Appalachian History Series – The Quecreek Mine Rescue of Somerset County, Pennsylvania
In the summer of 2002, a coal mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania became the center of national attention. The Quecreek #1 Mine was an active underground coal mine near Quecreek, about six miles north of Somerset. On the night of July 24, water burst into the mine from the flooded, abandoned Harrison No. 2 Mine. Nine miners escaped from other parts of the mine, but nine men working in the 1-Left section were trapped underground for roughly three days. By the early morning hours of July 28, all nine were brought to the surface alive.
The story is often remembered as the Quecreek miracle, and that is understandable. Men who had written notes to their families came out alive. A rescue shaft reached them at the right place. Pumps, drill crews, mine rescue workers, engineers, state officials, federal officials, local responders, and volunteers worked almost without pause until the last miner was lifted out. But Quecreek is also a harder Appalachian coal story. It is a story about old mine maps, abandoned workings, water, memory, and the danger of not knowing exactly what lies beyond the next cut of coal.
The Old Mine Beside the New One
The Quecreek #1 Mine worked the Upper Kittanning coal seam, a seam that had long been known in that region for wet conditions. The MSHA investigation described the mine as being off State Route 985 near Quecreek, with the seam accessed by a box cut developed in 2000. Black Wolf Coal Company operated the mine under contract, employing 61 people, including 55 underground workers, and producing more than 161,000 tons of coal during the first two quarters of 2002.
Nearby was an older mine with a longer and more complicated paper trail. The abandoned Harrison No. 2 Mine had originally opened in 1913 as the Quecreek No. 2 Mine under the Quemahoning Creek Coal Company. Saxman Coal and Coke Company purchased it in 1925. Over time, records and maps referred to the mine by several names, including Saxman, Harrison, and Harrison No. 2. It operated until 1963, with an idle period from 1934 through 1941.
That older mine mattered because it was not empty. After abandonment, portions of the Harrison No. 2 workings filled with water. Quecreek #1 was below or down dip from the old mine workings, which meant the abandoned mine pool could stand above the active mine like a hidden reservoir. The danger was not simply that an old mine existed nearby. The danger was that the available map information did not show the true final extent of the old workings.
The Night the Water Came
The 1-Left evening crew started work on July 24 at about 3:00 p.m. The crew included Randall L. Fogle, John R. Phillippi, Robert E. Pugh, Dennis J. Hall, Ronald J. Hileman, John R. Unger, Thomas D. Foy, Harry Blaine Mayhugh Jr., and Mark E. Popernack. Fogle examined the faces and later stated that he saw nothing that warned him of a water problem.
At about 8:45 p.m., a continuous mining machine had just completed a cut in the No. 6 entry of the 1-Left section when water broke through from the abandoned Harrison No. 2 Mine. The trapped crew tried to escape, but the water blocked the mouth of the panel. Seven miners in the 2-Left section and two outby miners were able to escape after being warned.
One of the life-saving moments came in the first minutes. Dennis Hall called to warn men in the 2-Left section that they had hit a large amount of water and needed to get out. MSHA later concluded that Fogle’s decision and Hall’s persistence in warning the 2-Left miners were life-saving because the water entered so quickly.
Holding Together Underground
The miners in the 1-Left section were not passive while the water rose. They tried to build walls and barricades, moved as conditions changed, and eventually retreated toward the highest ground they could reach. A 6.5-inch borehole drilled from the surface reached the mine early on July 25. The miners tapped on the drill steel to signal that they were alive. Air from the drill rig compressor was sent through the pipe, which helped them breathe, though the water later rose high enough to cut off their ability to keep tapping at that location.
As the danger increased, the men prepared for the worst. MSHA recorded that some tied themselves together so they would be found together if they drowned. They wrote notes to their families and sealed them in a plastic bucket. They later moved to No. 1 entry, where they huddled back to back, wrapped themselves in curtain material to fight the cold, conserved their cap lights, and continued signaling when they could.
The water eventually stopped rising near them. Fogle checked the water level and found it holding about 70 feet away. That pause gave the rescue effort time. The miners could hear drilling, but when drilling stopped for many hours, they had to wait without knowing what had happened above them.
The Rescue at Dormel Farms
On the surface, the rescue turned a farm field into an emergency command site. A command center was established at the mine office, families were gathered and updated, and drilling crews were brought in. A first small borehole reached the mine at 5:06 a.m. on July 25. Surface personnel tapped on the drill steel and received a response from underground.
