The Morning of the Great Fire in Number
26 Colliery, that Ended The Mining Era in that Great Producer. We had
Stayed out That Morning, on Twelve South wall about fourteen of us
Miners for a few Hours Overtime, that Miners Called a Crumb.
Our Overman had four or Five Jobs to
Complete, and when We Finished these jobs. We all got into rake Boxes
attached to a Diesel that would take us out to the Main Deep. Twelve
South Level was in more than Two Miles at that Time.
On the Main Deep was a Dummy Rake,
Empty Boxes, as a Counter Weight for The Main Deep Rake Engine. We
would get into these Boxes, and When The Other Shift Came to the Top
of The Deep, They would get into the Rake, and be Lowered down the
Deep to Whatever Section, or Wall they were Working on. There is a
Chain Runner on these Rakes and He Stops the Rake at every Level the
Men are Working on. When That Rake Starts Down. The Dummy Rake we are
Sitting in, Starts up. There is a Section of Road way up the Deep that
These Rakes Cross Over on a Double to Single Road.
When We were Sitting in that Dummy
rake on That Terrible Morning. I Could See up to the Chain Runners
Cabin, and at First, I thought The Chainrunner was Stonedusting at
that Time, The Overman, and his Crew from 12 North Wall came out to
the Rake deep, and Started to get into the Dummy Rake.
I mentioned The Stonedusting above
at the Chain runners Cabin, at that Time We started to Smell Smoke. We
rapped the Dummy trip up to The Chainrunners Cabin, and The Overmen
got on the Speaker Box and Spoke to the Engineer on the main Deep
Engine. He said, he Couldn't Smell any Smoke at the top of the Deep.
We were into very Heavy Smoke at
that Time, and Told Him to Take the Dummy Rake up. We Didn't know
where the Fire was, or What to Expect on the way up. He Took the Trip
up as far as he Could. The Rake Carrying us Stopped The Other
rake on the way Down went off the Road, and was Into the Ribs. We kept
Rapping the Trip up, But we didn't get any Response from the Engineer.
He wasn't getting any raps from us as the Wires were Burnt off at the
Fire, and He couldn't take us up any farther to begin with.
We knew something Drastically was
Wrong with the Trip. The Smoke was so Thick, We couldn't see our Hand
in Front of us. We decided to Join hands, and Try to Find a Way of
Getting over into what was Known as The Little Deep. We Found a Large
Pipeline going over into the Little Deep.
When we got Through into The Little
Deep. We went up close to what was The Diesel Room. There was a
Speaker Box in a Manhole Right There. Our Overmen were Calling and
Calling for The Engineer on The Little Deep Engine to Drop his Trip
down, to Take us up out of that hell hole.
We didn't get any Response from Him.
Later we found out, The Acting Manager Cut The Crumb of the Little
deep Engineer. Two Lousy Hours. My Son was the Mechanic on Twelve
North, He had Stayed out, and was With Me During all This Worry of
Getting up the Deep alive. there was about Twenty of us down below the
Fire, and to Tell the Truth. it Didn't look too good for us.
We spent an Hour and Thirty-five
Minutes down below The Fire that was Raging, and had Crossed two
Deeps. We Didn't Know if we were being Heard by anyone on the Speaker
System or Not? The Smoke was was Thicker and There was Tension on us,
wondering Where The Fire Above us was at, and no one on the Rake
Engine to take us up. or if the Fire had Crossed over into the Little
Deep.
Finally we got a Voice from the Rake
Engine Above. "What's all the Hollering going on Down There about?"
There's no Smoke up Here. We told Him, Never Mind the Bullshit, take
us up Right Now. He was new to the Mines, and Shouldn't have been on
that Hoist Engine. When the rake got to the Bottom of the Deep, we got
in and Rapped the Trip up. We Stopped at the top of Ten North wall to
pick up three Men that were Laying Face down on the Ground Trying to
Breath Clean Air.
We Rapped the Trip up again, and it
Wasn't too Long before We Felt the Heat, and Stuff Falling on top
of us. we were going Through an Inferno, and to say We were not Scared
would be a Lie There was a Young Guy Sitting Next to me in the Rake,
and He Had His hand on the inside of my Leg. Every time Something
Fell, He would Squeeze my Leg, and holler I would give him the Elbow.
it got Worse as we went up through the area that the fire was Raging.
on it was Terribly Hot, and We kept our Coats over our Heads. it
seemed like a Long Time before we got through the Heat and Fire.
When we hit the Cool air, we Knew we
were going to Survive this Ordeal. when we got to the top of the deep
the day shift men were there, ready to get into the rake and go down
to their Working Area. They smelled the Smoke of us, and we told Them
there would be nobody going down that deep today. they had a Rake and
a Motor waiting for us on the Motor Road, and They Rushed us out to
the Pit Bottom.
after we left for the Pit bottom,
They sent the Empty Rake Down the
Little Deep, and They Hollered for the Fan Man who was over in the
belt Deep to follow the Rails out to the Deep, and cross over into
the little Deep. He Couldn't Hear them, as the Communication wires
were Burnt off. They left the Rake down the deep for Fifteen Minutes,
and When they took the Rake back up the Deep, It was on Fire.
We were Very lucky that Morning to
have Survived. In the Cape Breton Post Story it Said, there were about
40 miners in the Mine when the Fire was Discovered. they left the Pit
when they Realized there was a Fire on One of the Deeps. There was No
Mention of us Trapped below The Fire, and No Engineer on The Little
Deep Hoist Engine, as a Safety Feature, When Men were Working down
Below. it was all Covered Over, We Will Never forget that Morning, if
we had to wait Twenty Minutes more, We Would not have Made it. The
Inside of my Leg was dark Blue for a Few Months. The Young Lad who
Bruised My Leg so Bad, had a Sore Arm for a Few Months. He Drew his
Time, and never worked in