Madison Coal Corporation Rescue Station #2

Madison Coal Corporation Rescue Station #2. Ronald J. Foster Heritage Trail. Miners and their families were exposed to many dangers, Edwardsville Intelligencer, June 3, 1905, A. Piekar, aged 45, was instantly crushed to death by a fall of slate at the No. 2 Mine of the Madison Coal Corporation at Glen Carbon yesterday afternoon, shortly after two o'clock. His 21 year old son, who was working in the same room with him, was injured. , Anton Daenzer, superintendent of the coal company's interests in Glen Carbon, this morning told how he understood the accident had occurred. , "The father was holding the light and the son lit the fuse. Just after the fuse was lit, a slab of slate about four feet wide and eight feet long fell on the father and crushed him. The son saw what had happened and knowing what had happened and knowing that the shot was about to go off, fled the explosion. The explosion threw more coal and slate on the father and he was dead before he could be taken from the mine. He is survived by a wife and five children, three of whom are grown." , Charles Krallman, County Mine Inspector from Glen Carbon was appointed by Illinois Governor Deneen in 1911 to establish fire-fighting and rescue stations in the Illinois coal fields. This station was built to house the first-aid equipment of the coal company and was a state-of-the-art building for its time with training rooms for gas-mask training rescue work and first aid. , It also had a pay window where the miners would receive their pay envelopes of cash every 2 weeks. On paydays, guards with shotguns were on duty on the roofs of the station and the nearby hoisting engine room., Each station had with it a railroad car, fully equipped with oxygen helmets, pulmonary apparatus, cooking, eating and sleeping compartments, ready for instant use. It could be quickly moved to any mine to attend to injured miners via the rails. Voluntary groups of men and women met regularly to practice mine rescue operations and emergency first aid. Many awards were bestowed on the Villagers for their efforts.