Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== BARNES-HECKER MINE CAVE-IN Worst Michigan Iron Mining Disaster and 3rd worst non-coal mining disaster in U.S. history. 3 November 1926 NAMES INCLUDED IN ARTICLES: Buroche, Peter (should be Peter Deroche) Hanna, Jack J. Heino, Arvid Heino, Frank Kirby, Thomas Jr. Mankee, Joseph Wills, Wilfred (only survivor) Lewiston (Maine) Daily Sun Friday, 5 November, 1926 ESCAPES FROM MINE IN THRILLING CLIMB Only Two Men of Little Settlement Survive Tragedy. Disaster Leaves 160 Orphans - List of Dead Reduced to 51. Ishpeming, Mich., - Nov. 4, -(AP)- The little settlement of North Lake which grew around the development of the Barnes-Hecker Iron Mine, eight miles from here, was robbed of nearly every man by the cave in at the shaft yesterday which took 51 lives. Today as the difficult work of attempting recovery of the dead pro- ceeded there were only two men residents to help. The others lay either in a morgue or in the workings where they were caught by the collapse of swamp land and the consequent flooding of the mine. The disaster left 160 orphans and the community school closed today when only six of the 32 pupils came to classes. In the homes widows sat comforting their children summoning their fortitude to give courage to the weaker. The listed number of dead was reduced to 51 this afternoon by official announcement that FRANK HEINO, previously reported among the missing had been kept from working with his regular shift by a fortunate illness. Arvid, his son is among the dead. Only seven bodies have been recovered with about 40 men working to recover the rest. One crew is preparing to ball the wrecked shaft. Another is working to reach the shaft from beneath. Mine officials believe that most of the men were on the first level, 60 feet below the surface. The shaft is thought to be a mass of wreckage from 200 feet below its mouth to the bottom. WILFRED WILLS 23, the only man in the mine at the time of the cave in to escape, told today how he climbed the 800 foot shaft ladder in 10 minutes while ooze licked higher and higher at his feet. His boots were coated with mud when he emerged. Three companions who started with him were caught either by rising mud or falling debris in the shaft. BELIEVE ONE OF MINERS IS ENTOMBED ALIVE ALL HOPE FOR 50 OTHERS, WHO WERE CAUGHT IN CAVE IS ABANDONED. Ishpeming, Mich., Nov. 4 - (AP)- Emtombed in a concrete pump house, 1,000 feet below the earth's surface and beneath the flood of water, quick sand and muck that wrecked the Barnes-Hecker Mine yesterday, one of the 51 miners who were caught in the cave in may be alive. While all hope for the safety of the other fifty was abandoned today, engineers said the man in the concrete coffin at the bottom of the shaft is alive, providing the pipe lines that carry air from the surface were not broken as tons of earth and water fell into the mine. The only hope in which a spark of life exists is that of PETER BUROCHE, the pumpman. The pump house has always been tightly closed so that pumps may be kept in operation even though the lower levels were flooded. If BUROCHE is alive it may take days to reach him, as rescue workers would still have to dig through hundreds of feet of sand and clay. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Lewiston (Maine) Daily Sun Friday, 5 November, 1926 WILL ATTEMPT TO RECOVER BODIES FROM MINE GRAVE Water Receding From Flooded Pit, But Huge Task Remains. Months of Labor Believed Necessary Before the Bodies Can Be Removed ISHPEMING, Mich., Nov. 5 - (AP) - The honeycombed workings of a number of abandoned iron mines today were lending a helping hand to the men engaged in the difficult work of re- covering the bodies of the miners entrapped in the cave-in at the Barnes-Hecker Mine here Wednesday. The seeming impossibility of the task of ever clearing the flooded pit took on a more encouraging aspect late last night when the water which filled the shaft began receding of its own accord. Mine engineers ex- pressed the opinion that the water had broken through to underground caverns of adjacent worked out iron mines. Shortly after midnight the waters in the main shaft had dropped to 400 feet from the surface and were still receding. The entire district is honeycombed with these huge caverns and officials are hopeful that the waters may be drawn off by this method in such quantities as to at least clear the first level where it is believed many of the 44 bodies unaccounted for may be found. This will consume weeks or months, officials of the mine fear, but nevertheless they are going ahead with the work and have announced their determination to bring to the surface for proper burial the bodies of the victims. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Reading (Pennsylvania) Eagle Sunday, 7 November 1926 HUNTING BODIES OF DROWNED MEN IN IRON MINE DANGEROUS WORK IN SHAFT IN MICHIGAN GOES ON VERY SLOWLY Ishpeming, Mich., Nov. 6 - (AP) - Penetrating 420 feet down into the wrecked shaft of the Barnes-Hecker mine workmen engaged in clearing the shaft this afternoon encountered conditions which indicated that little if any water would be found below the first level on which 13 of the 51 men killed in Wednesday's disaster are believed to have perished. Mine officials today expressed the opinion that the shaft probably was filled with sand nearly to the first level, 600 feet below the surface. From a point 420 feet down, the workers could see a huge mass of tim- bers, criss-crossed in the shaft like a log jam. Three of the workmen managed to climb through 20 feet of the log jam and reported that there was no indication of water below them. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS This morning, the big pump which has been sucking water out of the pond at the cave-in, 1,600 feet east of the mine shaft, was put out of commission temporarily when ground underneath it, at the edge of the huge hole, slid into the water, leaving the pump and its platform sus- pended in the air by ropes anchored to the bank. The average depth of water in the cave hole is about 10 feet and mine officials hold that it would be extremely dangerous to attempt to get further into the mine un- til this hole has been pumped dry. A plan for permanently rehabilitating families of the 51 men who lost their lives was being worked out by officials of the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, owners of the mine. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ludington (Michigan) Daily News Tuesday, 9 November 1926 RECOVER 3 BODIES FROM MINE SHAFT Miners Who Tried to Escape Up Ladder Are Found in Jam. Ishpeming, Mich., Nov. 9 - (AP) - The bodies of THOMAS KIRBY, JR., and JACK J. HANNA were recovered from the wrecked shaft of the Barnes-Hecker mine early this morning. They were found lodged in the timber jam in the shaft 10 feet below the point where the body of JOSEPH MANKEE was found last night. The timber jam is 44 feet from the surface. KIRBY, HANNA and MANKEE were the three men who were attempting to es- cape from the flooded mine by following WILFRED WILLS, only man of 52 in the mine who got out alive up the ladderway. They were working 800 feet underground on the second level with WILLS, who warned them to run when he felt a blast of air rush through the mine as the swamp land surface broke away and flooded the workings. The three were swept off the ladder road by the inrush of water and muck up the shaft, the ladder breaking to pieces in their hands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------