Mining was quite a dangerous job in the 1900s. Companies would not always respond appropriately to the safety concerns brought to their attention about working conditions in the mines. Mottishaw’s discriminatory firing after he reported gas in a mineshaft brought focus to the concern of mine safety as well as worker rights. Because of the mining companies’ full control over worker concerns, they were able to “neglect safety regulations in an industry with very high accident and mortality rates” (Norris 57). Death rates were extremely high due to the poor working conditions in Vancouver Island mines, largely because of the lack of response to safety concerns (Hinde, “When Coal Was King” 158). The problem of safety was in the forefront of miners’ minds due to a gas explosion which had killed thirty-two men in 1909, reminding miners of the consequences that poor safety caused (Mickleburgh 50). The 1909 explosion reminded workers that safety conditions had not improved since their last strike in 1903. Moreover, conditions in the mines were so bad that “contemporary mineralogists and geologists were unanimous in describing the Vancouver Island coalfields as geologically unstable” (Hinde, “When Coal Was King” 100). George Edwards commented that the gas would “cumulate in behind the coal,” which was the cause of many of the explosions he witnessed (Edwards 6). Methane gas was present in all Vancouver Island mines, which caused 63% of miner deaths from 1894 to 1903 due to the explosions it created (Hinde, “When Coal Was King” 96). Edwards believes that another reason there were so many explosions in the mines was because of the “poor ventilation. [Since] in [those] days they didn’t know really what gas would do” (Edwards 5). New machines were also an issue, and caused damage to the health as well as the safety of miners. The machines created coal dust, which heightened the risk of explosions and impacted the miners’ health. They also affected their hearing as the machines “vibrated terribly, were noisy, often causing their operators to become deaf, and prevented the miners from listening to the working of the roof, which made them impractical for the dangerous task of robbing the pillars” (Hinde, “When Coal Was King” 81). When discussing the safety of the mines, Edwards passionately exclaims that “anybody worked in the coal mines, he’s earned every nickel. He’s earned the hard way… Go an’ look at his hands, you’ll see callouses on his hands off the shovel. That’s right. They kill theirself! They killed theirself workin’. Most of the coal diggers” (Edwards 31). The companies put very little thought into the working conditions the miner’s were subjected to, and it caused many health and safety problems with the workers. When miner Jim Galloway was asked if there was a safety committee prior to the strike, he answered that while there was one “it didn’t amount to much at the time— there was no unions or anything” (Galloway 1). A union would allow for a better system to deal with the safety concerns which were being neglected by the committee that mining companies sent, though first the miners would have to get the companies to listen to their grievances.
Mine rescue workers holding a canary in a cage to check gasses in the mine, photograph, n.d., C175-033, Mine Rescue Album, Cumberland Museum and Archives, Canada, https://www.flickr.com/photos/cumberlandmuseum/6814933046/in/album-72157629439073441/.
