Joseph Walton
Joseph Walton was Stellarton’s “Miner Poet in Khaki” during the First World War, one of many Nova Scotian miners who served their country in wartime.
Walton was born in England in 1871 and immigrated to Nova Scotia around 1900 to work in our coal mines. He lived in Reserve, Cape Breton, for about 12 years and then moved to Stellarton, Pictou County, where he worked in the Allan Shaft.
Today the Allan Shaft is the site of Sobeys’ headquarters, an example of how former mines and quarries go on to serve communities other ways after extraction is done.
On the afternoon of June 30, 1924, Walton was one of 74 men underground in the Allan Shaft. He had entered the mine about 3:00 p.m. and was inspecting work on the 1500-foot level when he felt a couple quick tremors in the air.
According to the July 3 edition of the Evening Mail, “At first he thought it might have been caused by a fall of coal, and as he felt the air return to normal again he continued on his course. On his return a few minuets later, he got a whiff of after-damp, those deadly fumes that follow an explosion. His former experience made him realize that this was an explosion, and that the slight tremors he had felt were caused by an explosion probably in some distant part of the mine.”
Walton, an experienced coal miner, was right. An explosion had taken place on the 962-foot level.
The cause of the explosion was not clear. Two shots had been fired there about 1:50 p.m., but the men involved said everything appeared normal afterward and there was no fire. It was not until about two hours later that the explosion occurred.
Having smelled after damp (carbon monoxide caused by the explosion), Walton knew the danger he and his fellow miners were in. It was common for miners to survive an explosion but to be suffocated by after damp. He rushed to the stables and grabbed the boy who took care of the pit ponies. They hurried through the after damp, hoping it would not overcome them.
Walton and the boy both felt the effects of the gas, but they reached good quality air at what was called Haley’s Landing. They carried on and again encountered gas on the 1200-foot level.
They saw no one else until they came across Sido Lawrence at the bottom of the mine’s shaft. Walton gave them instructions on what to do if he did not return, and he then went in search of any miners in need of help. He eventually found two other men and, satisfied that there was no one else in that area of the mine, they returned to the shaft where the cage (elevator) was waiting to hoist them to surface.
Walton was lucky but four other men - John D. Walsh, James Scully, Hugh Mclnnes and Dominic VanLarkin - were not. The were killed by after damp as they tried, as part of a larger group, to reach surface. The seven others in the group survived because they happened on a broken compressed air pipe and its good air helped them escape.
The cause of the explosion was never determined. According to the Nova scotia Department of Mines’ annual report for that year, “The general opinion was and is that the explosion was the result of fire resulting from the two shots fired in the 962 workings that afternoon, but the evidence was so strong that the places were thoroughly examined after the shots were fired that the actual cause must remain unproven.”
The Evening Mail said that Walton “has been in other disasters of a like nature,” but did not offer any details.
Historical accidents are partly why Nova Scotia’s mining and quarrying industry is so safety-focussed today. The industry has reduced its injury rate by 90% since the Westray inquiry report was released in 1997.
The newspaper referred to Walton as “a returned man,” meaning he had been honourably discharged from the military after serving in WWI.
Walton was 45 years old when he enlisted in 1915, but the Evening Mail reported that “Private Walton, when he first made the application to enlist, was turned down on the plea of being over age, but he says he just grew young again and thus succeeded in getting to the front.”
He served with the Canadian No. 1 tunnelling company in France during 1916. The static trench warfare in WWI caused tunnelling companies to be formed by both sides to dig below enemy positions. Explosives placed in tunnels underneath the enemy were triggered, killing many soldiers and destroying defences. Tunnelling companies also dug subways, cable trenches, saps, and underground chambers for signal or medical services. Extensive networks of tunnels were dug behind Allied front lines, allowing for movement of men and supplies into the front trenches without enemy detection.
Walton’s son also served, and he saw his son in France. In one of several letters he wrote to the Evening Mail during the war, which he signed as “Joseph Walton, miner poet” or “The Miner Poet in Khaki,” he proudly pointed out that his son had been promoted twice.
In another of his wartime letters, he made an emotional appeal for improving care for people with tuberculosis (aka consumption): “My wife suffered ten years before she died with the disease. If I were a man of means I am sure it would be my first desire to give my aid to build a hospital to combat consumption…I am a very poor man myself, I would willingly give part of my time to help in the work of getting aide for the institution, to give aid to the suffering poor.”
He closed the letter with a short poem: “We cheer for the boys who leave for the front/Our patriotism is not far to seek/Our duty also to the sufferer at home/Is for the strong to help out the weak.”
Walton wrote a poem called “To the Boys of the 25th” which the Evening Mail printed before the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles) left for Europe.
Walton was discharged in 1916 because he was, as military records put it, “overage” and had rheumatism which sometimes gave him “Pains in back and legs when exposed to wet and cold.” He had had rheumatism while living in England, but it had improved during his years in Canada. It worsened again in the terrible living conditions soldiers had at the front and made it difficult for him to march and carry his pack. He was considered healthy enough to work at a military base, but no position was available, so he was discharged and returned to mining.
Walton wrote a poem called “The Last Message” to honour the 88 men killed in the 1918 Allan Shaft explosion, the worst disaster in the Pictou coalfield:
God cares for you, our Dearest ones,
Adieu, to you, Adieu
And to our neighbours, and our friends,
Farewell, Farewell to you.
Tho’ we are gone, And you are left
To tread this vale alone,
By the Grace of God, we’ll meet again,
Around His Glorious throne.
Joseph Walton passed away in 1941.
Sobeys' headquarters, on the site of the reclaimed Allan Mine.
The Allan Shaft in 1926-27. Photo credit: Museum of Industry.
