Marker Erected by: Appanoosa County Historical Society
Item Provided By: Andrew Ragona, operator, of the Ragona Mines
County of Marker: Appanoosa County
Location of Marker: Maple St. (IA-2), W. side of museum (old post office), Centerville
Marker Text:
Coal Mining Air Fan
Air fan used at the Ragona Mine north of Centerville.
It was necessary to circulate fresh air in the mines to prevent the carbon monoxide from accumulating and suffocating the miners.
After several years of mining operations, the underground area might become very large and would require a more complex system of air circulation with more powerful fans, sometimes a long distance from the mine shaft.
Gasoline motors could not be used down in the mine because of the fumes, but were installed at ground level, and the air was piped underground. Later electric motors were used.
There was often a small-diameter vertical shaft from the fan down to the mine. There might be a circular stairway or simply a long ladder attached to the wall of the fan shaft to provide access.
This air fan was donated by Andrew Ragona, operator, of the Ragona Mines.
"he primary purpose of underground-mine ventilation is to provide oxygen to the miners and to dilute, render harmless, and carry away dangerous accumulations of gases and dust. In some of the gassiest mines, more than six tons of air are circulated through the mine for every ton of coal mined. Air circulation is achieved by creating a pressure difference between the mine workings and the surface through the use of fans. Fresh air is conducted through a set of mine entries (called intakes) to all places where miners may be working. After passing through the workings, this air (now termed return air) is conducted back to the surface through another set of entries (called returns). The intake and return airstreams are kept separate. Miners generally work in the intake airstream, although occasionally work must be done in the return airways.
"The task of bringing fresh air near the production faces is an important auxiliary operation, while the task of carrying this air up to the working faces—the locations of which may change several times in a shift—is the unit operation known as face ventilation." ~ Encyclopedia Britannica
"The next mine was the Ragona Mine, also known as Appanoose Coal Co. Joe Ragona started it in 1936 after he left Centerville Coal Co. He went across the road and about 1/4 mile to the north, up on the hill north of the Hospital. It was a slope mine with a shaft of 110 feet for the fan. The tipple for loading coal was just a few feet west of where the Clark Coal Co. propane tank now stands.
"The entrance to the slope mine was to the north about 300 feet. A winch and tail rope were used to bring the coal cars from the mine entrance to the tipple. A depression in the ground and a few rocks indicate the location of the slope entrance. The underground workings went all the way back south beyond the hospital to the underground area being worked by the Silver King mine.
"The Ragona story starts with Paul and Lucy Ragona, who came from Sicily in 1896, along with a number of other Italian families. They had worked in the sulphur mines there. When the King of Italy took over the mines, that left them out of work and the king gave them enough money to obtain passage to America. Some of the families that came to Centerville were Belloma, Casale, Cossolotto, Franko, Grasso, Lamatea, La Paglia, Montegna, Pancrazio, Zuccarello and more.
"Paul Ragona went into the grocery business and had a store at Sunshine. Two of his sons, Andrew and Joe worked in the Rosebrook Mine. Andrew was to die there in 1926 at age 34 when a coal car ran over him. He is buried in the Oakland Cemetery, and his grave is marked with a special stone, sent over from Sicily. Joe was crippled up and lost an eye in the same mine, when caught by falling rock in about 1927.
"Some time after Joe Ragona started the Ragona mine, he suffered a heart attack and could no longer go down in the mine. He then supervised the top operation as hoisting engineer and weigh boss while his son, also named Andrew, was the foreman down below. One day after some dynamiting, loose rock was blocking a passage. Andrew went in to clear it and got into some black damp. It seemed to suck all the air out of his lungs. He was rescued and taken to the hospital, but one of his lungs was collapsed and the other partially collapsed.
"Dr. Owsa told Andrew he should get out of the mining business. Since his wife had started running the Dairy Bar, he decided to join her. Since he had closed his mine rather suddenly, all of the mining tools and equipment were left down in the mine. This included a mining machine, several hundred feet of rail and 30 rail cars loaded with coal. The mine was soon full of water. It was closed in 1965 after 32 acres had been mined." ~ Daily Iowegian