1915 — Oct 19, Granite Mountain Copper Mine Dynamite Explosion, Butte, MT — 16

–16 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC. Mine Disasters.
–16 Safety Engineering, Vol. 31, No. 1, Jan, 1916. “Accidents in Butte Mines,” p. 45.
–16 Searl, Molly. Montana Disasters: Fires, Floods, and Other Catastrophes. 2001, pp. 53-54.

Narrative Information

Safety Engineering: “The greatest loss of life in any acci¬dent recorded for the mining industries of Butte was caused by the explo¬sion of 650 pounds of dynamite, which was on a car and was about to be lowered down the Granite Mountain shaft. Six¬teen men were killed and four were in-jured. The explosion occurred shortly after 1 o’clock in the afternoon, when the shift bosses and nippers were waiting near the shaft to be lowered for work. At¬tempts to define the cause of the explo¬sion have been limited to conjecture. One explanation was that the dynamite was exploded by a rock, falling from the head frame of the shaft, but an experi¬ment proved that the explosion could not have been caused by a stone dropped from a height of 75 feet. A reasonable explanation was that the box of dyna¬mite was struck by a stray bullet from a rifle discharged a considerable distance from the shaft….” (Safety Engineering, Vol. 31, No. 1, Jan, 1916. “Accidents in Butte Mines,” p. 45.)

Searl: “At lunch time at the Granite Mountain Mine on a warm October afternoon in 1915, disaster struck…Sixteen shift bosses and an assistant foreman had finished their lunch and were waiting for the whistle to call them back into the mine. They had gathered around the shaft in preparation to descend, but in the same area, twelve cases of dynamite were stacked, also to be lowered. No one discovered what caused the explosion that occurred just as the 12:30 whistle blew. The men never knew hat had hit them; they were blown to bits. The blast was heard all over the hill and in the valley below….”

Sources

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research.. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update. Accessed at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/disall.htm
and http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/content/allminingdisasters.html

Safety Engineering. Vol. 31, No’s. 1-6, January-June, 1916. NY: Safety Press, Inc., 1916. At: http://books.google.com/books?id=mtcMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr

Searl, Molly. Montana Disasters: Fires, Floods, and Other Catastrophes. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Co., 2001.