Nova Scotia Mining Accidents 1898 to 1916

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NOVA SCOTIA MINING ACCIDENTS
1898 & 1904 - 1916
By
Gerald E. Sherard
(June 2007)
During the earth’s Caboniferous Geologic Period, 250 to 400 million B.C.,
material was deposited that eventually transformed to coal. At that time most of Nova
Scotia was a flat, hot, moist plain covered with steaming swamps thick with tall trees and
wide spreading ferns. Scientists estimate that it took about eight meters of compacted
vegetation to produce one meter of coal. Canada holds close to 10 billion tones of coal
reserves, more energy than all of our oil, natural gas and oil sands combined. Although
most of Canada's coal lies at depths of 300 m or more, more than 90% of the coal now
mined comes from surface mines. Some of the coal seams are as much as 15 meters
thick. Canada's only known body of anthracite was discovered in northwestern BC;
bituminous coal is found in NS, NB, Alberta and BC; sub-bituminous, in Alberta; lignite
in Saskatchewan and BC. In NS, most of it is under the seafloor; in western Canada,
which has about 97% of the country's coal, almost all of it is located hundreds of
kilometers from either the Pacific tidewater or central Canada.
The first coal mine in Canada was started in 1720 on Cape Breton Island, Nova
Scotia. Gold was discovered in British Columbia in 1852. Prior to 1920, mining was an
unhealthy and dangerous occupation. There were no rules to ensure safety in the
industry, whether in the mine, mill, or smelter. In the early 1900s, laws to improve and
monitor mine safety were enacted by the province government.
Accidents sometimes occurred on the way to and from work. Once the miner got
to the mine, he was lowered down a poorly lit shaft in an ore bucket or cage, often several
hundred feet, to his working level. How would you like to ride up an ore bucket or wait
for a ride if you and your co-workers had to suddenly escape from a mine shaft several
hundred feet down? Once down to his working level, the miner had to contend with
moving tram cars, steam lines, electric wiring, machinery of various types, and the heavy,
hot, and massively vibrating drills. Supporting timber if poorly positioned, or if the wood
became water-soaked and rotten, or with minor shifts in the earth’s crust, tons of rock
would suddenly fall, trapping or crushing the miners. The mine’s structures and supports
were wood, and fire was a constant threat.
Coal mines were often filled with odorless and tasteless methane gas. Canaries,
birds that were easily stressed and sensitive to toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and
methane, were used up until the 1980s when they were replaced by hand held electronic
detectors. Coal mine explosions due to methane gas have continued to the present. As
many, perhaps more, men have died from gases and lack of oxygen (known as “after -
damp”) than have been killed by the blast and heat. Mine explosions often are caused by
a combination of factors, including concentration of methane in air, formation of clouds
of dust, and the presence of a flame or spark.
The worst Canadian mine disaster occurred June 19, 1914 at the Hillcrest Mine,
Hillcrest, Alberta. 189 miners were killed by a methane gas and coal dust explosion
ignited by a spark. Nova Scotia’s major mine accidents, their causes, and number of
men killed are as follows: