Not Your Grandfathers Mining Industry, Nova Scotia, Canada

Wilson Beaton

Many Nova Scotian miners served their country during the World Wars working as tunnellers on the front lines. Wilson Beaton, from Leitches Creek, Cape Breton, was one of them.

The static trench warfare in World War One 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.

For example, in December 1914, the Germans detonated 500 kilograms of explosive under British lines and followed on with a successful infantry assault. By February 1915, British men experienced in tunnelling and mining set off their first mine under the Germans.

By 1916, the Canadian Army had raised the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company, C.E. from eastern Canadian recruits. The 2nd Canadian Tunnelling Company, C.E., was recruited in British Columbia and Alberta. The 3rd Canadian Tunnelling Company was formed from mining sections initially created within the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions in France.

In addition to the role tunnelling played in the fighting, 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.

Although precise figures are not known, as many as 1,100 men may have served in the Canadian tunnelling companies during WWI. Approximately 200 were from Cape Breton, according to the Beaton institute. Miners had the unique skills and knowledge needed to tunnel in such difficult and dangerous conditions – quickly, in cramped spaces, and to do so quietly to ensure the enemy did not hear the tunnellers.

Wilson Beaton was born on March 10, 1888, one of five children born to William D. and Mary (Lynk) Beaton.

Beaton, a coal miner, enlisted as a private in the 185th Battalion (Cape Breton Highlanders) CEF on March 18, 1916, at the age of 28. After a year of training in Nova Scotia, including at the abandoned coal town of Broughton, he arrived in Liverpool, England, in April 1917 on the SS Metagama. He served in a number of different units during the war but eventually disembarked in France in April 1918 as a sapper for the 3rd Canadian Tunnelling Company, the unit he served with for the remainder of the war.

After the war, he returned to Nova Scotia in July 1919, disembarking in Halifax. Beaton went back to Cape Breton and resumed working as a coal miner.

He survived the war, but he would meet an untimely death in the Dominion No. 25 mine, which opened in 1941 in Gardiner Mines.

Beaton was one of two men who drowned on May 22, 1943, when they accidentally broke through into the flooded workings of the Old Gardiner Mine. The Old Gardiner Mine opened in 1870 and was closed in 1893 after it was purchased by the Dominion Coal Company. During its somewhat intermittent life, the Old Gardiner Mine produced 132,995 long tons of coal.

An inquiry into the 1943 drownings found that the workings in the Old Gardiner Mine had advanced 325 feet beyond the location shown on the mine’s plans, which were a half-century old when No. 25 opened. As a result, Beaton, and fellow miner Henry Marsh, did not know that the old, flooded mine was in their path.

Beaton was single and had no children.

Historical accidents like this are partly why the modern mining industry is so safety focussed - Nova Scotia's mining and quarrying industry has reduced its injury rate 90% since the Westray public inquiry report of 1997.

Our thanks to the Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion for the research about Wison Beaton, and our thanks to all veterans for their service.