This is, quite frankly, one of those “For the Ages” questions. Though dust certainly contributed to spreading the initial destructive force throughout both mines and afterdamp was the primary culprit for the majority of deaths underground, the *cause* – what ignited or fueled that initial force – has never been formally determined or declared. Therefore, the best we can get to an actual *answer* on that question will most certainly always be:
Undetermined/Inconclusive
That’s it.
“Undetermined/Inconclusive” is used to answer this question just as it is with so many others associated with this event so as to never presume or dismiss any potential future information which could come along; to never forget that we truly never “knew”, still don’t “know”, and likely never will.
Following any major incident, investigations and reports made by numerous inspectors were required by law. They did do their best with their individual and collective experience. Their varied theories are a testament to their objective analyses. Their collective insistence that the educated theories they presented were the best they could objectively & consciously attend to also support that fact. The findings which they presented were their “best educated guesses” as it were, not absolute certainties. Nor did they present them as such.
There was no formal consensus of ideas or theories as to the cause of the disaster among those who investigated the mines afterwards and then went on to testify to the jury at the Inquiry. These inspectors will make individual investigations and reports on the disaster. They will also collaborate in writing & submitting a joint report on the disaster.
The joint report of inspectors which was submitted to the mine department as well as to the jury during the Inquiry read: “…we do think this explosion was caused from coal dust.” and, “We are of the opinion that the trip of loaded cars which broke away and ran down the slope was merely a coincident with the explosion and bore no relation to the explosion….”.
However, several of the inspectors who signed it as being in unanimous agreement with these findings would also testify that they, in fact, did not agree. They testify that were not forced or coerced in any way to go along with any predetermined narrative or any one theory, but they do stand by findings from the joint report as much as their own because they are conflicting. Acknowledging both the joint report and their individual reports was a way to double-down on these many factors and variables which ultimately left them in such “inconclusive” territory.
These factors and variables in their reports differed so widely that the only universal, absolute conclusion anyone could make was that Monongah mines #6 & #8 experienced destruction, force, and devastation the likes none of them had ever seen before nor had even considered possible for “model mines” such as these.
For More:
- Report of Hearings before the Joint Select Committee of the Legislature of West Virginia
- Joint Report of Mine Inspectors – pg 450 – 452
- Verdict of the Jury – pg 489 – 490
© 2026 Katie Orwig. All Rights Reserved.
