100th year Commemoration---My Feelings

 14 August 2023

Monday

Kemmerer, Lincoln, Wyoming

To say today was humbling is understating my feelings today.  The 100th year Commemoration anniversary of the 1923 Frontier Mine No. 1 disaster was a proper tribute to the men who lost their lives 100 years ago today, their families, and the small coal mining community.

I arrived yesterday and placed flowers and “flags” for the graves that did not have headstones.  I was also able to set up my display of research materials, books of the miners, and sign-up sheets at the Eagles Hall.

This morning, I placed a basket representing those miners whose bodies were shipped out to other locations.  I also placed flags and flowers, next to the basket in a row, for the 5 miners whose grave locations at the Kemmerer Cemetery are unknown.  When the American Legion arrived, they set up 99 medium flags in front and the American Flag, POW Flag, Army Flag and Coast Guard Flag, representing the WWI veteran coal miners.  The 4 large flags, the 99 medium flags, and the yellow flowers were an impressive representation of the 99 miners who died that day, 100 years ago.

The ceremony started at 10:00 am, with Carol Harwood, President of the South Lincoln Historical Society welcoming everyone.  She then introduced and outlined of the program.

The American Legion opened with a prayer, followed by the National Anthem sung by Ms. Sawaya.

  Then there was the presentation of the veteran’s flags to two family members of the deceased miners by Eddie Ourada.  When presented with the neatly folded flag, Mr. Ourada said:  “On behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Coast Guard, and a grateful Nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service.”  I have never before received an American flag and will probably never again have an opportunity to receive a military flag.  Receiving this flag was such a blessed honor in behalf of Isaac Roberts, a first cousin twice removed.  Mr. Essman also received a flag for his family.  After the presentation of the flags, there was a gun salute by the American Legion, after which the program I was presented with half of the casings from the firings.  Mr. Essman received the other half of the casings.  

Following the gun salute, a bugler beautifully played Taps.  As the somber trumpet notes seared the quietness of the cemetery, my heart reflected on the hours of research I have done on behalf of these miners, their families, the history of the mine itself, the towns of Frontier and Kemmerer, and that fateful day the accident happened 100 years ago.  I recalled the geology paper I researched and wrote, I remembered the fire that burned in my soul as I researched and wrote my History of Wyoming paper.  I mourned the 99 deaths, I mourned their families’ heartbreak, and I mourned the town and rescuers as they lived through the nightmare of that August morning every day for the rest of their lives.  I mourned the Roberts family who 8 days previous lost Isaac’s mother, Selina.  Poor John Richard Roberts, his family, and friends to suffer so much death.  My heart felt it all at once in that moment at the cemetery as the notes from taps pierced through the pine trees.

Mr. Michael R. Dalpiaz, Sr., International District 22 Vice President, from the United Mine Workers of

America read the Miner’s Prayer and described the tradition of laying an evergreen, representing eternal life, on every single grave, which the Union representatives did during the cemetery tour.  I believe he said the miners were from local #2360, district 22.

The program was then given to me and I began my cemetery tour.  I started by reading the names of the 13 miners whose bodies were shipped to other areas and then I read the names of the five miners whose exact burial in the Kemmerer Cemetery is unknown.  I was able to give the cemetery tour and describe each miner briefly, describing some of the miner’s physical descriptions, marital status, dependent children, where they were born and their age.  At some of the graves, I read short newspaper accounts and printed tributes by their family members.  The tour was somber as yellow sunflowers sprinkled the cemetery marking the graves of the deceased coalminers.  I ended my presentation and tour with these words:

“Thank you all so much for coming today.  It is my honor to have researched these coalminers and tell you about them today.  In the 1920 census there were over 600 people living in Frontier, so the impact of 99 men killed three years later was horrific.   May they all rest in peace. . .”

After the cemetery tour, we walked back to our cars and then drove over the Eagles Hall, where Norris Tratnik spoke.

I met many wonderful people; some family, and some community members; but everyone coming together to remember that dreadful day 100 years ago, that not only affected the small coalmining town of Frontier, but the world.  To honor those 99 men who died horrifically.

It has been a somber day.  A community tragedy of lives snuffed out that day, marked by 100 years of sunrises and sunsets.  Hearts were broken that August morning.  Families and the community devastated by the enormity and the finality of the day.

I am comforted this evening by the fact that more people than just myself care about this tragedy.  We gathered to say their names aloud and keep their memories alive.  We gathered to acknowledge their short lives and their dreadful death.  We gathered to learn how the community dealt with the disaster, and the history of the Frontier Mine No. 1.  We gathered to remember history and pay respect to those 99 coalminers.

--Janet Roberts Lott

Roberts Roots & Branches