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When I read the names of the miners that died in that explosion and look at the headstones, I wonder who they were as individuals and which guys would have been my friends providing I was alive back then.
When I read the names of the miners that died in that explosion and look at the headstones, I wonder who they were as individuals and which guys would have been my friends providing I was alive back then.
The New York Times
05 May 1887
MANY LIVES LOST.
The Full Extent Of The Calamity Not Yet Known.
VICTORIA, British Columbia, May 4 - A dispatch to the Colonist from Nanaimo, on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, says a terrible explosion occurred in No. 1 shaft of the Vancouver Coal Company's mine at 6 o'clock last night. One hundred and fifty men are believed to have been in the mine at the time.
At midnight several bodies had been recovered, and a few persons seriously burned were rescued at the same time. These numbered 12 in all. There were little hopes of recovering alive any of those still in the mine. The scene around the shaft was most heartrending. A special train carrying surgeons from Victoria arrived in Nanaimo at 2 o'clock this morning. A later dispatch says the mine is on fire.
Last edited by GR74; 05-31-2010 at 12:25 PM.
I'll post this newspaper article regarding the May 3rd, 1887 disaster because I find very little regarding this topic. Please be aware that some of the numbers are wrong. I've always found this sort of thing to be a problem when doing research. The article has been reproduced word-for-word, number-for-number.
Grey River Argus
20 September 1887
Volume XXXV
Issue 5984
Page 4
THE VANCOUVER COLLIERY DISASTER.
The directors of the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company (Limited) are about to lay before their shareholders in the form of a circular the further information they have received relative to the disaster which occurred at Nanaimo on May 3 last.
The explosion occurred in the new diagonal slope in the north level of the East Field Mine at 6.55p.m., at which time about 177 miners and laborers were at work underground, of whom seven only survived. Of the 170 miners who perished 36 were English, nine Scotch, nine Welsh, five Irish, and the remainder of other nationalities, including a few Americans, and there are 46 widows and 126 orphans, many of whom are in great distress.
Immediately after the explosion the No. 2, or airshaft (situated nearly 100 yards from the main shaft) caught fire, and in a short space of time the ventilating fan and engine-house at the surface were entirely destroyed.
In the meantime streams of water were got to play on the main pit-head works, which were saved. The after-damp was so powerful that although several attempts were made to rescue the men, only seven were rescued alive, while one of the rescue party perished. A relief fund has been opened in Nanaimo, and the principal cities and towns on the Pacific coast have contributed literally.
Mr. Rosenfield, the company's agent at San Francisco, has been very active, and has collected over 9000 dols (nearly L2000). The appeal made by the Lord Mayor of London has not been responded to, and the total amount received in answer to the appeal of the directors to the share and debenture holders is L503.
Last edited by GR74; 05-31-2010 at 12:27 PM.
The New York Times
07 May 1887
THIRTY-FIVE BODIES RECOVERED.
NANAIMO, British Columbia, May 6-2 P.M. - The exploring party that went down this morning broke through into the mine and discovered the dead lying in all directions. All hope is now given up of saving any of them alive. Thirty-five bodies were recovered from the mine this morning. The fire is still burning, but is under control. The mine is owned by the Vancouver Coal Company, of London, England.
The New York Times
05 May 1887
THE IMPRISONED MINERS
ALL HOPE OF RESCUING THEM ABANDONED
The Lives Of Eighty-Eight White Men And Over Fifty Chinamen Given Over For Lost
NANAIMO, British Columbia, May 5 - All day yesterday gangs of men were engaged in strenuous efforts to subdue the flames in No.1 shaft of the Victoria Coal Mining Company, where an explosion occurred on Tuesday night. At 1 P.M. it was thought they had the fire under control. The Merriweather steam fire engine did good work pumping water from the harbor down the shaft, the hand fire engine having been taken down the mine to fight the fire from the level. It will be impossible to make an attempt to get at the imprisoned men until the fire is subdued, for by doing so it would drive the gas onto the fire and cause a second disaster. There is little hope of rescuing the men alive, but an effort will be made at the first possible moment to reach the imprisoned miners. Over one-half of the injured and imprisoned men leave wives and families to mourn their untimely end. The names of those already known to be killed and injured and those now in the ill-fated mine are as follows:
THE DEAD
WILLIAM DAVIS, WILLIAM CRAVEN, SAMUEL HUDSON, JOHN SMITH, FREDERICK WATSON, Seven Chinamen.
