The area where the trapped miners are located is believed to have oxygen and water. They also had breathing apparatus, which had about an hour's worth of oxygen. Other apparatus are stashed throughout the mine, said Doug Johnson, the director of corporate services for UtahAmerican Energy, which manages the Crandall Canyon Mine.

An earthquake?

The collapse inside the Crandall Canyon Mine was so powerful, authorities initially thought it was an earthquake.

An event measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale struck about 16 miles west of here at 2:48 a.m. Monday. Guyman said the University of Utah Seismograph Stations notified emergency dispatchers of the event, inquiring if it was an earthquake. A short time later, Emery County sheriff's dispatchers were notified of the mine collapse.

"We reported that the earthquake was in the Huntington Canyon area of the Wasatch Plateau, and it was apparent to us that the epicenter was in the vicinity of the Crandall Canyon Mine," said Walter Arabasz, the director of the University of Utah Seismograph Stations.

Murray dismissed reports that the mining could have caused a seismic event. He pointed to a map showing the epicenter about a mile from the trapped miners. Authorities said the event was at the same depth as where the men were working, in an old, sealed-off, mined-out portion of the mine.

The 3.9 magnitude shock was the only seismic event recorded by the seismograph stations, Arabasz said, meaning their monitors did not pick up other signatures associated with an earthquake.

"What I can say at this point is, again, the seismic recordings we observed are more consistent with a collapse-type event in a mine rather than with an earthquake," he said.

Pledged support

Federal and state officials have pledged to do whatever it takes to rescue the miners.

On Monday, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. flew from a meeting on wildfires in Idaho to Huntington to meet with the families of the trapped miners.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families," he said. "I'm confident that every expense is being made in order to do this right and no stone is left unturned."

Murray, who worked as a coal miner and later founded his own mining company, urged people to "pray, pray, pray" for the trapped miners.

Around the community of Huntington, the mood was tense as everyone waited and hoped for good news.