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"Deep
in the mines I fare, Only a candle's glow, Shows with a fitful
flare,
What is the path I go.
Drilling the holes I blast, Getting the copper ore, Tapping the
riches vast,
Nature has kept in store."
Berton Braley
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Disasters,
Strikes and Spies
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Almost two year
after Harry Joe had been in America and two months after the United
States joined World War I, one of the
deadliest disasters in mining
history occurred. With the war industries clamoring for copper,
every mine in Butte was working at full capacity. Demand for copper
was at its peak as every rifle cartridge contained an ounce of pure
copper. Among the mines aiding the war effort was the big
Speculator, with close to 2,000 miners employed on two shifts. On
that fateful June night, a group of men descended in the
Speculator
Mine to inspect an electrical cable that had fallen loose. When the
assistant foreman accidentally touched his carbide lamp to the
frayed paraffin paper that wrapped the cable, it caught fire. The
fire and deadly smoke quickly fanned through the stopes and shafts
of the well-ventilated mine to connecting mines. Over four hundred
men were trapped underground as flame and smoke filled the shafts.
Within an hour, an estimated 163 perished by suffocation or burning
and miraculously 247 men escaped, 25 due to the heroic act of Manus
Duggan who gave his life for his fellow workers. The North Butte
Mining Company estimated damage to the mine at a million dollars. |
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Memorial
to Manus Duggan
a miner who risked his life to try and rescue his colleagues
during the big Speculator Mine disaster.
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The facts
surrounding the fire and the possibility that it may have
been started deliberately, even an accurate account of the
casualties continues to be debated. One undisputable fact
was the shock felt by Butte and the world. With almost 38
countries now represented in Butte, it is perhaps not
surprising that ethnic fighting erupted as men tried to
grapple with their anger and grief. The Irish, who had
previously ruled supreme, were infuriated by the arrival of
the Finns, Slavs and Turks who were prepared to work for
lower wages. Suspicion was directly towards the Finns that
they had been in some way responsible for the fire at the
Spectacular mine.
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Following
the disaster a new union arose, literally, a phoenix from
the ashes. Disgruntled miners, metal workers and smelter
workers formed a Metal Mine Workers’ Union to lobby the
Company for improved working conditions, better wages and
abolition of the ‘rustling card’ and “blacklisting” – the
firing of workers for union membership. To its cost, the
Company totally ignored the efforts of these desperate men.
While funerals for the miners were still taking place,
almost 20,000 men walked out of the copper mines of Montana.
The war
effort brought work to Butte, but with it other fearsome
consequences. Stories of German spies were common, and there
was much talk about a possible attack from German aircraft.
There were all kinds of sightings of the airborne Hun, and
the newspapers ran stories that the hills of Montana were
crawling with the Kaiser’s legions. The immigrant miners
were caught up in this hysteria, much of it based on
ethnicity, the Irish came under particular scrutiny, on
account of alleged pro-German sympathies. Fueled by the
general strike and the spreading frenzy of world war, a
palpable atmosphere of anarchy swept over Butte.
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Armed Guard at the Anaconda Mine |
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