Mansfield Iron Mine Disaster 1893

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Disasters | Mining Disasters | United States Mining Disasters |Northeast United States Mining Disasters | Mansfield Iron Mine Disaster

Contact: United States Mining Disasters

History and Circumstances

• Date: 28 Sep 1893
• Location: Crystal Falls, Michigan
• Victims: 27 deaths
• Cause: Inrush of water into mine

• Names are as they appear on the monument. Those in parentheses are the names found on some of their records.

Identifying the Miners

Newspaper reports were slow in reporting the disaster due to the 6 mile distance to Crystal Falls, Michigan. As a result, there were contradictory reports of the number of miners killed in the Disaster. An early article claimed that 45 of the 60 miners working that night had died. Other papers later reported 27 or 28 dead. Some reports mentioned that the majority of Miners were Cornish men and had large families. When in reality, the majority of victims were most likely Italian and Swedish. The facts are difficult to confirm and may never be known.

Due to the confusion and horror of the situation many of the correct names of the miners were lost. Thus, resulting in records each with different and confusing spellings of the miner’s names. A primary source for the mine victims hasn’t been located. The Mansfield Mine Memorial was erected in 26 June 1976 by The Mansfield Memories Bicentennial Committee and had many misspelled names. The FindAGrave Memorial page was created June 17, 2014 and appears to have used the Mine Memorial as the source for the names. It is hoped that a document exists somewhere in Michigan that could clarify the names of the victims.

Rescue Efforts

Because the mine was quickly inundated with water no one was able to retrieve any of the bodies. A few of the miners, fifteen, on lowest level of the mine were able to escape. The other 27 miners were drowned and no feasible attempt to retrieve the bodies was made.

In , one of the miners bodies was recovered.

Involved:

Tony Buletto, skip-tender

John M. Longyear, one of chief owners of Mansfield mine property

Calhoun & Tenney, Chicago Company land was leased to, formed Mansfield Mining Company (this fact not verified)

Survivors, mostly from lower level

Andrew Sullivan, night boss, lower level, Possibly Andrew J. Sullivan GQ42-5GQ

Results and Findings

Museums & Memorials

• Mansfield Memorial site video
• Mansfield Mining Disaster broken
• Mansfield Mine Disaster Newspaper Article
• Mansfield Mine Memorial FindAGrave

Mansfield Memorial - Christmas 1999

Memorial Names of Victims

Further Reading

• Mansfield Mine Disaster Newspaper Article
• Forty-Five Lost, Mansfield Mine Disaster
• Mansfield Mine Disaster Newspaper Articles on US Mine Disasters
• Michigan Mine Accident Index

Sources

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