Hanna Mine disasters

In 1889, Union Pacific Railroad needed a reliable fuel source to run its massive coal-fired engines.

[1] Hanna, Wyoming was founded and built by the Union Pacific Coal Company for its workers and their families, and the Union Pacific owned everything in it, including the boarding house, the general store and the miners' houses that were rented to them by the month.

Hanna was a major hub of the emerging transportation industry of the day with the Union Pacific Railroad and the Overland Trail passing through.

1 causing a violent explosion and a mine cave-in, killing 169 miners, while 46 survivors narrowly escaped this disaster.

After the 1908 blast, the Wyoming state inspector blamed Union Pacific Coal Company's method of mining for the disaster.

Gouging allows methane gas to gather in rooms already mined while miners are digging for coal deeper in the mountain.

All of the Hanna mines closed in 1954 due to the Union Pacific Railroad's switching over to Diesel locomotives.