 4 mine, was caused by an explosion of gas, the force of which was so terrific as to blow all of the building's above-ground into kindling wood, sending great timbers and rocks three-quarters of a mile.Miners’ houses were' struck and pierced, but the people in them were not seriously injured.Two miners riding down the slope in a trip of empty cars had got down to the 3d level when the explosion broke the cars into fragments and shot them out as from a cannon.