1916 — Feb 14, Pennsylvania Copper Mine Fire, Butte, Montana — 21

–21 Gibson. “Butte’s second deadliest mine disaster.” Buttehistory.blogspot.com, 4-17-2013.
–21 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC. Mine Disasters.
–20 Searl, Molly. Montana Disasters: Fires, Floods, and Other Catastrophes. 2001, p. 54.

Narrative Information

Gibson: “Twenty-one men were killed February 14, 1916, in a fire at the Pennsylvania Mine. The Pennsylvania stood at the eastern ends of Broadway and Park Streets, where Parrot Street intersected. That location is within the Berkeley Pit today, about 1,000 feet directly in front of the viewing stand on the rim, as you look across the pit.

“In 1916 the Pennsylvania was one of the major mines, with at least 41 separate structures on the site, ranging from an ice house to the two-story, 40-foot-long change house or dry….

“On February 14, 1916, 220 men were in the Pennsylvania Mine when the fire broke out, probably on the 1200 level near a ventilating fan at an air-shaft station, at about 9:00 p.m. The ultimate cause was never known with certainty. It might have started from an abandoned miner’s candle, or from an electrical short. 195 men were hoisted from the mine within 30 minutes. Five others escaped through the Tramway Mine, whose shaft was nearly a half-mile from the Pennsylvania, and one got out through the Mountain View. Nineteen men were unaccounted for, and were later found suffocated on the 300 level. Two rescuers, wearing Draeger breathing apparatus, also died, probably because the devices were insufficiently charged with oxygen.

“The fire was not fully extinguished until April 5. Concrete bulkheads were constructed to protect interconnected mines from the smoke, and extensive mining work was necessary to control the blaze….

“Resources: The Battle For Butte, by Michael Malone (U. of Washington Press, 2006, especially pages 144, 168, 172, 179-81); The Underground Battle of the Miners, by C.P. Connolly, McClure’s Magazine, May 1907; The Pennsylvania Mine Fire Butte, Mont., by C.E. Nighman and R.S. Foster, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, vol. 57, 1918…. Nighman was the Fireboss and Foster was the Safety Engineer for the Anaconda Copper Mining Co.”

Searl: “….early the next year [1916], a fire in the Pennsylvania Mine took the lives of twenty of the forty men who were repairing the mine…”

Sources

Gibson, Richard I. “Butte’s second deadliest mine disaster.” Buttehistory.blogspot.com, 4-17-2013. Accessed 1-14-2023 at: http://buttehistory.blogspot.com/2013/04/buttes-second-deadliest-mine-disaster.html

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

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