My Memories, As a Miner and Draegerman,

During the Rescue operations at the Time of the 1956 and 1958 Mine Disasters in Springhill, N.S.

I was a fourth generation coal miner. My great grandfather, Henry Swift, was the underground manager at the time of what has been referred to as "the great explosion", on Feb. 21, 1891. He was among the one hundred and twenty-five men and boys who lost their lives.

My grandfather, Jim Davis, started working in the coal mines at thirteen years of age, and continued there for fifty-seven years, retiring at age seventy, He was almost blind by that time.

My father, Ira Munroe, worked a large part of his life in the coal mines. He worked at the coal face until he retired at the age of sixty-eight.

I started working in # 2 mine when I was sixteen years old, working on the 10-2 wall (10200 feet below ground). I went to night school, studying mining, and later other courses. I was also trained as a draegerman.

1956 started off as if it would be a normal year but trouble for the coal industry in Springhill was on the horizon. # 1 seam was close to depletion as no further development was being carried out, and the tunnel that was being driven from the 5700 foot bottom that was to open up #3 seam was halted.

I was one of the shot-fires on that project. The problem facing the coal industry, especially for Springhill, was that the major customer, C.N.R. was switching from burning coal to diesel.

#1 seam closed in the summer and the miners were transferred to # 2, but some left the area to seek other employment. I was transferred as a relief supervisor on the main slope of # 2 but I could see that coal mining was coming to an end so I was taking courses at night school and through correspondence to prepare me to enter into a different line of work.

One old timer that I worked with at that time, told me that I was wasting my time upgrading my education as in his words, there'll always be a coal mine in Springhill, but he lived to see that he was wrong.

A good number of miners that I had worked with in # 1 seam and were transferred to # 2 lost their lives in the 1958 bump. My being transferred to the position on the main slope of #2 no doubt saved me from being a casualty also.

In May, my wife's half brother, William (Manny) Whittle, was killed in the 13 800 east side long wall from a fall of roof stone.

On Thursday, November 1st, 1956, my wife and I were deer hunting on the Lewis meadow, approximately five miles from Springhill, when shortly after 5:00 PM we heard a loud explosion. At first I thought that one of the large boilers at the mine site had blown up. Then, hearing the steam whistle being blown, I realized that there was a problem at the mines, so we headed for home as quickly as possible.

When we drove into our yard, our neighbour was waiting to tell me that I was wanted at the mines as soon as possible. I grabbed a towel for showering, packed my wife and seven and a half year old son in the car, and headed for the mines. Cars were parked everywhere, so when I got to where McGee and Lower Cowan Streets intersect, I got out of the car and told my wife to drive over to Morris Street to her parents and stay there until I could get back to them – that turned out to be four days!

I proceeded down lower Cowan Street to the wash house to change from my street clothes to pit clothes, and then reported to the draeger house. Frank Stevens, who was normally in charge of the draegermen, was deer hunting up in the Westchester area at the time of the explosion. At that time, he had not arrived back at the mine site, so Lloyd Murray, who was a mine official, was passing out our breathing apparatus machines. (These were McCaa breathing machines that, when activated, were good for approximately two hours, according to the working conditions.)

The first crew that had arrived at the mine site was sent over to the main slope of #4, where the explosion had torn off the top part of the bank head. There they were instructed to go down to the first cross over, stopping between the airway (fan way) and the main slope to see if it was still intact. They were in line for the full force of the deadly gas. While only several hundred feet down in the slope, two of the draegermen collapsed.

I was among those sent in the second team to rescue our comrades. This was my first exposure to the devastation that the explosion had caused on the surface. When we got to the slope there was mass confusion with ones telling us not to touch this or that as it might crumble. When I first looked down the slope and saw Alex Spence and Benny Roy down – draegermen with many more years' experience than I, it made me wonder what chance I had if I went down to rescue them. However, I reflected on the training that Frank Stevens had given us, that is, to make sure that all the fittings on our machines were tight. Neil Ross, who was our team leader, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "We can do it, Harry!" So away we went, with a rope so that those on the surface could help pull the men up.

The first thing we did when we got to them was to make sure that their mouth piece was in place and the nose clip was on. (The equipment then did not have a face mask, but only a mouth piece, much like a scuba divers' outfit, and a nose clip.) We fastened the rope around them, one at a time, and placed them on their backs on the rail, balancing them as they were hauled to the surface. This method was used because the casing over the back of the breathing machine was metal so they slid along quite easily as those on the surface pulled on the rope. I cannot remember which of the two was brought to the surface first due to the confusion at that time, as well as the number of years since the event.

While we were busy down the slope, another tragic event took place. Bill Ferguson, another draegerman, came on the scene and had just stood at the entrance of the slope when he collapsed. By the time they got him over to the fresh air, he was dead.

