Anaconda Copper Mining Company Pennsylvania Mine Fire
Butte, Montana February 14, 1916 No. Killed - 21
A fire was discovered between the 800- and 1,400-foot levels in the vicinity of the downcast air shaft of the Pennsylvania Mine on February 14, 1916. The alarm was given, and it is thought that all of the 220 men in the mine, except possibly those working on the 300-foot level, were warned.
Cages were substituted for the main-shaft ore skips, and approximately 195 men were hoisted to the surface in less than 45 minutes after the discovery of the fire. Six men escaped through the 1,000-foot level to the Tramway mine. Subsequently, two men lost their lives while wearing Draeger apparatus during rescue and recovery work. It is thought that 19 men who were unable to escape died from suffocation.
Source:
Historical Summary of Mine Disasters in the United States - Volume I
