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53:. Some of the deceased did not die immediately; they survived for a day or two in the tunnels. Some left notes written while they waited in hopes of rescue. A few managed to barricade themselves behind bulkheads in the mine and were found after as long as 55 hours. The miners went out on strike to protest working conditions and the many deaths after the disaster.
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Several days after the
Speculator disaster, miners began to walk off the job at copper mines all over the city in protest of the poor working conditions. A meeting was organized and the Metal Mine Workers' Union, an unaffiliated and independent union, formed less than two weeks after the Speculator
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and its subsidiaries for recognition of their union, demanding safer working conditions and wage increases. By the end of June, other trade unions, including the
Electricians, Boilermakers, Blacksmiths, and Metal Trades Machinists of Butte, joined the miners in their strike.
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of June 8, 1917, occurred as a result of a fire in a copper mine, and was the most deadly event in underground hard rock mining in United States history. Most men died of suffocation underground as the fire consumed their oxygen; a total of 168 miners were killed. The
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tried to inspect the damage, he accidentally ignited the oil-soaked cloth insulation on the cable. The fire quickly climbed the cable, and turned the shaft into a chimney, igniting the timbers in the shaft and consuming oxygen in the mines.
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As part of a fire safety system, the mining company was installing an electric cable into the
Granite Mountain mine. The cable fell in an area approximately 2,500 ft (800 m) below the surface and was damaged. When a foreman with a
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The companies resisted the mining union organizers' efforts and chose to work with the other trade unions, acquiescing to many of their demands in hopes of isolating the miners' union and forcing an end to the strike. Around this time,
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The Metal Mine
Workers' Union developed from the labor unrest in Butte, Montana in 1917. The copper mines of Butte produced a strong union presence in the city; by 1887, all of the city's mines were unionized. This
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A Granite
Mountain Speculator Mine Memorial, honoring the miners killed in the fire, was later erected at the site. Some of the notes written by the miners can be viewed at the site. The monument is located at
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101:" persisted until 1914 when internal struggles destroyed the once powerful Butte Miners' Union of the Western Federation of Miners and opened the mines to corporate control.
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Brissenden, Paul F. (December 1920). "The Butte Miners and the
Rustling Card".
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The disaster was memorialized in the song "Rox in the Box" on the album
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328:"Unionism in Butte Mines Contributes to City's Fascinating History"
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copper mines were at full wartime production to support the US in
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Material was copied from this source, which is available under a
276:"Archives West: Metal Mine Workers' Union strike bulletins, 1917"
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Michael Punke: Q & A About the North Butte
Disaster of 1917
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Fire and
Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917
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A total of 168 miners died in the ensuing blaze, most from
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Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
382:"Looking back at Butte's most deadly mining disaster"
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Mine fire. The new union immediately petitioned the
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184:Learn how and when to remove this message
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238:. New York: Hyperion.
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