James Mitchell - Fernie, British Columbia, Canada - Graves Mentioning a Cause of Death on Waymarking.com

Coal mining at the beginning of the 20th century was a dangerous job. Numerous incidents claimed the lives of countless workers during the 1900-1930s. Explosions within the mines were the leading cause of casualties.

One of the deadliest incidents took place at the Coal Creek mines on May 22, 1902. That incident claimed the lives of 128 workers, including James Mitchell, who is buried in the St Margaret's Cemetery in Fernie. His gravestone reads:

IN MEMORIAM JAMES MITCHELL KILLED COAL CREEK EXPLOSION 22 MAY 1902 AGED 55 YEARS MARY ANN McDONALD HIS WIFE APRIL 19, 1931.AGED 73 YEARS AT REST

In "Fernie: City Under a Curse"*, Elsie. Turnbull wrote:

The mine's good fortune ended on May 22, 1902, when an explosion ripped through No. 2 mine with such force that "while funeral trains were assembled to take the bodies down to Fernie ... some were so mangled that they were taken right to the burial ground." Of the disaster, the Fernie Free Press reported: "About 7 o'clock on the evening of May 22, 1902, a cloud of smoke, gas, and dust shot 1,000 feet into the air from the fanhouse on No. 2 mine, followed by a shrill unscheduled whistle from the Coal Creek plant. These marked an explosion in the depths of No. 2 and adjoining No. 3 mines which snuffed out the lives of 128 men, almost the whole working shift. Not a man out of the 90 employed in the shaft of No. 2 mine lived to tell the tale but in No. 3, 20 survivors had escaped from the left side of the slope ... "Within 12 minutes rescuers were at hand but found that the pipes in the roof of the tunnel which conducted air throughout the mine had been destroyed. It was impossible to enter the mine until these were repaired. For six hours they worked, every few moments a man collapsing and another taking his place. About 2 a.m. they found the first body, Joe Sengala, and a moment later Stephen Morgan. Neither had any marks. At 4 a.m. work had to be suspended for several hours to let the gas escape. All day Friday the search continued. By 6 o'clock, 31 had been taken out but a fall of rock delayed getting the last bodies for several days. Townspeople fell in behind the wagons carrying bodies to their graves while a newspaperman wrote: Fernie is in a condition of gloom and resounds with the hopeless cries of widows and orphans'.
*Available in "Tragedies of the Crowsnest Pass"; ISBN 0-919214-58-4"

In my (print) copy of that book (1983 edition), the grave of James Mitchell appears on the inside of the front cover.

Although not required, please include your personal experience of this location.