Meanwhile, Alex Spence, one of the two draegermen we had brought up to the surface, was rushed to the All Saints Hospital, but was dead on arrival. Benny Roy was worked on by the mine nurses and they were able to revive him. Of those who went down the slope to bring these men up, at this time I can only remember Neil Ross, Hilton McNutt, and myself. We headed back to the draeger house feeling very discouraged, having lost two of our fellow draegermen, and as yet we had not even entered the mine to see if others might have survived the explosion.

By the time we had returned to the draeger house, Frank Stevens had arrived. He was a real team leader. He sat us down, explained what might have caused the loss of the two lives, and instilled in us the confidence we should have in the use of our breathing machines. We were also informed that other draeger crews were on their way from other mining communities to assist us.

I volunteered to go on the team that was to enter #4 mine through the explosion doors off #2 fanway at the 33 000 foot level, and go up into #4 main bottom. We were the first team to enter #4 and our team was made up of Vic Hunter, team captain, Amos Gogan, myself, and two others whose names I have forgotten. Our instructions were to survey the damage and to see if there were any signs of life in that area.

We went through two explosion doors up to the under tunnel, which was a tunnel under #4 main bottom, for an escape route in case there was a cave in on the main slope. As we came out on the back slope of #4, everything was deadly silent. We proceeded to where the back slope chain runner, Ephrain Alderson, was. He had been killed instantly from the force of the blast. We looked up the slope toward the hoisting engine, but due to a fall on the slope, we could not see Jack Ward, the hoisting engineer. (As a point of interest, Jack had traded shifts with Lee Blenkhorn on that particular day.)

We next proceeded toward the main slope. Halfway across the main bottom on the low side was a short tunnel housing a haulage engine for spotting the boxes (coal cars). We stopped to check this area. Gerald Dawson had been walking toward the haulage engine when the explosion occurred and he was lying face down, elbows outstretched. I remember grabbing him by one of his elbows, but he was now rigid. Burrel Pepperdine, who was operating the haulage was apparently first pushed back in his seat from the force of the explosion and then, as it passed, was pulled under the haulage drum. We then proceeded to the main bottom where we found the body of Lester Fisher. We neither had the time, nor were equipped, to recover their bodies at that time. There were fires burning on the main bottom from mine timbers, and the time period for our breathing machines was coming to an end, so we had to retreat from the area, return to the surface, and report our findings.

By this time, draeger crews from other mining areas had arrived to give us support. Next, the intention was to establish a fresh air station in the under tunnel of #4 by opening the explosion doors from #2 fanway slightly, to allow fresh air to enter and to save precious time for the dragermen as a place to rest. However, the fresh air entering the mine caused the fires to flare up, so our next task was to build stoppings around these areas to cut off the oxygen using brattice cloth (canvas impregnated with tar to make it air tight). This was then coated with a putty-like substance made from stone dust and water to make it fire retardant. A number of the draeger crews worked on this project. I worked with the team that had Raymond (Ray) Maddison as our captain. We were using copper hammers and nails for the building of these stoppings to prevent sparks, as the danger of another explosion was ever present. In talking to Kenneth Warren, who had worked in both #1 and #4 during the summers while going to college, I learned that he was one of the volunteers to assist in the rescue work. One of his tasks was mixing and carrying the putty for the stoppings being built.

On Saturday, before noon, some of the men from down in the deeps had made their way to the fresh air station. Charlie Burton and the others told of survivors, referring to Conrad Embree and the group under his leadership at the 5400 foot level.

A haulage hoist was set up on the auxiliary slope leading down to where Conrad Embree and his group were holed up. This took some time and then we had to wait for special oxygen cylinders and masks for those trapped men. The fear was that if they saw the rescue crews they would want to try and escape from their place of safety into the gas all around them, with the possibility that some would be lost. When everything was in place, we descended with a trolley to the 5400 with hot chocolate and coffee and the oxygen masks to rescue these ones. The last survivors were brought to the surface on Monday morning, November 5th.

Fearing another explosion, the mine was sealed with twenty-six bodies still remaining there. On January 19, 1957, the mine was reopened in order to recover those bodies. Number 4 was never opened again as a working mine. Tragically thirty-nine friends and fellow townsmen lost their lives in this disaster. There were many draegermen, bare faced miners, and other volunteers who deserve credit for their bravery and efforts to save their fellow men. The Canadian Liquid Air Company sent out letters to all the draegermen who participated in the rescue operation. As well, the story of the mine disaster was included in the December, 1956 issue of "Liquid Air Review", which I have included in this writing.