A larger rescue hole was needed for the capsule that would bring the miners out. Yost Drilling and Excavation Company mobilized a rig capable of drilling a 30-inch hole. The work was difficult and uncertain. A drill bit was lost in the hole, a special tool had to be brought from Clarksburg, West Virginia, and the rescue team had to balance speed with the danger that opening the wrong hole too quickly could disturb the trapped miners’ air pocket.
Pumping was just as important as drilling. Rescuers worked to lower the water level enough for safe entry of the rescue hole. MSHA reported that the target water elevation was reached at 7:50 p.m. on July 27. Drilling resumed, and at 10:13 p.m. the rescue hole broke through into the mine. At 11:10 p.m., communication confirmed that all nine miners were alive.
Early on July 28, supplies were sent down in the rescue capsule. Then the men were brought up one at a time. Randy Fogle reached the surface at 12:55 a.m., followed by Blaine Mayhugh, Thomas Foy, John Unger, John Phillippi, Ronald Hileman, Dennis Hall, Robert Pugh, and finally Mark Popernack at 2:45 a.m. Once on the surface, the miners received medical attention and were taken to local hospitals.
The Map That Was Not Final
The rescue gave Quecreek its miracle story, but the investigations gave it its lasting mine safety lesson. MSHA concluded that the primary cause of the inundation was the use of an undated and uncertified map of the Harrison No. 2 Mine that did not show the complete and final workings. At the breakthrough point, the operator’s mine map showed the Harrison No. 2 Mine roughly 450 feet away. In reality, the cut had reached the flooded abandoned mine.
Pennsylvania’s DEP executive summary reached a similar concern from the state side. It stated that Musser Engineering, working for PBS Coals, had prepared permit maps showing the Harrison No. 2 workings, but the search did not locate a final certified map. Musser relied on a property map obtained from Consolidation Coal Company that was not dated or sealed by a professional engineer or surveyor, and DEP stated that Musser did not otherwise verify it.
The later map history was especially important. MSHA reported that investigators found a detailed 1964 Harrison No. 2 map at the Windber Coal Heritage Center. That map included a survey index running from July 1, 1947, through January 1, 1964, and a note indicating it was the final map. MSHA also noted that production records from 1958 through 1963 showed mining that should have raised questions about whether the map used for Quecreek planning was complete.
What Changed After Quecreek
After the rescue, Pennsylvania created the Governor’s Commission on Abandoned Mine Voids and Mine Safety. Its mission was to investigate hazards from abandoned mine voids, especially flooding of adjacent operating mines, and to recommend ways to better locate those voids and prevent similar hazards.
The state’s later Status Report and Action Plan described more than 70 recommendations from the commission and the DEP investigation. Those recommendations covered detection of mine voids, miner training, mine design and layout, regulatory procedures, inspection practices, and mine rescue and response. DEP also proposed changes related to mine map verification, permitting, inspection, emergency response, and command center procedures.
Quecreek also shaped federal mine map work. In a 2022 Department of Labor retrospective, Stan Michalek of MSHA wrote that the accident reinforced the need for exhaustive searches for mine maps and related information. The same retrospective said Congress appropriated $10 million to MSHA for digitizing mine maps and developing technologies to detect mine voids.
Remembering the Rescue
The rescue site itself became a place of memory. The Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation invites visitors to walk to the rescue shaft where the miners emerged from about 240 feet below, see the bronze miner statue, and view artifacts including the rescue capsule and drill bits used in the rescue.
The site later became part of Pennsylvania’s historical marker program, and the Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation became an affiliate of the Senator John Heinz History Center. The Windber Coal Heritage Center also interpreted the rescue through its Voices of Quecreek exhibit, which presented the story of the 78-hour rescue and the work of hundreds of people and many companies involved in the effort.
Quecreek remains powerful because it sits between miracle and warning. It is a story of men who survived the cold, dark, and rising water. It is also a story of how the past remains present underground. In coal country, old workings do not disappear when a mine closes. They remain in the mountain, in the maps, in the water, and sometimes in the lives of the next miners who enter the seam.
