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The Milford
Mine Disaster:
On
Feb. 5, 1924 at 3:25 PM disaster struck at the Milford underground
iron mine north of Crosby, MN. Forty-one miners died when water from
nearby Foley Lake broke through the wall of the mine and flooded the
200-foot deep mine to within 15 feet of the surface within 20
minutes. Seven miners managed to escape the floodwaters by climbing
up a ladder to safety. This was the worst iron mining disaster in US
history. Miners first felt a rush of wind, which extinguished the
carbide lamps on the miner’s hats. Then the electric lights went
out. Water and mud followed as the mine filled with water. It took
from February to November to pump out the mine and the nearby lake
and remove the mud and bodies. One interesting report tells the
story of Clinton Harris, the skip tender, whose job that day was to
operate an electric hoist used to lift the ore from the lowest level
of the mine to the surface in a large bucket. Harris remained at his
position at the bottom of the shaft and sounded a warning whistle to
alert other miners of the danger. The alarm continued to sound for 4
hours and eventually had to be disconnected.
There
are two versions of the cause of the disaster. A special panel
appointed by the Governor interviewed 300 witnesses. They found that
the flooding was an “act of God” and that no one was to blame.
Some felt that this was a cover-up. Labor advocates and miners felt
that the mine was too close, or perhaps even under the lake.
One
report states that mining of the manganese rich ore resumed when the
bodies were recovered. This seems to be true. However, many miners
refused to go back.
No
good disaster story is complete without a few ghosts. The Milford
mine has its share. A report published a few years after the
accident tells of miners hearing the warning whistle at midnight in
the lower levels of the mine and rushing to the exit. Another story
tells of hearing a woman’s screams. It was believed that the woman
was the wife of one of the victims who had tried to throw herself
headlong into the black water that swirled within the shaft. She
died a few months later and some believed she visited the distant
parts of the mine in search of her husband.
Another
report from the book “Down in the Darkness” by Troy Taylor,
tells a different ghost story. When the miners returned to the mine,
the first workers down the ladder caught a glimpse of a figure in
the darkness. Their lamps revealed the badly decayed ghost of
Clinton Harris, the skip tender. The whistle cord was still knotted
around his waist. The miners beat a hasty retreat up the ladder.
Their haste turned to panic when the warning whistle, which no
longer existed, began to sound in the tunnels. The men scrambled to
the surface and not a single one of them ever went back to the
Milford Mine.
What’s
the true story? I’ll leave it to your imagination.
The
story of the Ghost of the Milford Mine is used with the permission
of the author, Troy Taylor. See www.prairieghosts.com/mine.html
for an excerpt from his book “Down in the Darkness” which
contains stories of haunted mines, tunnels, and caves.
Another
book “The Milford Mine Disaster” by Berger Aulie is an excellent
source of information on this disaster.
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Bob Englund KGØZK, 
