The West Old & New Vol. III Issue IV April 2014 | Page 23

The Worst Coal
Mine Disaster in
Montana History
Site of the Smith Mine disaster

The Smith Mine disaster was the worst coal mining disaster in the State of Montana, and the 43rd worst in the United
States, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
On February 27, 1943, at approximately 9:37 a.m., an explosion ripped through Smith Mine No. 3, a coal mine located
between the towns of Bearcreek and Washoe. Since it was a Saturday, there was a short crew in the mine. Of the 77
men working that day, only three got out of the mine alive, and one of the rescue workers died soon afterwards. The
report from the United States Bureau of Mines states that 30 of the men were killed instantly by the explosion, and the
remainder died either through injuries sustained in the explosion, or through suffocation from the carbon monoxide and
methane gas in the mine. The explosion was deep underground, and was not even heard from the mouth of the mine,
despite having enough power to knock a 20-ton locomotive off its tracks 0.25 mile (0.4 km) from the blast origin.
All of the bodies were removed from the mine. There is a
highway plaque near the mouth of the mine, which was
never reopened, and there are memorials in the cemeteries in Bearcreek and nearby Red Lodge, the county seat
for Carbon County.
The explosion was attributed to a build-up of methane
gas in the mine. The cause of detonation is unknown, but
various reports note that men were allowed to smoke in
the mine, and that fuses for blasting were lit with
matches.

Memorial of the Smith Mine disaster

Speculator Mine Disaster, Butte
On June 8, 1917, at about 11:30 p.m., a fire began in the 2,400 foot level of the Granite Mountain Shaft of the Speculator Mine. The fire was touched off by a shift boss when his carbide lamp ignited some oil-soaked electrical cable.
Flames roared up the shaft to the surface and into the night sky. Of the 410 men who went to work on the night shift,
165 died. It was the worst catastrophe in the history of Butte mining. (Butte Miner, June 9, 1917)

The West Old & New Page 23