Sources & Further Reading
United States Mine Safety and Health Administration. “Report of Investigation: Underground Coal Mine Nonfatal Entrapment, July 24, 2002, Quecreek #1 Mine, ID No. 36-08746, Black Wolf Coal Company, Inc., Quecreek, Somerset County, Pennsylvania.” August 12, 2003. https://arlweb.msha.gov/quecreek/QueCreekInvestigationReport.pdf
United States Mine Safety and Health Administration. “Quecreek Report of Investigation: Addendum 2.” January 18, 2005. https://arlweb.msha.gov/quecreek/Addendum/QuecreekAddendum.pdf
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Deep Mine Safety. “Report of Investigation Executive Summary: Quecreek Mine Inundation.” 2003. https://www.dep.state.pa.us/quecreekdocuments/docs/executivesummary.pdf
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. “Quecreek Mine Inundation: Status Report and Action Plan.” 2003. https://www.dep.state.pa.us/QuecreekDocuments/docs/statusreportactionplan.pdf
Governor’s Commission on Abandoned Mine Voids and Mine Safety. “Final Report.” Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, November 15, 2002. https://files.dep.state.pa.us/mining/District%20Mining/DistrictMinePortalFiles/Report_of_Commission_on_Abandoned_Mine_Voids_and_Mine_Safety.pdf
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “Executive Order 2002-10: Governor’s Commission on Abandoned Mine Voids and Mine Safety.” September 4, 2002. https://www.dep.state.pa.us/hosting/minesafetycommission/report/AppendixA.pdf
United States Senate. Mine Disaster at Quecreek. Hearing before the Committee on Appropriations, 107th Cong., 2nd sess., August 14, 2002. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg85406/html/CHRG-107shrg85406.htm
Michalek, Stan. “20 Years Later, a Look Back at the Quecreek Mine Rescue.” United States Department of Labor Blog, July 22, 2022. https://blog.dol.gov/2022/07/22/20-years-later-a-look-a-back-at-the-quecreek-mine-rescue
Bush, George W. “Remarks to Rescued Coal Miners and the Community in Green Tree, Pennsylvania.” August 5, 2002. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/WCPD-2002-08-12/pdf/WCPD-2002-08-12-Pg1307.pdf
Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation. “Quecreek Mine Rescue Site Foundation.” Accessed May 11, 2026. https://www.quecreekrescue.org/
Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation. “Miracle Rescue Story.” Accessed May 11, 2026. https://www.quecreekrescue.org/rescue.php
Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation. “Quecreek Monument for Life News Page.” Accessed May 11, 2026. https://www.quecreekrescue.org/news.php
Pennsylvania Mine Map Atlas. “Pennsylvania Mine Maps Atlas.” Accessed May 11, 2026. https://www.minemaps.psu.edu/
Pennsylvania Mine Map Atlas. “Pennsylvania Mine Maps Atlas Tutorial.” Accessed May 11, 2026. https://www.minemaps.psu.edu/tutorial.htm
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. “Mining Feature: Inundations Can Put Miners at Risk.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 9, 2016. https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/niosh/mining/Features/inundation.html
Bilger, Burkhard. “Rescue at Quecreek.” The New Yorker, November 18, 2002. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/11/18/rescue-at-quecreek
The New Yorker. “Mine Shaft.” The New Yorker, August 19, 2002. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/08/19/mine-shaft
The Quecreek Miners, as told to Jeff Goodell. Our Story: 77 Hours That Tested Our Friendship and Our Faith. New York: Hyperion, 2002. https://books.google.com/books/about/Our_Story.html?id=n56nPbOYMCUC
Arnold, Bill, Lori Arnold, and Joyann Dwire. Miracle at Dormel Farms: The Story of the Quecreek Mine Rescue. Somerset, PA: Dormel Farms, 2004. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17185654-miracle-at-dormel-farms
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Staff. All Nine Alive: The Dramatic Mine Rescue That Inspired and Cheered a Nation. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2002. https://www.quecreekrescue.org/giftdetail.php?prodID=5
Butler Eagle. “The Rescue of the Quecreek 9.” Butler Eagle, August 13, 2024. https://www.butlereagle.com/20240813/the-rescue-of-the-quecreek-9/
WPXI. “Five Things to Know about Quecreek Mine Rescue.” WPXI, July 27, 2017. https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/five-things-to-know-about-quecreek-mine-rescue/573333137/
Historical Marker Database. “Quecreek Mine Accident and Rescue.” Accessed May 11, 2026. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=24163
Heinz History Center. “History Center Affiliates Program.” Accessed May 11, 2026. https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/about/history-center-affiliates-program/
Author Note: Quecreek is remembered as a miracle, but it is also a serious Appalachian mine safety story about old maps, abandoned workings, and the risks miners inherit from earlier generations. I wanted this article to hold both parts together, the relief that all nine men survived and the warning that came from why they were trapped.