Nearby, happy ending at mine disaster site
Quecreek rescue occurred year later
QUECREEK, Pa. — Leaving the Flight 93 Memorial, visitors who head west on U.S. Route 30 and then south on Route 985 soon approach the Quecreek Mine rescue site — another Somerset County mining area that garnered national attention in the first years of the millennium.
On July 24, 2002, nine coal miners became trapped 240 feet underground when, guided by an inaccurate map of the mine, they broke through a wall that ushered millions of gallons of water into the mine. After a ferocious five-day rescue mission, all nine miners were pulled above ground, one at a time, transported in a cagetype cylinder.
Some visitors to the Flight 93 Memorial in Stonycreek, looking for other activities in the area, come across the rescue site through the internet or the local visitor center. Quecreek, a 15- mile drive from the 9/ 11 memorial, is far from an international tourist attraction.
While the Flight 93 Memorial is maintained by the National Park Service, the Quecreek Mine rescue site, which spans a mere 5 acres, is run by Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation.
The foundation was created by the family whose farmland transformed overnight into the rescue site. It includes a 7-foot-tall bronze statue of a coal miner, a gift shop, museum exhibit and artifacts from the rescue throughout the grounds.
Though the sites pay homage to two vastly different events, the tourist attractions complement each other, visitors say, illustrating examples of American bravery and unity that resulted in polar opposite outcomes: joy and tragedy.
Kathy and Curtis Williamson, ages 70 and 72, respectively, visited Stonycreek with the purpose of paying their respects to the Flight 93 Memorial. The Emerald Isle, N.C., couple, a self- described “traveling two,” are traveling across the country this summer in a recreational vehicle.
Mr. Williamson, who was piloting his own plane from Richmond, Va., to Danville, Va., on 9/11, said they didn’t know the Quecreek Mine rescue occurred in the same county until they searched the internet for things to do nearby.
The morning after they visited Flight 93, the Williamsons toured Quecreek, coincidentally on the 19th anniversary of the rescue. They attended a ceremony where the foundation gave an American flag to the mother of Sandy Bradshaw, who was one of the crew aboard Flight 93 and also from North Carolina.
Ms. Williamson said the Quecreek Mine rescue reminded her of the good in humanity.
“People coming together are able to sometimes make a really positive difference,” she said. “So many people helped, but we were sitting in front of the TV wondering if these men were ever going to get out of there. It just didn’t seem like they would, but hey, they did.”
“We need a happy day,” she added.
Rod Rhymer, 63, and Susan Health Schwalbauch, 61, agree.
The Amanda, Ohio, couple, who also visited Quecreek the day after touring the 9/11 memorial, recommend other visitors do the same.
“This is like kicking your heels, you know, as opposed to out there,” Mr. Rhymer said after sitting through a presentation on the rescue at the visitor center. “I don’t remember having a joyous moment yesterday.”
On a summer road trip that included a stop in Butcher Holler, Ky., the birthplace of country singer Loretta Lynn, Mr. Rhymer and Ms. Schwalbauch drove to Pennsylvania to tour the Flight 93 crash site, which he had previously visited but she had not. While in town, they thought they would check out the mine rescue site, which Mr. Rhymer said his daughter reminded him was close by.
Ms. Schwalbauch, who remembers painful details of
9/11 but did not recall the mine rescue, said visiting Quecreek on the heels of the Flight 93 Memorial is cathartic, adding “this is almost joyous, you know, comparatively.”