Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 1 56 age methane. Something can ignite a layer of dust, which in turn ignites the gas. We also know that the mine was at that time operating under relatively lax safety measures. Miners were allowed to smoke cigarettes and, though headgear that used lightbulbs (and not, by extension, an open flame as the source of illumination) was available, they were not used in the mine. There was a war on, after all, and those resources needed to be gathered as cheaply as possible to support the troops, or so someone must have reasoned. Whatever started the conflagration, the explosion oc- curred deep enough in the mine that people on the surface didn't hear or feel it, and could only tell that something bad had happened when a particularly foul-smelling smoke began to rise from the bowels of the mine. The initial explosion killed 30 men instantly, but more than 40 died of wounds sustained in the blast or inhalation of poisonous gases. Heartbreakingly, a small group of men managed to hole themselves up in a stove and, though they succumbed to the gas after about two hours, they were able to scrawl some chalk messages on the walls and the lid of a dynamite box. One of them read, "Goodbye Wifes and Daughters. We died an easy death." SPECULATOR MINE The worst disaster in the history of Montana mining occurred on June 8th, 1917, and began in the depths of the Granite Mountain mine. An electric cable, ironically a component of a new fire safety system, was being installed in the shaft, but something went wrong, and it fell, sustaining damage. In the dark, 2,500 feet deep, a foreman crouched to inspect the coiled cable with his carbide lamp. The cable had a safety layer of lead around the oil-soaked cloth used to insulate the electric cord, but some of the lead had been stripped away during the bungled installation. The foreman, trying to inspect the damage, brought the lamp closer to the frayed cord. The exposed fiber ignited, and spread, and nearly at once the length of the cord caught fire, followed by the timber in the shaft, which had been chemically treated. The land under Butte was a network of interconnected tunnels, with many mines meeting one another under- ground. The Granite Mountain Mine was attached to the Speculator, the Bell-Diamond, the Badger State, and more. Granite Mountain had previously been known as a down- cast shaft, admitting more fresh air than many of the others. Intermittent fires and fire alarms at the nearby Modoc Mine over the previous two months had accustomed some of the miners to trying to escape up through the Granite Moun- tain shaft, which offered a refuge from the smoke. Many men thought that this was another conflagration at the Modoc, and beat for Granite Mountain. In this case, they were running right toward the source of the blaze. Gas also Heartbreakingly, A SMALL GROUP OF MEN MANAGED TO HOLE THEMSELVES UP IN A STOVE AND WERE ABLE TO SCRAWL SOME CHALK MESSAGES. ONE OF THEM READ, "GOODBYE WIFES AND DAUGHTERS. WE DIED AN EASY DEATH."

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