Mining: The Heart of
Westville /
The Coal Mining Legacy
/
The Drummond Colliery
Disaster /
Boiler Explosion /
The Moose River Gold Mine
Rescue /
Highlights of the Coal
Legacy /
The Miners Monument
The Moose River Gold Mine Rescue
A great achievement and
contribution by a crew of Westville miners in the grim
circumstances of mine rescues in Nova Scotia has been sadly
overlooked in history books
In April 1936, an expert
team from the Drummond Mine played a significant role in the
rescue of men trapped in the collapse of the Moose River,
Halifax County, Gold Mine.
As part of the research
for this story, former Westville miner Sid Darroch was
interviewed.
He is the only surviving
member of the Westville crew. Sid was 25 years old when he
took part in the rescue. He read this report and its
supporting documents and verified it, saying, “It was just
as described.”
Now the story…………
The account of the role in the Westville men n the Moose River rescue was compiled from documents and correspondence of Mr. C.D. Sampson, MEME., A.M.E.I.C., member, Mining Society of Nova Scotia, and engineer, Intercolonial Coal Co. Ltd. Westville, in the spring of 1936.
C.D. Sampson was concerned about most of the credit and publicity going to rescue crews from other towns.
Sampson’s files indicate a few members from some of the other crews were touring Eastern Canada and parts of the U.S., carrying news of the rescue, and fears were mounting that only these particular men were being credited for the success of the mission; and that other crews, especially Westville, were not receiving due honor.
With the idea of acquainting the public with the part played by the Westville men, Sampson proceeded to document the events in a series of reports, notes and letters.
Many of the documents dating back to May 1936 were sent to Mabel Johnson by Dexter R. Sampson, son of C.D. Sampson. Mabel Johnson’s father, J.J. Fraser, was one of the men involved in the rescue.
Quoting from one of the letters in his files, Sampson explains that his sole objective is not for any personal gain, “but rather that my men should get their rightful share of the Rescue Fund, not so much for the numbers of hours they spend at the face of the tunnel, which may have been compared to others, but for the nature of their work and the amount of work done for so few hours at such face.”
Moose River is in Halifax County and the area was mined in the 1800s. Abandoned for the next fifty years, in 1934 renewed interest in gold mining caused the Moose River mine to be taken over by a new group. This new company of owners, managers, and miners included Herman Magill and Toronto Doctor David E. Robertson, large shareholders, and Alfred Scadding, hired previously in January of 1934.
During the half-century of idleness, the mine filled with water, the support structures rotted and, due to inactivity, the underground operation had not been inspected for safety. Previous mining at Moose River was done by robbing the natural pillars; however years of abandonment meant timbering was neglected; thereby putting heavy pressure on remaining old timber.
Magill, Dr. Robertson, and Scadding decided to examine the mine in April 1936. When the three men were busy exploring the mine, Scadding mentioned there was more noise than usual. The others, however, didn’t think it was out of the ordinary. Scadding was insistent and Robertson finally agreed they should get back to the surface. They went to the “skip”, which would carry them to surface, but didn’t get far as they saw timber splitting in the shaft. They heard rock falling and realized they were in deep trouble. They were trapped!
This was the beginning of the Moose River Gold Mine Disaster, April 12, 1936.
Previous books and articles have detailed accounts of the rescue effort but the part played by the Westville miners has never been told. The rescue was a combined effort and much credit goes to the Acadia Draegermen from Stellarton, miners from Springhill, and hard rock miners. All teams did an excellent job and the rescue would never been completed without their determination to overcome the problems they faced in digging a tunnel in the worst kind of conditions. The teams had reached the face, expecting to break through to where the men were trapped. This was when the Westville men arrived and did their part.
Just previous to the arrival of the Westville men, Drummond engineer C.D. Sampson asked permission of his general manager, William Maxwell, to contact the Hon. Michael Dwyer, minister of mines for the provincial government, to offer services of himself and a crew of Westville miners.
When Sampson phoned Dwyer, the minister said the face (the part of the tunnel they expected to break through to where the men were) had been established but what they really needed urgently were “experienced face men, men who knew about the brushing and could take charge of the face themselves, men of good judgment and fearless”.
Sampson told Dwyer the Drummond mine qualified in all respects since their everyday work met the minister’s requirements.
At the time, the work being done at the Drummond Mine was called an ‘undercoat operation’ where coal was recovered from a lower part of a seam with no solid roof. This required experienced men to do the brushing, in other words, keep the roof safe. The men chosen by Sampson were “brushers” and “track” men who did this type of work every day. They were experienced and showed little fear.
The first brusher approached was Austin Gammon; he had already been over to Moose River working but had returned home the previous night. Provincial Minister Dwyer requested the service of Gammon who had worked at Moose River some 28 years ago. Gammon did some timbering during the rescue but wasn’t too impressed with the progress and returned home. Yet Gammon volunteered to go with the Westville men, including Henry Lloyd and Edward Robertson and these three, with Sampson, were the first Westville team at the scene. Others to follow were Alan Darroch, Sydney Darroch, Patrick Doyle, John J. Fraser, and John T. Lloyd. All these Westville men worked at the face.
Sampson went to the mouth of the rescue tunnel and took note of the way the operation was handled. He found the saws were dull and no proper procedure existed for ordering timber for use in the tunnel. He organized orders for timber and supplies through the telephone. It was quite some time after their arrival before the Westville men were permitted to go underground.
Before the Westville men went underground, a number of the men working the tunnel had left because of dirt being washed down by the surface rain. This caused uneasiness among the workers, so Sampson asked an official Alex Sample, to build a prop near the foot of the timber approach to the tunnels. A prop was a block of wood, usually 8”X8”X3’, used to hold the roof up.
When the Westville men arrived at the face, they realized a certain amount of timbering had to be done to make it safe. They made it safe and then went to work on the face. The first crew was Austin Gammon, Henry Lloyd (brother of John T. Lloyd), and Edward Robertson. Each man worked for 20 minutes before being replaced, with Sampson staying at the face taking timber measurements. The first crew worked from midnight until 4 a.m., advancing 7.5 feet.
Before 4 a.m. Sampson, sent word to the surface for his second crew, consisting of Allan Darroch, Sidney Darroch, and Patrick Doyle. He wasn’t sure if these men would be permitted underground because there was a strong feeling among the other rescue workers about the Westville men coming to Moose River. When news of the progress of Westville’s first crew became known, the second crew went on duty immediately.
Shortly after Westville’s second crew went on duty, the character of the face changed for the worse. A huge piece of solid rock had come down and was resting on the rails. They tried using the sledge hammer, but the rock was too solid, therefore they decided to cut through the old track ties and mud sills, and use the old timber for a roof. While getting started at this, Mr. Gordon, engineer of the Acadia Coal Company, came down and inspected the face. He was quite discouraged with this new obstacle and agreed that the method of sinking under it would have to be tried. They cleared away the debris from the top of the timber to expose some for a saw cut. They cut through the old timber, some of which was ten inches thick, done by the men while lying on their sides or stomachs, and with only a few inches of play for saw movement. When they were getting near the end of this work, an opening presented itself to their view over towards the left side of the face. By clearing away debris, Sampson was able to crawl partly into this opening and from there called, “Hello, hello,” with a long drawn out call. Shortly, word came up on the phone that Dr. David Robertson, one of the trapped men, thought he had heard a call. [Earlier, a diamond drill sank a 1 ¼-inch pipe line down to the trapped men, to supply them food and a telephone.] Sampson was asked to repeat the call and tap three times on the old pipes, pause a minute, and tap three more times. Sampson did and contact with the doctor was verified. This contact spurred the men on to almost superhuman achievements and, by 8 a.m. Wednesday, they had advanced an additional 12 feet, including going under the new giant rock fall.
(Some time after the rescue took place, one of the Acadia Coal Company men who was touring in the Toronto area made a public statement that he had to go to the face and tell these men what to do when they had struck this rock. This statement was untrue, when it is considered that the Westville men advanced 19 ½ feet in eight hours under the worst conditions, after learning that prior to their arrival the face had only advance one foot in 14 hours.)
An Acadia Coal Company shift relieved the Westville men at 8 a.m. and the Drummond men went to the cook house. Sampson went back to the rescue site about 9.30 a.m. and found that the crew that had relieved them had withdrawn and another crew had been sent down. There was a strong feeling that the breakthrough was near. The rescue party prepared to go underground; stretcher parties were readied; and the cameramen took their positions. However, at 4 p.m., Gordon and his Acadia face-crew left the mine and asked Sampson to take his Westville crew down.
When the Westville crew arrived at the face, they found the roof was down on the bottom again. J.J. Fraser and Austin Gammon were with Sampson and they decided to go under this new obstruction, after first timbering to make the place safe.
The opening of the face had closed to about 10 inches, quite a disappointment. The men had to take out some large timber and use a big hammer on the bottom top rock. The crew had not eaten since early morning and had no sleep for 34 hours, because the bunkhouses were constantly filled. They were sent up at 7 p.m. and another crew of Henry Lloyd, Robertson, Doyle, and John T. Lloyd reached the face. Lloyd and Robertson were the first sent to the face. These men advanced about five feet. From the appearances of the roof breaks, it appeared they were approaching the end of the fall. Shortly after Henry Lloyd started at the face he heard a cough. He asked Robertson if he had coughed and Robertson told him he hadn’t, saying it must have been the doctor.
At about 8:30 p.m., Henry Lloyd and Robertson had advanced until there was an opening on the left side of the face. Lloyd called Sampson down to inspect it, followed by Gordon. Sampson wiggled into this opening and Lloyd held his legs while Sampson carried on a conversation with the doctor. The doctor’s voice was loud and clear. Sampson told him it would be only a short time before they would reach him.
When Sampson crawled back to Gordon, he wanted to know how long it would be before they got through. They told him it would take some time, for they wanted to make the shaft safe. Sampson later said, “This to me was the most ticklish part of the whole show, and I wanted to be certain of my timbering.”
Sampson then agreed with Gordon’s request that, when the final opening was made, the Acadia men from Stellarton would be sent for, and allowed the honor of being the first through to the trapped men. Gordon spoke of the wonderful work done by Simpson, Morrell, Baudoux, and Hirshfield (a Moose River hard rock miner), and he would like them to make the final breakthrough. (Sampson, although tempted to send his crew through, would later honor his promise.)
At nine o’clock H. Lloyd and Robertson were withdrawn from the race and were replaced by Doyle and John Lloyd. Doyle and Lloyd were among the best timbermen of the brushers, and a very important job. Doyle and Lloyd, along with Sampson’s help, did the necessary timbering, but a slab from the roof was blocking the view below. Doyle called for a long bar to dislodge this slab, did so, and the opening was clear. The final barrier was breached. It was nearly 11:30 and the Acadia Crew was going down. Doyle showed the first man of the crew the opening and the Westville men retired to the surface. Sampson later said, “We were sorely tempted to go through to the doctor, but not enough to cause me to break an honorable agreement.”
When the Westville men reached the surface, Sampson tried to get in touch with Gordon, but was told Gordon was sleeping. He met a Mr. Lawrence, another of the officials in charge, and told him they had gotten through. Lawrence did not credit that they had gotten through, so he approached Mr. Henderson, manager of the crushed mine, and Sampson convinced him they were through by accurately describing the valves located in the 141-foot level.
Lawrence asked Sampson to go down to verify word that the doctor was reached. To satisfy him, Sampson went down as far as the telephone. During this time the rescue party was on its way underground. The Westville men waited on the surface until Dr. Robertson and Mr. Scadding were brought up. (Magill had died underground previous to the rescue.) After sleeping, the Westville men returned home the next morning.
Sampson noted the newspapers were filled with the rescue story, with practically no mention of the work done by the Westville men, except a reference to a party of them doing some carpenter work.
The New Glasgow paper, “The Evening News”, carried interviews with the Westville men but no credit was given by any of the major papers. The Press had completely ignored their work and instead had credited Acadia men and others with Westville’s achievements.
The men had advanced 33.5 feet of the tunnel in 15 hours, in comparison to a 14-hour period previous to their arrival when only one foot of advance was made.
At the conclusion to one of C.D. Sampson’s reports documenting Westville’s role in the rescue, he reflected on the course of events: “The feeling hereabouts is that I should have been broadcasting over the radio and giving the lengthy statements to the press, being the only Westville official there. But rightly or wrongly I consider that we did what we set out to do. My men gave their very best to the job at hand, shunned publicity and grandstand performances, but set up a record of performance hard to approach and I believe impossible to surpass. I have no doubt in my own mind that if my men had not been there the rescue would have been delayed at least another 24 hours.”
