CLARK NV Archives Obituaries.....[Ingram,Turl R. - 3/8/1924]
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 Las Vegas Age - 3/15/1924

CASTLE GATE MINE CLAIMS DEATH TOLL

Three Clark County Boys lose lives in Disaster - Death roll numbers 177

Last Saturday morning a series of explosions in the Castle Gate coal mine in Northern Utah filled the mine with
deadly gas and snuffed out the lives of every one of the 177 men who were in the mine.

Included in the number of those who were killed are three Clark county boys, former residents of the Moapa Valley.  
They are Turl R. Ingram and Joe Ingram, sons of Mr. and Mrs. George Ingram, of Overton, and brothers of Armella 
and Adaline Ingram who at one time lived in Las Vegas; and Evan Lee, husband of Lillian Ingram, another of the Ingram 
sisters.  The bodies of all three have been recovered.  Evan Lee lived in this city for a time, being employed in the 
railroad shops.  He is a son of Mrs. Patience Lee of Kaotlin, Moapa.  The bodies of the three Clark county victims 
were brought to Overton for burial.  The funeral was held Friday afternoon, practically all the people of the Valley 
attending the services.  -Valley

The Age voices the deep sympathy of the people of Las Vegas with those who have lost their dear ones.

The disaster occurred in the Utah Fuel Company's No. 2 mine, at Castle Gate, which was known as the model coal 
mine of Utah.  It is estimated that the mine contains enough coal to supply 2000 tons a day for thirty years.

From the main entrance to the north end of the main dip is a distance of approximately 8,000 feet.  All the east and 
west workings are horizontal, while those running north and south dip with the coal at a ten percent grade toward 
the north.  The mine was ventilated by a powerful fan placed near the entrance to the fan return, which sucked the 
air through the mine from the main entrance.  All the tunnels were constructed in pairs and so equipped with doors 
that when the fan is in operation, the ventilation of the entire mine was affected.  This fan was destroyed by the 
force of the first explosion, it is said.

One of the features of the mine was a concrete first aid station built into the solid coal in the main workings.

The scenes about the mine following the disaster were pitiful as hundreds of women and children waited day after day, 
hoping against hope that their loved ones might have been spared.  A survey of the families showed that nearly eight 
hundred dependants were left without support.  In at least two instances a father and two sons perished in the mine 
together.  In several instances a father and one son perished.

Gov. Charles R. Mabey has announced that a nation-wide appeal for assistance for the widows and orphans will be 
sent out.

The work of removing the bodies was delayed several times by fires which broke out following the explosions.  Up to 
Thursday morning, 138 bodies had been recovered.