The injured are George Davis, John Jones, I. Stone, Sr., John Lynch, and Jules Michael. Richard Gibson, the owner of the mine, escaped with a few cuts above the face.
Following is a list of those now imprisoned in the mine, as near correct as can be obtained at present:
No.1 Level - George Bowden, George Simmons, T. Martin, David Ellis and his son Arthur; Benjamin Popplewell, James Thomas, Joseph Watson, Edward Johns, David Morgan, Edward Wilkins, Edwin Benten, -- Wobank, James Campbell, John Malcolm, Robert Buffington, J. McGuffie, Robert Fallon, James Milton, William Bene, William Gilbert, John Richards, J. Forest, Joseph Thompson, Michael Lyons, Andrew Muir, W. Campbell, J. J. Smith.
New Slope - Daniel Dawson, R. Burns, Thomas Perry, Robert Nicholson, Jonathan Blundell, George Beggs, George Dawson, T. Hughes, Charles Drake, C. Willis, William Hogue, James Lyons, William Hoy, John Miles, Alexander McDonald, William Scaler, Frank Tulley, William Stephenson, A. Meakin, and J. Gorman.
No.5 Level and Slope - M. Corcoran, Malcolm McLean, Peter Bucca, Joseph Tollardo, Nicholas John, Roderick McDonald, W. J. Morgan, S. H. Meyers, T. Allen, and H. Brum.
No.3 Level, North - George Old, Abram Lewis, John Wobank, Chipey Wobank, Evan Jones, Thomas Evan, William and James Davey, J. H. Westfelt, Archibald Muir, Henry Lee and his son, Hudson Lee; Robert and John Stove, William Ridley Joseph and Andrew Martin, Oleo Bertram, Herbert Bevilockway, William Lukey, Sr., William Lukey, Jr., James Hogan, J. Byers, and James Isbister.
It is estimated that there are between 50 and 75 Chinamen in the mine.
Jules Michael, one of the injured, stated that he was sitting in his cabin at supper in No.2 shaft. He felt the concussion. All scrambled out. He became insensible. Only one of his four companions was saved. The dead bodies of the others came up in the cage with him. Several of those rescued hardly appreciate their escape, owing to the dazed feeling which characterized all who came out from the deadly pit. Michael was only 150 yards from the entrance to the shaft when the explosion occurred. He represents it as something terrific. All became darkness.
John Lynch was badly injured about the face and hands and had his hip fractured. His mind has been wandering since the accident, his talk being of work in the pit. It is thought that he will not recover owing to his having inhaled gas. The others were not seriously injured, though badly shaken up. Samuel Hudson's heroic death is unaccountable. He was a miner of great experience, while those who went down with him to rescue their fellows were comparatively inexperienced. He died from the effects of afterdamp.
All day yesterday gangs of men were endeavoring to extinguish the flames in No.1 shaft, and the fire there is believed now to be under control. Fears are entertained of a second explosion of gas, which might blow the whole place up, and old miners say that such a result is possible. If so, the catastrophe would be the greatest recorded in the history of mining. All hope of rescuing anyone in the mines has been long ago abandoned. It is thought that all that men can do is being done to reach them. It was at first thought of cutting a ditch to the salt water, so as to attempt to put out the fire in No.2 shaft by turning a stream of water into it, but the scheme was abandoned. It would only flood the mine, rendering it useless for a year, and would banish any hope there might be of saving the lives of the men.
Imagine the scene. The mines extend out from the shore more than a mile beneath the waters of the harbor, and as one looks over the placid waves he cannot imagine that beneath are imprisoned many dead fathers and sons of 80 families of the little city.
