The Puddling Mill Explosion, Northumberland 1908

An explosion at the VanAllen mill in Northumberland Pa killed 9 men, and severely injured 5.  February 3rd, 1908

The men in Northumberland went to work joyfully, arriving at 3:30am on Monday February 3rd 1908, for a 4am shift.  Many of them had been unemployed for months, even as long as a year, as there had been no work at the Iron Works.  

And then, just before 6:30am , the entire town of Northumberland trembled, as a boiler exploded at the VanAlen mill. 

 People ran from their homes, as the fire bell was sounded.  They found the entire west end of the mill to be a shattered pile of bricks, mortar, twisted iron and lumber.  Men quickly formed a rescuing party, setting to work pulling the dead and injured from the debris.  

Seven men had been instantly killed, seven more were injured.  The entire town crowded the scene, with wives and children watching the horror of their husbands and fathers being pulled, mangled and scalded, from the debris. The dead were taken to the hose house and laid out on stretchers.

The hospital ambulance was summoned from Sunbury, as physicians rushed to the scene to tend the wounded.  All of the victims were recovered within an hours time. 

The 45 employees had just returned to work at the mill at 3:30 am that morning, the mill having been idle since the precious November.    30 of the employees miraculously escaped injury. 

The boiler had exploded with such terrific force that a portion of it, weighing nearly two tons, was thrown through the roof of the building and landed in a field about 200 feet north of the mill.  

Another part of the boiler passed through the building on the south side and completely dismantled and wrecked another boiler at the read of the forging works, which was located in another brick building. A large steam pipe passed clear through the end of that brick building.

The cause of the explosion was unknown.  An engineer reported that their were two gauges of water in the boilers just a short time before the explosion occurred.  

Deaths:

Duval Clark, age 50

Samuel Sarvis, age 45

Thomas Jones, age 60

Grant Reeder, age 38

Edward Kreps, age 35

William Brouse, age 36

John F. Sohovlin, age 55

Injured:

John Newbury

Wesley Reichenbach

William E. Craver

Harry Smith

William C. Morgan [Died at the hospital]

David Sanders [Died at the hospital a week later]

John Qualay

All of the dead and injured resided in Northumberland, except for John Qualay.  Qualay was a stranger who had sought shelter in the mill.  He was near a fire trying to keep warm at the time of the accident.

The Danville morning news reported that F. Renner, of Queen and Sixth streets, who worked on furnace number 6, has a premonition of the disaster and did not go to work. The man taking his place was killed.

"An impenetrable gloom hangs over the town of Northumberland. Business matter seem only secondary in importance with the explosion with its depressing train of horrors is the one absorbing topic of conversation.  

In six families, the bread winners were stricken down in one blow.  Never before in the peaceful town was death at one time present in so many of the homes.  It will be a long time indeed before Northumberland will recover from the full effects of the catastrophe."

The boiler that exploded was at No 5. It had contained two gauges of water right before it exploded. Reeder, Kreps, Sarvis and Clark had all been working at that furnace since the morning shift began at around 4am.  They were among those instantly killed.  The others killed in the blast were working close by at furnaces No 4 and No 6. 

A young man by the name of William Seltzer was also working on No 5, but had been called away just before the explosion.  

The  No 5 boiler had been thoroughly repaired on October 18th 1907, and when inspected had been found in good condition. 

The boiler not been used much since its repair, as the company had been taking advantage of the lull in business to have every boiler in the mill examined and tested.  Over $2,000 [the equivalent of more than $60,000 today] had been spent in repairs.  The work had been done by Daniel Shay of Milton, recognized as one of the best boilermakers in this section.

The VanAlen Company was composed of C.G. VanAlen, G.R. VanAlen, E.G. VanAlen and William Waples, all of Northumberland.  VanAlen purchased the plant in 1894 from the M.H. Taggart Company, after the mill they had been operating was destroyed by fire.  

The mill was making what was called Mock Iron, or iron in the rough.  The product was then shipped away to be finished for the market.

The plant was located along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, just along the station.  The puddling shop was located in the western end of the plant.  It was a wood structure with a slate roof.  Inside, 8 heating furnaces were in operation.  Each of the furnaces were surrounded by brick walls.

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The Iron Industry.- The Northumberland Iron and Nail Works, Van 

Alen & Company, proprietors, were established in 1866 by T. O. Van Alen, 

A. H. Voris, and George M. Leslie. In 1872 Mr. Van Alen purchased the 

interest of A. H. Voris, and in 1886 that of George M. Leslie. The mill 

at first contained but five puddling furnaces, one coal heating furnace, 

and fifteen nail machines; it now comprises ten puddling furnaces, one 

thirty-ton Smith's gas heating furnace, and fifty-three nail machines, 

and has a capacity to make one hundred fifty thousand kegs of cut iron 

and steel nails per year. The buildings consist of a mill about sixty- 

five by three hundred fifty feet, and a foundry, machine, and cooper 

shop thirty by seventy feet. One hundred sixty operatives are employed.

Taggarts & Howell, manufacturers of muck-bar and skelp iron, steel 

and iron nails, are the successors of C. A. Godcharles & Company, by 

whom the works were established in 1884. Upon the dissolution of that 

firm in 1888 the plant was purchased by M. H. Taggart, from whom it 

passed to the present proprietors on the 1st of October, 1889. The 

building is two hundred fifty feet in length, with two wings, one 

hundred eighty by eighty and two hundred by eighty feet, respectively; 

the plant comprises ten double puddling furnaces, two heating furnaces, 

and ninety-five nail machines, which afford a daily capacity of eight 

hundred kegs of nails. Two hundred operatives are employed.