There was an old fashioned groundbreaking last Saturday for a new Visitors’ Center at the Quecreek Mine Rescue Site in Somerset, Pa, where everyone pitched in, including volunteers from an Amish community in Ohio.

The new Visitors’ Center will be housed in a 2,400 square foot building overlooking the mine rescue site. It will include educational display areas and other typical visitor center amenities.

“We want to thank all those who contributed their labor, materials, equipment or their donations to help build the visitors center. So far we’ve raised about half of the $200,000 needed to finish the building,” said Bill Arnold, President of the Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation. “We certainly welcome participation in this unique project from those who believe, as we do, that the Quecreek mine rescue was a miracle.”

Video Blog: Bill Arnold Talks About the Visitors Center Project

Rep. Bob Bastian (R-Somerset) also participated in the groundbreaking, providing an overview of state legislation passed into law in response to the accident, including the Mine Families First Act he sponsored and the general update to the deep mine safety law sponsored by Sen. Richard Kasunic (D-Somerset) that was signed into law in July.

Video Blog: Rep. Bastian On Updating Deep Mine Safety Laws

On July 24, 2002 miners broke through into an abandoned, water-filled mine flooding the Quecreek Mine with over 50 million gallons of water. Nine miners scrambled to safety, but nine were trapped in a pocket of air in the dark, cold, water-filled mine. They were rescued four days later through the combined efforts of state and federal mine rescue agencies and hundreds of workers and volunteers.

For more information, visit DEP’s Quecreek Mine Rescue webpage or the Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation website.

NewsClip: Quecreek Visitors Center Work Begins

8/1/2008