Springhill Mine Disaster (1891)

DESCRIPTION: "Hark, the horn blows loud and long, There is something wrong ... One hundred three and twenty Of our Springhill miners dead Killed in the bowels of the earth Where none could hear their cries"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs)
KEYWORDS: death mining disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb 21, 1891 - Springhill Disaster
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 185, "Springhill Mine Disaster (1891)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SPRINGH2*
Roud #2713
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "La Complainte de Springhill (The Lament of Springhill)" (subject)
NOTES [522 words]: February 21, 1891: Springhill Coal Mine explosion kills 125 men. (Source: our roots/nos racines (Canada's local histories online) Story of the Springhill Colliery Explosion: comprising a full and authentic account of the great coal mining explosion at Springhill Mines, Nova Scotia, February 21st, 1891, including a history of Springhill and its collieries by R.A.H. Morrow.) - BS
The Springhill region of Nova Scotia was almost unpopulated as late as 1860; Brown, p. 7, says that there were only about twenty people there at the time, even though coal had been found as 1827. Then the mines were opened. By 1890, the population of the town was close to five thousand. The area was probably called "Spring Hill" because there were many springs in the area.
Smith, pp. 41-42, says that the Springhill Mining Company was formed in the 1870s, and by the 1880s there were five mines producing 2000 tons per day. More than 1300 people (many of them boys) were employed. Springhill was incorporated in 1889.
The exact details of what happened could not be reconstructed (Brown, p. 14). Smith, p. 44, says that the blast took place around 12:30 p.m. on February 21, 1891; Brown, p. 14, gives the time as exactly 12:43. It is suspected that it was caused by exploding coal dust. The best guess is that one Thomas Wilson and two helpers were setting off a blast in the "number three bord," and it lit up the dust (Brown, pp. 13-14).
There were two connected mines; those who died in the east mine were mostly killed by blast; those in the west, by gas (Brown, pp. 14-15. Brown does not describe the gas except with a vague allusion to white damp, but it was probably carbon monoxide).
As Smith says on p. 15, this tragedy was unlike the later Springhill disasters; there were no miracles in which survivors trapped underground were rescued. Everyone who survived was out of the mine by 2:00 p.m.
Smith agrees with Morrow in saying there were 125 deaths; Brown, p. 15, effectively agrees, saying that 121 were dead plus four who came out alive but later died. There were 13 who were injured byt survived. The youngest known fatality was 12, and there were several dead 13-year-olds. Brown, p. 15, says that there were 17 dead boys aged 16 and younger. There were said to be 57 widows and 169 children who lost their fathers. (Smith, p. 45).
Interestingly, damage to the mine was relatively slight; miners were able to go back to work soon after the dead were cleared out (Brown, p. 15).
An appeal was made for relief funds for the widows and orphans; it had raised the requested $70,000 within two months, with the people of Montreal and Halifax leading the way, supplying about $22,000 and $16,000, respectively (Brown, p. 19).
This was not the last disaster in the Springhill coal mines; there was a second in 1956, and a third in 1958. Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl documented the 1958 tragedy in "Springhill Mine Disaster (1958)."
Roger David Brown titled his book Blood on the Coal: The Story of the Springhill Mine Disasters, 1976. Obviously the temptation is to assume that the title is from Peggy Seeger's song, but I don't know. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 6.2
File: CrMa185

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