On This Date in Minnesota History: June 27

June 27, 1918 – Lightning striking wires connecting powder blasts all ready to set off in the Sliver open pit mine of the M. A. Hanna Company about two miles west of Virginia about 10:30 a.m. this morning, caused the worst mine accident in the history of the Mesabi Range. There were 40 men working at the time, with at least 20 killed or buried alive, and others injured.

1

²Mesabi Open Pit Mine

Up to noon, only one body had been recovered. Steam shovels and rescue crews are at work and it is expected bodies will be rapidly recovered.

It is said that at least nine tones of dynamite went off, some in holes and some in boxes. Most of the men killed are Austrians and Finns.

³Mesabi Miners

The lightning struck the connecting wire running into the different drifts where shots were ready to be set off and in a twinkling the whole rim of the pit seemed to lift up and settle down a great mass of rocks and earth, burying the victims before they had a chance to save themselves. By early afternoon the following day three bodies had been recovered from the debris of rocks and earth.

It is believed that 18 instead of the 20 men reported the day of the accident have lost their lives. The timekeepers and office men of the M. A. Hanna Company made a complete check of the men who reported for work Wed. and Thurs. and have accounted for all but 18 men.

Later that evening Hanna Company management visited the homes of all believed victims in the hopes of finding men who had escaped from the accident, but who did not make their good fortune known. Their visits proved futile.

The charge, for which $6,500 worth of dynamite had been placed in the gopher holes in the slope, was to have gone off at noon and would have been one of the largest in the mining world.

Three shifts of men worked day and night in an effort to recover all of the bodies. Meals were sent to the superintendents and captains at the mine so that no time was lost in the direction of the rescuers.

That afternoon a Sliver steam shovel and one from the Oliver Company started eating away at the tons of rock and earth. The Sliver steam shovel cleared away the railroad track that was buried under the avalanche of debris, while the other machine worked into the slope that was charged.

Powder gas hampered the rescue work. General Supt. C. E. Hendrick of the M. A. Hanna Company led the way into the airhole that was made. It is three feet wide and 14 feet deep. Supt. Hendrick was overcome by the gas and had to be taken to the surface. “Safety-first” methods were employed and he was revived. Other mining men were also gassed. Gas masks were brought late that afternoon from the Elba headquarters of the Pickands-Mather Company and were used by the rescue gang members.

Safety Inspector Krogdahl and a gang of men from the Oliver Iron Mining Company led the rescue work. The miners walked up the steep hill with timbers and pieces of rail. A pipeline to the airhole was also installed and stretches of hose used.

Early in the afternoon there was a slight hope of rescuing a few miners alive, but that was abandoned and the doctors were allowed to return to their hospitals. About 2 p.m., the groans of some of the victims were heard but the rescue gang members were unable to reach them. They were pinned under rocks and timber.

Foreman “Rube” Le Clair was fortunate, being down the railroad track when the blast went off. Five miners had gone to the Oliver shack on the Alpena property, which adjoins the Sliver and were there during the rainstorm. When the rain ended, the men returned to work, and a moment later the lightning that followed the rain set off the charge by striking an electric battery.

A frantic rescue was attempted by H. Alar of his brother Mike Alar, who was trapped in the premature explosion. Four times the would-be rescuer entered the hole leading to the miners and each time was overcome by gas. He was finally prevented from entering the hole, as it was feared he would be asphyxiated.

Members of a shovel gang at the mine ran into a gopher hole to escape the rain and while they were in the hole the lightning struck the battery, causing the explosion. Their lives were snuffed out.

The Sliver Mine got its name due to an error made in a survey by government representatives. On the survey prints the land could not be accounted for and so came the name of “Sliver.”  Half of the land is owned by the state and the other half by private interests.

Sliver Mine 

The Duluth Herald; “Lightning Sets Off Blasts in Range Mine; Score Killed. Nine Tons of Dynamite is Fired by Bolt. Frightful Accident Occurs at Sliver Mine Two Miles From Virginia. Forty Men Working at Time; Many Injured Besides Dead. Rescue Crews With Steam Shovels Are Digging for Buried Men.”; June 27, 1918; p. 1.

The Duluth Herald; “Three Bodies Are Taken From Sliver Mine Debris. Indications Are That Eighteen Instead of Twenty Lost Their Lives. Three Shifts of Rescuers Are Now Working Night and Day.”; June 28, 1918; p. 24.

¹https://www.mininghistoryassociation.org/IronRange.htm

²https://www.gendisasters.com/files/files/novdec2011/virginia_minn_open_pit_mine.jpg

³http://www.miningartifacts.org/Minnesota-MInes.html


There is no memorial for the men lost in this terrible accident. I was told by local historians that their nationalities, as stated above, primarily Austrians and Finns, were not considered important enough to care about. I would hope that this story stands as a memorial to those hard-working men and their families.

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