Around the shaft the scenes are harrowing in the extreme. As each cage comes up anxious faces look there for glad tidings that never come, and the hope that there is prospect for the dear ones who died at the post of duty is soon displaced. Mr. Ryden and Mr. Scott, of the Wellington mines, went down yesterday afternoon at the eminent risk of their lives to endeavor to make investigation as to the manner of procedure. Mr. Chandler, of the Wellington mine, has been indefatigable in his efforts to assist in the work of rescue. Indeed, everybody seems possessed with a desire to labor heroically in the arduous and dangerous work. Drs. David Praeger, Eberts, O'Brien and Walker are in attendance, giving all the assistance in their power. A black pall hangs over the city. Business houses are closed, collieries shut up, and the entire population is gathered at the scene of the disaster. Frantic wives, terror-stricken children, and sorrowing fathers hover in the vicinity and mourn over the terrible affliction. Occasional showers of rain cast a dreariness over the already ghostly scene. The imprisoned miners were all old settlers. Their faces were familiar on the city's streets, and there will be many a void in the homes of the people when the terrible tale is told that they are dead. It is almost impossible that any of the men can have survived, though many cling to the hope that some few may be taken out alive. The people do not yet begin to realize the extent of the calamity. When the excitement has passed away the reaction will be terribl. The cause of the explosion is as yet unknown. It is supposed to have been caused by the explosion of coal dust, similar to that which occurred in the Queen Pacific.
The attendance on the dead and suffering in the morning was bad. One drunken fellow seemed to be in charge, and acted in a most brutal manner. He, however, was soon dismissed. The injured are doing well. It is a strange coincidence that at a fatal accident at the Wellington Colliery seven years ago, an alien, on his first shift, was killed. A like thing occurred Tuesday. The men now in the bowels of the earth were on the afternoon shift, from 2 to 10 P.M. The female relatives of the unfortunate miners are frantic with grief. Women with babes clasped to their bosoms, walk up and down in front of the shaft sobbing and moaning. Swarms of terrified Chinamen are on the grounds.
It was believed at a late hour last night that the fire in the air shaft had been extinguished, and that only a small body of flame existed between the air and main shaft, which would probably soon be conquered, when an attempt will be made to force air in, and the work of rescue will begin. One woman in conversation last night lamented the loss of her husband, father, and brother - her all. She had given up all hope, and prayed to see her dead husband once more. Hers is only one of many cases. The shift that came up last night reported hearing evidence of a pick striking on the opposite side of the wall. The feeling now is that "while there is life there is hope," but that hope is very faint.
What a heartbreaking story that is to read. Thanks for posting this.Originally Posted by GR74
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On another note, the Nanaimo Museum's new coal mining exhibit opens in mid July. I think the member's-night preview is July 15th.
Did You Know?
The No.1 Esplanade Mine, site of the May 3, 1887 disaster, belonged to Robert Dunsmuir's main rival but it was here, at the bottom of the shaft that Dunsmuir and Sir John A. MacDonald toasted the completion of the E&N Railway.
An item in the latest Nanaimo Museum newsletter indicates that the #1 mine's whistle (which used to be at City Hall) is now part of the new coal mine exhibit at the museum.
- see page 1 of this thread for a picture of the whistle, with member GR74
quote from the newsletter:
from here:Built with help from movie set designers, the new coal mine shaft is as close to an actual mine as most people will ever get. The exhibit has the look and ambiance of an underground shaft complete with coal cart, tools such as drills, picks and shovels, as well as a nomadic winch. There is also the famous No.1 Mine Whistle, various rescue and blasting equipment, an interesting geology
component, a new and improved interactive coal mine map and panels on how coal is formed.
http://nanaimomuseum.ca/web_documents/2010july.pdf
Courtesy Vancouver Island Railroads by Robert D. Turner.
Last edited by GR74; 08-21-2010 at 10:04 PM.
This can be seen along Front Street beneath the Nanaimo Museum.
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