Five of Canada’s Most Disastrous Mining Tragedies

Every now and then I think it’s only appropriate to write about others who have died making Canada what it is today. To me it’s a good a way to inform others about our history and a great way to memorialize Canadians who have passed away helping to make our country a little bit better.

Some of the mining disasters your about to read you might already know but some have almost been forgotten to the general public.

Drummond Colliery Mining Disaster (1873)

This mining disaster might not be as well known as others but to the residents of Nova Scotia it will never be forgotten. The picture above was drawn by an artist from an eyewitness account of the blast.

The Drummond Colliery Mine was a coal mine that employed 350 men and boys. Their daily routine consisted of blasting; pick axing and hauling coal which at the time was dangerous by itself not to mention the chance of getting “Black Lung” the coal miner’s disease.

On Tuesday May 13, a miner named Robert McLeod set the routine blast charge in the upper coalface in the mine. Somehow an unusual amount of gas was being used to light the charges or something, and when it caught fire the miner spent 20 minutes trying to extinguish the flames. It was to late the damage was done. The mine started to fill with thick smoke and the ventilation in the mine had stopped working which lead to gas vapors building up which eventually caused the mine to blow.

The second monstrous blast blew flames and debris fourteen hundred feet into the air and cause debris to fall on surround communities. Area residents and local provincial newspapers claim the ground shook for hours after the blast.

When the dust settled down the remaining miners who were not harmed started with the rescue efforts. There is no exact word on how many died or how many were rescued, but it is said that the surrounding towns closed shops to mourn the miner’s deaths.

5 days after the accident the community and mine owners decided to back fill the mine with gravel, brush and debris and then flooded it. They did this till the mine was fully hermetically sealed.

Westray Mining Disaster (1992)

The Westray Mine is located in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. This mine was a new only opened 9 months earlier in September 1991.