Chapter 7 Black Damp 90

Chapter 8 Cold, Hungry, Weak, Sick 104

Chapter 9 Eating Sunshine 115

Chapter 10 Are You Asleep? 123

Chapter 11 A Peculiar Button 131

Chapter 12 Mad Cheering 145

Chapter 13 More Flames 166

Chapter 14 Widows, Orphans, Blame 180

In Later Years 194

A Special Award 197

Author's Note and Acknowledgments 198

Source Notes 204

Bibliography 213

Image Credits 215

Index 216

Editorial Reviews

10/17/2022

Inspired by Karen Tintori’s adult nonfiction novel Trapped: The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster, as detailed in an end note, this keen account from Walker (Deadly Aim) chronicles the 1909 Cherry, Ill., coal mine incident via straightforward text. On Nov. 13, 1909, 480 men began their day shift at Cherry Mine, which opened in 1905. “Everything about the new mine sounded good to men seeking work,” including the purportedly fireproof brick buildings, electric light bulbs, and guaranteed year-round employment for 700 miners, a previously unheard of statistic. But after a fire breaks out and the only escape ladder is destroyed following an attempt to douse the flames, the miners are trapped underground, resulting in 259 deaths before anyone can be rescued. Using clear and concise language, Walker lays out the mine’s structure, the workers’ day-to-day duties, and how the fire spread. A heavy focus on Cherry’s citizens—who were largely European immigrants—adeptly foregrounds the tragedy’s victims as well as the people who came together to uplift the devastated community. B&w photographs featured throughout add depth to this critical, accessible telling of one of the worst coal mine disasters in U.S. history. Ages 10–14. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The narrative is enriched with numerous photographs, maps, diagrams, and primary source documents. . . . This examination of a man-made disaster works well as a historical recount, harrowing survival story, and social commentary. A very strong addition to nonfiction collections.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

A poignant account of the 1909 Cherry, Illinois, coal mine disaster, one of the worst in U.S. history.
—Kirkus Reviews

While Walker draws attention to the corporate greed that led to unfair working conditions, including child labor, readers may also recognize some contemporary parallels to this story.
—The Horn Book

This keen account from Walker (Deadly Aim) chronicles the 1909 Cherry, Ill., coal mine incident. . . Using clear and concise language, Walker lays out the mine’s structure, the workers’ day-to-day duties, and how the fire spread. . . adeptly foregrounds the tragedy’s victims as well as the people who came together to uplift the devastated community.
—Publishers Weekly

Author Sally M. Walker gives an hour-by-hour account of the fire that raged in the mine and trapped the miners. . . . The hour-by-hour and day-by-day account about this historical event are told with good attention to detail. The text is well-researched.
—School Library Connection

From the Publisher

★ 11/01/2022

Gr 5 Up—When the miners and managers of the coal mine in Cherry, IL, blatantly underestimate the danger of a small underground fire, a horrific eight-day chain of events occurs that results in death of 259 men and boys. The stage is set on the morning of November 13, 1909, as the coal miners and their families begin a typical workday. First-person accounts set the scene as Walker, who lives near the disaster site, recounts the details, alternating between the belowground mismanagement and the resulting aboveground reactions. Technical descriptions of the mining process, explanations of the social construct of the time period, accounts of economic hardships faced by the workers, and references to cultural diversity add compelling historic reference points. An uncanny comparison between the farewell notes written to family members by trapped miners and contemporary "I love you" cellphone messages made by people facing life-threatening situations connects the past to the present. The book concludes with information about the disaster's survivors, historical remembrances, updates on mine safety legislation, and the reopening and subsequent closing of the Cherry Mine. The narrative is enriched with numerous photographs, maps, diagrams, and primary source documents. Back matter includes an author's note, image credits, bibliography, and a detailed index. VERDICT This examination of a man-made disaster works well as a historical recount, harrowing survival story, and social commentary. A very strong addition to nonfiction collections.—Lynne Stover

School Library Journal

2022-07-27
A poignant account of the 1909 Cherry, Illinois, coal mine disaster, one of the worst in U.S. history.

Walker cites Karen Tintori’s 2002 adult nonfiction title, Trapped: The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster, as a major source of inspiration, but in recounting the tragedy’s course for young readers, she piles on names and numbers without capturing that book’s dramatic storytelling or its sharp sense of outrage at the unsafe practices and conditions that led to 259 deaths. She also seldom connects her narrative to the many affecting period photos she has gathered, nor even mentions who took them, so although they are labeled, the portraits of victims and their families, along with scenes of the town of Cherry and of anxious crowds clustered around the mine’s entrance waiting for news, seem oddly disconnected from the actual people and events. She does offer meticulously detailed descriptions of how coal was mined at that time, how the accidental fire started and spread, how the trapped miners struggled, and the protracted, often disorganized rescue efforts. She also develops significant overall themes—that there was much national and ethnic, if not racial, diversity in the devastated community (most of the dead were European immigrants; only 11 were U.S.–born) and that both during and after the tragedy there was a great outpouring of volunteer and charitable assistance.

Numbers and pictures tell a tragic tale even if the writing never quite catches fire. (author’s note, source notes, bibliography, image credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews