Coal Creek Mine Disaster, 1917, Plaque
This bronze plaque is located on the Miners’ Walk at Fernie City Hall, 501-3rd Ave., Fernie BC It was developed with the support of the United Steelworkers and the East Kootenay District Labour Council, and was unveiled on September 16, 2017.
The plaque was cast at Ornamental Bronze, a unionized foundry in Richmond which has operated since 1928.
This is one of many Plaques around the Province, a project of the BC Labour Heritage Centre which aims to recognize events, actions, episodes, movements, or experiences that played a significant role in the history of the labour movement and working people in all regions of British Columbia.
Coal Creek Mine Disaster 1917
The plaque reads: On April 5, 1917, an explosion in the No. 3 Mine took the lives of 34 men. The mines at Coal Creek generated far more gas than did even the most dangerous of mines elsewhere. Fatalities there were frequent, as were disagreements over safety measures between the miners’ union and officials of the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company. The local union demanded a safer system of shift change, which was won following a bitter but successful strike in 1918. At Coal Creek, there was never again loss of life comparable to that claimed by the disaster of 1917. BC Labour Heritage Centre East Kootenay District Labour Council United Steelworkers Local 9346 2017 Union Made