HOPE GIVEN UP FOR 193 MEN IN BURNING MINE

The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, 1917-06-10, p.1

Dateline: BUTTE (Mont.), June 9.—

Summary

Front-page wire coverage in the San Francisco Examiner of the **Granite Mountain / Speculator mine disaster** in Butte — the worst hardrock-mining disaster in US history. The fire began at **11:45 p.m. Friday, 8 June 1917**, on the **2,400-foot level of the Speculator (Copper) Mine** (North Butte Mining Co.) when a carbide-lamp flame contacted "frayed and exposed insulation on an electric cable." Smoke and gas surged through the connected workings — the Granite Mountain shaft caved for a considerable distance, and miners in the Diamond, High Ore and Tuolumne mines (all linked to the Speculator) were caught up. By midnight Saturday 9 June, **48 bodies recovered**, **193 men still missing and presumed dead** (final toll exceeded 168). **222 miners rescued from the North Butte workings; 60 from the Diamond.** Wire item credits the **Miners' Rescue Organization of Butte** — "most efficient in the world" — with 16 hours of continuous rescue work; National Guardsmen, all city ambulances and physicians, and ~220 safety-first trained men were on scene. "The city has gone into mourning. Flags are at half mast and all public amusements have been suspended." Direct relevance to the family arc: - **JJM was at 423 N. Jackson, Butte** in June 1917 (per his 1918 draft registration + 1917 child birthplace at that address + the c.1917 city directory). He lived through this. - This is **the foundational Butte mining disaster** for the book's mining-accidents thread — every safety-first reference in later Butte coverage (e.g., the 1920-08-17 Butte Miner speech invoking the 1918 flu rescue work) is downstream of the 1917 Speculator rescue organization being mobilised here. - The 1917 Frank Little lynching (1 Aug 1917) and the ensuing Butte labor-unrest summer were directly catalysed by this disaster and its aftermath. - The "carbide-lamp + frayed-insulation" cause became the industrial-safety case study that drove decades of Butte/Anaconda mine-safety reform.

Places

Butte, Montana (primary)
Silver Bow County, Montana (primary)
Montana (context)

Themes

Story threads

Source type

wire_item

Related sources

Transcription

transcription: complete · confidence high

# HOPE GIVEN UP FOR 193 MEN IN BURNING MINE ### Forty-eight Bodies Recovered up to Midnight; Total of 282 Miners Escaped. **BUTTE (Mont.), June 9.**—Up to midnight forty-eight bodies had been recovered from the works of the North Butte Mining Company, and it was estimated that the loss of life was 193, all hope of any of the missing men having escaped having been abandoned. This is regarded as a conservative estimate and it is believed likely that the death list will exceed 200. The rescued in the North Butte numbered 222 and in the Diamond mine 60. The fire started at 11:45 last evening on the 2,400 foot level of the Speculator Copper Mine when a carbide lamp flame came in contact with frayed and exposed insulation on an electric cable. The Granite Mountain shaft has caved in for a considerable distance. All ambulances in Butte and all physicians in the city were summoned to the scene of the accident immediately to co-operate with National Guardsmen and rescue parties composed of miners. Every safety-first expert in the district was also summoned and it is estimated that within a few hours 220 safety-first men, trained to mine rescue work, were at the Speculator and Granite Mountain shafts. The Miners' Rescue Organization of Butte, most efficient in the world, has been in service now for sixteen hours. Every agency of the city and county government has been placed at the disposal of the mine management. The city has gone into mourning. Flags are at half mast and all public amusements have been suspended because of the disaster. The Speculator is connected with the Granite Mountain shaft which has an electric hoist capable of raising seven tons at a speed of 3,000 feet a minute. The Speculator is 2,800 feet deep. This mine is also connected with the High Ore mine, the Diamond mine and the Tuolumne in which it is thought some of the Speculator miners sought refuge.

Open questions

Specific Irish-Catholic / AOH casualties from the Speculator disaster worth identifying — Butte's mining workforce was heavily Irish, and the JJM/Tish AOH cohort would have known many of the 168 dead. A Butte Miner / Anaconda Standard casualty list from June 1917 would name them.
Frank Little lynching (1 Aug 1917) — the labor-unrest tail of this disaster. Worth a dedicated clipping if any Butte coverage surfaces in future uploads.