James Hamilton

James Hamilton died in 1928 in Westville’s Drummond coal mine. Historical accidents like his are partly why the modern mining and quarrying industry is so safety focussed. The industry has reduced its injury rate by 90% since the Westray inquiry report was released in 1997.

James Y. Hamilton was a timberman, meaning he installed wooden posts to help support the roof (ceiling) of the Drummond mine, to prevent rock from falling.

About 8:00 a.m. on Monday, August 13, 1928, he was engaged in this activity when, according to the Nova Scotia Department of Mines’ annual report for that year, “a lump of coal from the roof came away and knocked down the boom and the staging on which he was standing. He fell down head first with the staging and apparently broke his neck.”

According to the next day’s Evening Mail, Hamiton was 50 years old and was killed instantly. He was “well known in Westville and throughout Pictou county.”

The newspaper estimated that about a box load of coal had fallen, “striking him and throwing him from the staging to the surface. It is presumed that the fall caused his death as he landed upon his head. Another miner, William Arnold, who was working nearby, escaped without injury.”

The Evening Mail said, “This morning’s fatality is the first of its kind to occur in the Westville Colliery for some time and the accident has cast a gloom over the whole town. The deceased had only been in the mine a few hours, starting the week’s work, when the accident occurred. He is survived by his wife and several children.”

The death of her husband was a second blow for Hamilton’s wife in less than a week. The Evening Mail reported that she had received a telegram just a few days previously saying that her sister, Mrs. Girvin Fraser, had died in hospital in Saskatchewan.

The Drummond was mined from 1868-1984 when underground mining ended. A surface mine operated at the site in the 1980s and 1990s to complete extraction of the coal and reclaim the land. It also recovered coal from the historical mine’s waste dumps as part of the environmental clean up.

Today the former mine, pictured below, is acres of greenspace and parkland which includes a playground, pond, gazebo, baseball field and heritage signage. The reclamation also fixed subsidence issues so land left unusable by historical mining could be built on.

The Drummond mine, before and after final reclamation.

Acadia Park, part of the Drummond mine reclamation.

Acadia Park, part of the Drummond mine reclamation.

Drummond coal mine, likely around 1880.