What is 1909 Cherry Mine disaster?
{{orphan|date=March 2025}} [[File:Cherry Hill IL Mine disaster (20).jpg|thumb|right|300px|{{Center|[[Monument]] to the Cherry, IL Mine Disaster November 13th, 1909}}]] The '''1909 Cherry Mine disaster''' was a fire that occurred in [[Cherry, Illinois]] on November 13, 1909 in the Cherry [[Coal mine]].<ref name=cmdUSC>{{cite web |url=http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/feature/nov2013_dom.aspx |title=The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster |publisher=Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute, University of South Carolina |access-date=27 August 2016 |archive-date=6 January 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150106223656/http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/feature/nov2013_dom.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> Of the [[wikt:approximately|approximately]] 500 miners who reported to work that day, 259 men and boys (some as young as 10 years old) lost their lives. It was the second worst mine [[disaster]] in [[History of the United States|United States History]].<ref name=cmdUSC/> == Background == During the early [[20th century]], coal miners risked their lives every day.<ref name=mentalfloss>{{cite web |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/79802/1909-cherry-mine-disaster |title=The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster |publisher=Mental Floss, Inc |access-date=27 August 2016}}</ref> During the first [[decade]] of the 20th century, on [[average]] about six [[miner]]s died every month in [[North]]ern [[Illinois]] coal mines.<ref name=mentalfloss/> Between 1905 and 1930 in the U.S. it totaled about 2,000 deaths per year. The Cherry Mine was operated by the St. Paul Coal Company.<ref name=mentalfloss/> It opened in 1905 and by 1909 was producing 300,000 tons of coal a year.<ref name=mentalfloss/> The mine was a modern [[state of the art]] mine for its time.<ref name=mentalfloss/> It had two vertical shafts, one of which blew blew air into the mine and was also used if miners needed to [[wikt:escape|escape]].<ref name=mentalfloss/> The other shaft had [[elevator]]s that lowered men and supplies, and brought out the [[coal]].<ref name=mentalfloss/> Most