Thorburn Coal Mines
There was an explosion at the Vale coal mine in Thorburn, Pictou County, in 1885. As the Department of Mines annual report for that year put it, “The cause of the explosion at the Vale Colliery is a matter of dispute amongst experts….”
The Pictou Coalfield was known to be particularly “gassy” and this made it a difficult coalfield to mine safely underground.
Methane is a gas formed as organic matter decomposes in the absence of oxygen, such as when plants die in wetlands, marshes and swamps – the sorts of places where coal usually forms. The methane is trapped in the coal as it forms and is released as coal is mined.
Methane is a greenhouse gas. It is also combustible, which is why it has always been a safety challenge in underground coal mines. It is essential that it be vented out of a mine, so it cannot pool and trigger fires and explosions.
The one thing everyone agreed on after the Vale tragedy was that gas had been ignited in a new tunnel, causing the explosion. How exactly this happened remained a matter of dispute.
An inquest was held shortly after the explosion, as was the usual practice. Due to a number of miners having been killed, and survivors whose memories were faulty, likely due to trauma, the evidence was not conclusive.
Underground manager Thomas Turnbull, who was not in the mine at the time of the explosion but played a key role in rescue efforts, believed he had figured it out. Turnbull testified to the inquest that miner John Walter Fraser was preparing a blast at the mine face but was stopped by the roof (ceiling) in the new tunnel being “crumbly.” The men in the vicinity, according to Turnbull, gathered to discuss what to do.
Turnbull testified, “I think the explosion was caused by a sudden out-break of gas from the roof of the main slope (new sinking). Judging from the position of John Grant's body I am inclined to think that while the men were in consultation he was sent to the extreme point of the pit to see what the trouble was, and that he had gone only a few feet when the gas met his open lamp and the explosion occurred."
The Morning Chronicle newspaper of Halifax quoted Turnbull as saying, "The roof was very bad and there was a gaseous strata above the roof, but we had so much air travelling through the mine that gas so quickly diluted itself with the air current that we did not think safety lamps or other precautions were necessary.”
Turnbull also criticized Department of Mines staff, saying the inspector of Mines, Edwin Gilpin, and the local deputy inspector, William Madden, were rarely seen at the Vale mine. He said neither had inspected the new tunnel where the explosion had occurred.
Gilpin and Madden were present as Turnbull criticized them but said little in response. Madden testified that he had been in the mine six weeks earlier, and that he had never heard of gas being in the new tunnel. He also said that he had never seen a need for safety lamps, which reduce the likelihood of igniting gas, in the mine.
The inquest concluded that the explosion was the result of “some cause unknown to the jury….” It recommended that safety lamps be used more in the mine, a recommendation the company did not adopt.
Deputy inspector Madden’s response to Turnbull’s criticism only appeared a year after the explosion, in the Department of Mines’ 1885 annual report which was published in 1886.
In it, Madden wrote that he had visited the Vale 22 times in 1885. He also wrote he arrived at the mine on February 12, two days after the explosion, because “I was in Cumberland County at the time…” and that he “remained for some length of time investigating the cause of the accident.”
A Department of Mines inspector would usually go into a mine in the immediate aftermath of such a tragedy, often to help with rescue efforts as well as to determine the cause. However, in the next paragraph, Madden wrote that he went into the mine on April 6 to examine the site of the explosion. His critics also said that he did not investigate the scene until that late date. The emergency was over by the time Madden arrived onsite on February 12 so his help was not needed immediately, but such a delay in entering the mine is puzzling.
After inspecting the mine in April, Madden disagreed with Turnbull about the cause of the explosion.
He noted that there had been two “check doors” – doors used to help control the flow of air in the mine – at the 1300-feet level underground. When closed, the doors directed air flow deeper into the mine. However, when left open, the doors directed the air toward surface: “…thus the lower part of mine would be cut ·off from the air communication, which, if allowed for any length of time, would undoubtedly accumulate gas; from appearances, I would judge this to have transpired, and gas to have been generated in the manner supposed.”
Madden theorized that the doors had been left open for a period, allowing gas to accumulate, and that when they were subsequently closed, the gas was carried by the restored air flow deeper into the mine where it came into contact with the lamp of miner Pat Foley who was working about 100 feet from the mine’s bottom. Foley’s lamp would have ignited the gas, causing the explosion.
Madden believed this, in part, because Foley was “burned almost to a crisp, whilst two-thirds of the men below him had scarcely a singed hair.” In other words, Madden believed the explosion occurred, and was most intense, at Foley’s location, and not at the working face where John Walter Fraser had been preparing to do a blast.
Madden argued that the pattern of the damage also supported this theory. For example, he wrote that wooden supports in the mine were most damaged at Foley’s location and less so further from Foley.
Madden and Turnbull’s differing interpretations of the evidence were never resolved. It is worth noting that Turnbull blamed government inspectors and denied that the company bore any responsibility for not requiring safety lamps or other precautions. Madden, on the other hand, suggested the ventilation system had been interfered with and that this caused the tragedy, effectively blaming the miners and company.
In total, thirteen men lost their lives and five were seriously injured in the explosion. John Walter Fraser was among the dead. Pat Foley’s wife gave birth the same day Pat’s body was brought to his home in Westville. A total of thirty-one children were left fatherless by the explosion, according to James M. Cameron’s book, The Pictonian Colliers.
Despite a belief that the Vale mine did not have significant gas issues, there were two other incidents in September 1885 in which men were burned by their open lamps coming into contact with gas, and the mine was shut down in 1889 due to a fire.
Historical accidents like this are a key reason why the modern mining industry is so safety-focussed. Nova Scotia’s mining and quarrying industry has reduced its injury rate by 90% since the Westray inquiry report was released in 1997. We believe the most important thing to come out of a mine is the miner, and our modern safety record reflects this.
The Vale was the first coal mine in Thorburn. It opened in 1867 and operated until the 1889 fire. It was operated briefly on a small scale from 1917-20 when a new tunnel was sunk to try to recover the workings abandoned in 1889. It was later reopened in 1946 by the Acadia Coal Company and closed again in 1972.
The last coal mine in Thorburn was the modern Thorburn surface mine which was operated in the late 1990s by Pioneer Coal. The site was reclaimed around 2000 as the company extracted the remaining coal, removed old buildings and equipment, stabilized the land and returned it to nature. “Before and after” pictures of the reclamation are below.
Today, before getting operating permits, mining and quarrying companies must get government approval of reclamation plans and post-reclamation bonds (money in escrow, basically) that ensure funds are available to properly take care of sites. Reclamation is a key part of the mining process in the modern era.
Reclaimed Thorburn mine.
Supervisors and foremen of the Vale mine in 1886. Thomas Turnbull is in the second row, third from left, with the dark beard. Thanks to the Museum of Industry for the photo.
