On January 21, 1886, a gas explosion at the Mountain Brook Shaft of the Newburg Orrel Coal Co. killed 39 men. The shaft, located in the west end of Newburg along the B&O Railroad tracks, had been begun in January 1882 and reached a depth of 355 feet. At that time it was the deepest of the six coal shafts in the state, and the disaster was the first big shaft mine explosion in West Virginia.