Christmas Rubies In My Treasure Box

“The Night the Mountain Groaned” A Christmas Story Rooted in the 1900s Fayette County Mine Disasters “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” — Luke 2:11, KJV Fayette County, West Virginia, had always lived by the mines. In the early 1900s, coal dust clung to every porch rail, every coat, every heartbeat. Men descended into the earth before dawn, and families waited for the whistle that meant another shift had ended safely. But on December 16, 1907 , at the St. Clair Mine near Mount Hope , the whistle never blew. A pocket of gas ignited deep underground. The explosion shook the hills, sending a plume of smoke curling into the winter sky. Families rushed from their company houses, mothers clutching shawls around their shoulders, children crying as the ground trembled beneath their feet. Among the trapped miners was Samuel “Sam” Hensley , a quiet man known for reading his Bible during lunch breaks. His wife, Lila, had packed his tin pail t...

Based On History 1907 St. Clair Mine disaster of Fayette County, WV, and  candlelight reading, or Christmas program. “The Light Beneath the Mountain”                      “For unto you is born this day in the city of David                   a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” — Luke 2:11 (KJV) Beneath the West Virginia hills, Where winter winds blew cold, The miners walked the darkened path As generations told. In Fayette County’s rugged earth, A trembling shook the ground, The St. Clair Mine fell silent then— No shift‑end whistle sound. The lamps went out, the dust rose thick, The night pressed hard and grim, Yet in the black, one whispered prayer Reached heaven’s heights from him. Sam Hensley held a tattered note His Lila placed with care: “The Lord is Light,” she’d written down— A truth he breathed in prayer. While rescue crews fought smoke and stone, And wives knelt in ...