Blood on the Coal
The True Story of the Great Springhill Mine Disaster
On Sale: 09/12/2023
Blood on the Coal
The True Story of the Great Springhill Mine Disaster
On Sale: 09/12/2023
Format:
About the Book
The riveting true story of one of Canada’s worst mining disasters, told in the voices of the men who survived it
They said it was the world’s deepest and most dangerous coal mine. Those who made that claim were probably correct. What is certain is that in October 1958, the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation’s No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, was a leading candidate for both those dubious distinctions. The mine was the proverbial “disaster waiting to happen.” And it did.
Springhill was the quintessential one-industry town, whose existence depended on coal, a commodity with a dying market. And yet something far worse was soon to come. On the night of October 23, 1958, a “bump” in the mine—actually a small earthquake—shook the ground beneath the town. Seventy-five miners died and scores more were injured in what remains one of Canada’s worst underground disasters. The lives of the survivors were shattered, and Springhill would never be the same again.
In compelling detail, Ken Cuthbertson tells the stories of three of the miners and one of the doctors who cared for them following the disaster. This remarkable book is based on historical documents and interviews, as well as new interviews with the last of the surviving miners and their loved ones. It is a story of heroism, sacrifice and the indomitable strength of the human spirit.
Critical Praise
"This is a profoundly human story of resilience and survival, how nineteen miners endured the terror of entombment after a Canadian industrial disaster in 1958. It is also a critical and timeless account of the usually unintended consequences of corporate decision making, and how working people are obliged to bear the high and often tragic cost of livelihood." — Linden MacIntyre, author of The Wake: The Deadly Legacy of a Newfoundland Tsunami
-Product Details
- ISBN: 9781443467919
- ISBN 10: 144346791X
- Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers
- On Sale: 09/12/2023
- Pages: 368
- List Price:36.99 CAD
- BISAC1 : TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Mining
- BISAC2 : SOCIAL SCIENCE / Disasters & Disaster Relief
- BISAC3 : HISTORY / Canada / Post-Confederation (1867-)
