Official records of disasters were kept only for incidents where more than ten miners were killed. Even if deaths were recorded elsewhere, often there are no details of how they occurred. One exception was a mention in a letter from Carlisle Spedding to Sir James Lowther that Jos Gredale and his nephew died from the effects of the damp air. Falling down the pit shaft often happened. Children were ‘worth’ less to the mine owners than an adult. When miners were lowered down the shaft in baskets, adults took the safest places so children were more likely to fall.
In 1819 H.Jackson wrote in his diary of an explosion in Saltom Pit where several people died. He mentions afterdamp which is the toxic mixture of gases left in a mine following an explosion caused by firedamp. Indeed, he wrote that it was the smell of afterdamp that convinced him that there were no survivors and delayed further searching until the mine had been ventilated. So, even if miners survived an explosion, they often suffocated from lack of oxygen.
Between 1824 and 1834 the following deaths in Saltom Pit are mentioned:
Peter Andrew age 9
Moses Westmorland age 14
John Reeling age 9
Edward McGraw age 14
Charles Bent age 13
Moses Westmorland age 14
John Reeling age 9
Edward McGraw age 14
Charles Bent age 13
There must have been many deaths in pits like Saltom where knowledge of the incident survived no longer than living memory.