Some of the Springhill Draegermen during the 1956 Explosion

1957 seemed to be a normal year, with the #4 explosion behind the town for approximately one year, when on Dec. 26, 1957, a fire broke out in Stedman's store on main street. It was discovered at Approximately 10:30 PM. High winds fanned the flames. I was working on the main slope of #2 mine as the relief supervisor on the 11 PM to 7 AM shift. When the work crew and I came to the bank head (surface) at 3 AM, as we looked toward Main Street it appeared that the whole business section of the town was on fire. The Springhill fire department, as well as fire departments from other areas rushed in to assist, had it under control by the next morning. The extent of the damage was clearly visible- fourteen businesses and four private homes had been destroyed. It was another major blow to the coal mining town.

By the start of 1958, with the closures of #1 and #4 mines, the work force had been reduced, and many of the businesses that were destroyed in the 1957 fire did not rebuild, so these events were now bringing about changes to the town's prosperity.

When I first started working in the #2 mine, I had been assigned to work in the long walls, these were 400 feet long. When you would get a "bump" things would shake. The pressure following these would cause the packs and timbers to creak and groan. Then things would start to settle and the air would be full of coal dust for a few minutes before clearing, then everyone would go back to work. These "bumps" occurred as the coal was being mined and the open space allowed the floor of the mine to push up with extreme pressure, much like an earthquake.

On April 18, 1958 a fire started on the west side of the back slope #2, at the 13800 ft. level, between the air slope and the back slope. A tugger rope, which was in use, was chaffing against some overhead timbers, thus starting the fire. I was part of the draeger crew dispatched to the area. We built a temporary stopping (barrier) on the air slope side of the fire to cut off the oxygen while we prepared to lay a water pipe line from a water sump some 800 feet up the slope from us. Thus we had the fire contained between the two stoppings. If we could not get the fire out that would have been the end of the #2 mine.

It took several hours to lay the pipeline and prepare the hoses, leaving the fire to smolder for some time. When everything was ready, the stopping on the air slope was opened, and when the air hit the smoldering fire, it took off with a roar, sounding like a blow torch, but we were able to bring it under control with the water hoses.

A letter of commendation was sent from the Department of Mines concerning this incident to all those involved. My copy is enclosed.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, 1958, shortly after 8 PM, disaster struck. The shock wave from the "bump" was felt throughout Springhill, rattling dishes on the shelves, cracking some foundations of houses etc. The shock wave registered on the seismographs in Halifax's Dalhousie University, approximately 100 miles away.

I was at my father-in-law's home on Morris Street, about one-third mile away from the mine site and it literally shook the house. Fully aware of what had happened, I rushed to the mine, got into my pit clothes, and reported to the draeger house just as some who had survived the "bump" were reaching the surface with stories of the damage.

The "bump" had released a tremendous amount of dust and methane gas, making things extremely dangerous. It had also affected the ventilation system which normally cleared the air. The draeger team I was with went in at the 13400 foot level, almost to the coal loader machine, but the way was blocked from there. On our side of the loader we found three men trapped on the low side of the level. The "bump" had pushed the floor of the level up to the point that they had only about a foot of space from their heads to the roof. All three had crushed vertebras in their backs from the impact of the "bump" under their feet, and if it had not been for the space above their heads, it probably would have broken their necks.

With the fallen debris around them, and because they were buried up to their shoulders, it made for very tight working conditions to rescue them. We had to work on our knees, and used basket type stretchers with runners on them to get them out. These three were Jack Scott from Clairmont, Kenneth Gilbert from Upper Cowan Street, and a fellow worker whose last name was Wilson.

Once the ventilation system was repaired and the mine was cleared of methane gas, the draegermen were no longer required as the rescue work was now being carried out by bare faced miners. I then volunteered to work as a bare faced miner in the rescue work and recovery of the bodies. These were identified by the number on their lamp battery. The bodies were carefully wrapped in plastic sheets and blankets and placed in metal coffins with an air-tight seal at the top. These metal coffins were designed to fit inside a regular casket.

To complete this rescue operation would take 14 days with several highs and lows as the rescue workers pressed on in the hopes that some had survived the bump and was awaiting rescue.

On Sat. Oct. 25th. General Manager Harold Gordon held a press conference expressing his feelings after surveying the underground workings, that there was little or no hope of any survivors. Still the rescue workers pressed on under very difficult conditions, and on Thurs. Oct. 30 they were rewarded for their efforts when 12 were found alive.

This in turn spurred on the rescue workers in their hopes that yet more may have survived the bump and still be alive.

The following day Mr. Harold Gordon held another press conference stating that he could not see how any more could have survived due to the passing of time. Again he was wrong.

Several days later, on Nov. 1st. another 7 survivors were rescued and brought to the surface.

The first to be found was Barney Martin who was a distance below where the other 6 was found. He was in a narrow place between two packs with only enough space to get up on his knees and not able to get himself out without help, so he spent all that time in isolation.

The other 6 were in a group and encouraged one another not to loose hope.